Why Is It Called Blind Baking
Baking blind is a method of cooking a pastry case before adding the filling in order to prevent the bottom from becoming soggy.
Why is it called blind baking. There are two times when blind baking is necessary. Blind baking is indeed just baking without a filling it can be fully or partially. Typically you do this because your filling will either need to bake for a shorter time than your crust a quiche for example or not at all a pie filled with some kind of pre cooked set custard.
Secondly you would blind bake a crust when making a cream pie or chiffon pie because those types of pies are not baked at all. Blind baking can be accomplished by different methods. When we re making a custard pie or when the pie filling is unbaked.
With a custard pie like a pumpkin pie the moisture in the filling can make the crust soggy before it has time to actually bake. The french term for blind baking is cuire à blanc lit. Line the tart tin with baking parchment and fill with ceramic baking beans or dried pulses.
In one technique the pie crust is lined with aluminium foil or parchment paper then filled with pastry or pie weights sometimes called baking beans to ensure the crust retains its shape while baking pie weights are available as ceramic or metal beads but rice dried peas lentils beans or other pulses can be used instead. Baking blind sometimes called pre baking is the term used to describe the process of baking a pie tart or flan base with pastry usually shortcrust pastry without the filling. First you might want to blind bake a pie crust when the pie filling takes less time to cook than the crust itself.
The pastry is lined with a cartouche that s weighted down. The problem for many home bakers is that recipes simply ask for a crust to be blind baked without describing what this involves or how to do it. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is firm then remove the beans and cook for about 5 minutes more until golden brown and biscuity.
They were stumped on why exactly it s called blind baking however. Blind baking is indeed just baking without a filling it can be fully or partially. Blind baking also known as pre baking serves a number of purposes.
The most plausible explanation for the english term i ve heard so far is a mistranslation based on how similar the french word blanc sounds to how you would pronounce blind in french. This weekend i learned all about blind baking a pie crust on the cooking se site. Blind baking is actually a rather simple process to master once you understand the reasons for doing it and the steps involved.
For the uninitiated the highlights of the cooking answer.
