Is blind baking necessary?

If you have watched The Great British Bake Off or The Great American Baking Show, you know the dreaded words that a baker never wants to hear: you have a soggy bottom. To avoid this fate and ensure a crisp pastry crust on your baked goods, blind baking is the way to go. However, it can be intimidating and time consuming. So is there any way to avoid it? There are a few shortcuts you can employ, says Anna Berrill at The Guardian, but for the best results, you probably want to learn how to do it.

Berrill shares expert advice from chefs including Gelf Anderson, culinary director at River Cottage. His tip for saving time for blind baking, which he says takes at least 30 minutes if done properly, is to skip the chilling step by creating an overhang of dough.  “A good 2cm will keep the pastry from shrinking back in the case, and then you can avoid the chill time,” he says. Shaheen Peerbhai, chef-owner of London’s Miel Bakery, uses a different trick to get around the process of blind baking: using a buffer between the wet filling and pastry case such as frangipane.

If you want to learn how to master blind baking, Erin Jeanne McDowell gives step-by-step instructions in the recipe linked above. Some of her advice contradicts what Gelf Anderson suggests. Erin bakes her crusts at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes, while Gelf generally recommends a lower oven temperature (320 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for a longer period of time. He does say that a hot oven can work, but warns that it’s “is a riskier way of blind baking, but if you get it right, you’ll have that requisite crisp finish.”