Filling tart with beans/rice for baking
I've found a recipe for a lemon tart: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/380616/greggs-tangy-lemon-tart
Everything looks fine to me and I get what to do exactly, but I don't understand the part that says:
Line the tart with foil and fill with rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 mins, then discard the foil, and bake for another 20 mins until biscuity.
I have got two closely related questions:
What is the purpose of this step? What would happen if I omitted it and baked straight for 30 minutes?
What type of foil should I use? I suppose it's not the plastic one since it would not survive the baking temperature of 160C. Or would it?
Best Answer
The rice/beans in this step act as a form of what are known as pie weights. They are used in order to maintain the shape of the crust as it is being baked. If you eliminate the weights during baking, you may encounter undesirable levels of puffing, curling and shrinking. If you'd rather brown the top of the bottom crust while baking, an alternative method often used is placing a second pie plate over the one containing the crust, and the metal should assist in browning the crust. Use standard foil.
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Can you use rice as baking beans?
Baking beans can be regular dried beans or you can also use rice. Once the rice or beans have been used for baking then they are not really edible, but they can be cooled, stored in an airtight container and used time and time again for baking blind.Can you use rice to blind bake pastry?
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\u2014both will work just as well as pie weights.What can I use instead of beans for blind baking?
Pie-weights are available as ceramic or metal beads, but rice, dried peas, lentils, beans or other pulses can be used instead.How much rice do you use for pie weights?
When you have to blind-bake a pie crust (or any crust) don't spend money on fancy pie weights. Use dry beans or rice or legumes or grains of any kind. You'll probably need 3 to 4 cups.Bakewell Tarts | Stay at Home Baking
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