“People seem to find blind baking annoying because they think it’s slightly pointless,” says Gelf Alderson, culinary director at River Cottage and author of Great Pies. “After all, lots of recipes say to blind bake for only 15-20 minutes, which is just not correct.” Instead, he insists, you need to do so for at least 35-40 minutes, and at a low oven temperature, too – 160C-170C (depending on your oven): “If someone has never blind baked for that length of time, they’ll never have seen a really nice result, which is why it would feel a bit pointless.”
If you’re dealing with a wet, liquidy filling in an open tart (think custard or chocolate, or an eggy quiche), and you want a fine, crisp pastry case, you simply won’t achieve this any other way, says Shaheen Peerbhai, chef-owner of Miel Bakery in London, adding that it’s worth remembering that the crust is “part of the experience, and not just a case. It’s important to respect that and give it its dues.”
You can save a bit of time by leaving an overhang before popping it in the oven, though: “A good 2cm will keep the pastry from shrinking back in the case, and then you can avoid the chill time,” Alderson says. Then, when it comes to trimming the cooked case, reach for a peeler: “It’s far less harsh than a serrated knife, and you’ll get a much smoother finish.”
Peerbhai does, however, have a strategy for dodging blind baking when it comes to the likes of jam tortes. “You need a barrier between the crust and the fruit, though, but that can come from an almond or other nut cream,” she says, so, essentially, we’re talking frangipane here. This will take the moisture from the fruit while ensuring that the crust is nice and crunchy. “Plus, you get a third texture going on from the cream.”
Alternatively, blind-baking haters could throw caution to the wind and simply rely on a really hot oven, though, as Alderson points out, this tactic isn’t foolproof: “Leave a good overhang, then prick the base and sides with a fork – it’s important to do this all the way through the pastry, so the steam doesn’t get trapped underneath [and turn things soggy].” Then shock it in a hot oven (about 200C-210C), where the high heat causes the pastry to set and dry rapidly. “This is a riskier way of blind baking,” he warns, “but if you get it right, you’ll have that requisite crisp finish.” Be warned, however: the pastry might well rise in the middle as a result, or colour excessively around the edges.
For this reason, if you really can’t be doing with blind baking at all, Alderson says it’s much safer to go for something such as a meat pie and be done with it: “If you’ve got pastry on the bottom, then filling, and then pastry on the top, I wouldn’t bother blind baking, because the pie bakes for so long that the pastry’s going to soften anyway,” he says. Plus, you’re expecting – not to mention wanting – that softer finish, anyway, especially once it’s been doused in gravy.
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