Scotch
Head Chef
I had a single crust's worth of dough left over from my holiday baking and decided to make a quiche for dinner.
Quiche calls for a pre-baked (a.k.a. "blind") crust, and to bake an empty pie crust generally requires that the crust be lined with foil or parchment or waxed paper and weighted down with something for the first 20 minutes or so to keep it from shrinking or puffing excessively. The foil and weights are then removed and the crust is baked another 5 or 10 minutes until it's golden all over.
Or at least that's what I've been doing for the last several years, based on Joy of Cooking and other sources. However, I don't recall my mother ever doing that, and her crusts neither shrank nor puffed excessively.
In any case, I couldn't find our pie weights, a large jar of old beans -- must have been tossed when we moved -- and I was too cheap to waste 3 to 5 pounds of rice to do the job. I figured mom did it without weights, so I would too.
Not pretty! Crust shrank badly on one side within the first 5 minutes, and I had to use my hands to pull it back up the side of the pan. Needless to say, it was kinda raggedy looking. I checked 5 minutes later and the entire center was puffed like a big balloon! A pricked it with a cooking fork and pushed it flat with a spatula, and it pretty much stayed put, although I had to do a bit more pricking and squishing. It's edible and held the filling well, but it's not something I would want to serve to company.
So, I think I need new pie weights. Dried beans or rice would be cheap, but I'm considering getting something more sanitary, such as marbles.
Any suggestions?
Comments appreciated!
TIA
Quiche calls for a pre-baked (a.k.a. "blind") crust, and to bake an empty pie crust generally requires that the crust be lined with foil or parchment or waxed paper and weighted down with something for the first 20 minutes or so to keep it from shrinking or puffing excessively. The foil and weights are then removed and the crust is baked another 5 or 10 minutes until it's golden all over.
Or at least that's what I've been doing for the last several years, based on Joy of Cooking and other sources. However, I don't recall my mother ever doing that, and her crusts neither shrank nor puffed excessively.
In any case, I couldn't find our pie weights, a large jar of old beans -- must have been tossed when we moved -- and I was too cheap to waste 3 to 5 pounds of rice to do the job. I figured mom did it without weights, so I would too.
Not pretty! Crust shrank badly on one side within the first 5 minutes, and I had to use my hands to pull it back up the side of the pan. Needless to say, it was kinda raggedy looking. I checked 5 minutes later and the entire center was puffed like a big balloon! A pricked it with a cooking fork and pushed it flat with a spatula, and it pretty much stayed put, although I had to do a bit more pricking and squishing. It's edible and held the filling well, but it's not something I would want to serve to company.
So, I think I need new pie weights. Dried beans or rice would be cheap, but I'm considering getting something more sanitary, such as marbles.
Any suggestions?
Comments appreciated!
TIA
