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Pie weights, small ceramic or metal balls, serve as a temporary filling during the first round of baking. They’re not extremely heavy, but they’re substantial enough to weigh the dough down enough to prevent puffing.
What do you use pie weights for?
Pie weights are small ceramic or metal balls that you use when blind baking a pie crust. To blind bake a pie crust means you bake it naked, without its filling. A recipe may call for blind baking if the filling itself is not baked (say, a cooked custard or a filling that sets when it’s chilled).
Do you really need pie weights?
Blind baking a pie crust calls for filling the bottom crust with pie weights to keep the pastry from puffing up in the oven. But if you don’t own pie weights, there’s no need to purchase them. Instead, check your pantry for dried beans or uncooked rice—both will work just as well as pie weights.
Are ceramic pie weights safe?
Anderson’s Baking Ceramic Pie Crust Weights are made of natural, food-safe ceramic stoneware. We liked that the pie weights could withstand up to 480 degrees in the oven. These pie crusts are great to use on both frozen and homemade pie crusts.
What are pie weights and how do you use them?
Blind baking a crust prevents a soggy pie bottom, which does not provide those picture-perfect layers of pie crust, filling, and topping in a perfectly triangular pie slice. Pie weights are the one saving grace to this soggy bottom fiasco and especially come in handy for pie fillings that cannot be baked at all.
What can you use for pie weights besides beans?
If you don’t have pie weights or dried beans, the most effective weight to use is another pie dish, if you have one. Nestle it gently into the crust-lined pan; it should cover both the thin bottom crust and the thick rim.
Can you cook beans used as pie weights?
Dried beans are a great alternative to pie weights when blind-baking a pie crust. The pie-weight beans were a bit firmer than the never-cooked beans and might have benefited from 10 more minutes of cooking, but they were creamy, intact, and entirely acceptable.
Can I blind bake a pie crust without weights?
Pie weights are what a lot of bakers and chefs use to blind bake pie crusts, but you can definitely blind bake a pie crust without weights. I, in fact, don’t even own pie weights. They’re an added expense and then I need to store them.
Do pie weights work?
Here’s what happened: The ceramic pie weights are classic for a reason, they just work. They fill up the whole crust, so the bottom stays flat and the sides neither slump nor puff. They conduct heat so that it browns and cooks evenly.
Is blind baking necessary?
Why Do You Need to Blind-Bake? Blind-baking is a necessary step in making a classic French-style fruit tart, but it will improve almost any pie crust recipe. Since tarts are filled with creams or mousses (which can’t be baked), you’ll have to bake any tart shell in advance of filling it.
What is the best thing to use for pie weights?
Pie Weight Substitutes Dried beans (it doesn’t matter what kind, just use what you have on hand) Dried rice. Granulated sugar. Popcorn kernels.
What are ceramic pie weights made of?
The most common type of pie weights consists of nothing more than a multitude of plain ceramic balls around 3/8 of an inch in diameter.
How do you clean ceramic pie weights?
I crumble up a piece of parchment paper first, put that down on the pie crust and then pour the pie weights into the parchment paper. Are you doing that? If that still doesn’t solve the problem, I’d soak them for several hours/overnight in cold water with dishwashing liquid and then thoroughly rinse in a colander.
How do you weigh down a pie crust?
You can also weigh your crust down by nestling a second pie plate over the top of your crust. If you use this method, spray the bottom of the second pie plate with cooking spray so it doesn’t stick to your crust.
Can I use coins instead of baking beans?
Rather than baking beans, you can use a handful of copper coins to weigh down your pastry. Whatever you use, though, don’t over-do it, or you’ll end up with a soggy bottom.
How do you remove pie weights from the crust?
I place a sheet of parchment paper between the crust and the weights. This makes removing them as straightforward as carefully lifting the paper out. Re: amount to use – enough to cover the bottom uniformly. An alternative technique is to freeze the pastry in the pie dish.
How can I weigh a pie crust without beans?
Another Pie Pan As with other methods, just cover the dough-lined pie pan with parchment or foil, then place the second, empty pie pan on top. Just like sugar, this will weigh down the crust and prevent it from puffing.
What can I use if I don’t have baking beans?
Pie-weights are available as ceramic or metal beads, but rice, dried peas, lentils, beans or other pulses can be used instead.
What can I use to blind bake a pie crust?
You can use ceramic weights, dry beans, rice, or white sugar. Sugar works well because of its small granule size; it distributes the weight more evenly against the crust. (Baking the sugar this way also lightly caramelizes it, making it even more flavorful if you want to use it later for baking recipes.)Jun 30, 2021.
