Why not blind bake with two pie plates?
Based on this question, I got to thinking about alternative ways to blind bake, especially since I always have issues with butter crusts slumping. One thing which occurred to me is: why not use two matched, nesting glass pie plates? This would seem to provide maximum support to the crust, as it would exactly mirror the shape of the pie plate on the bottom.
I always thought that the reason why nobody does this is that the crust needs to vent moisture, so the weight on the inside needs some porousness. However, Stella Parks uses aluminum foil filled with sugar, which would have no ventability at all.
So, my question is: is there any reason not to use a nesting pie plate as the weight for blind baking? If so, what?
Best Answer
I use two nested pie plates all the time when I'm blind baking a crust, but glass plates don't work well. Glass plates actually have a much bigger difference between their inner and outer profiles than you might expect, so I usually use metal pie plates instead of glass because they nest a lot tighter (the thinner sheet metal stamped on a die allows for much more precise nesting).
Just be sure to dock the crust, ensure there is no gap between your pie plates and the crust itself, and remove the inner plate a couple of minutes before removing the crust from the oven to allow any excess moisture to escape and brown properly.
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Can you use second pie plate to blind bake?
Simply place your chilled crust inside an aluminum pie pan, grease the outside of a second aluminum pie pan, and put it into the first pan, with your crust pressed between the two pans. After you've chilled the crust again, set both pans upside down on a baking sheet and bake.Can I use a second pie plate as a pie weight?
Another Pie PanIf you own two pie pans, you already have a perfectly shaped pie weight. 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 happens if you blind bake without weights?
Blind baking isn't just as easy as popping a pie crust in the oven. Pie crust is a delicate thing and baking it without using the proper blind baking process will cause breakage, bubbling, or shrinking.Should you blind bake all pies?
We obviously don't want to eat unbaked pie dough. Partially blind bake a pie crust if your pie filling requires a shorter bake time than the pie crust such as brownie pie or quiche. And if you want an extra crisp pie crust for your apple pie\u2014 you can partially blind bake the crust before adding the filling.Blind Baking: Partial and Fully Blind Baking Pie Crusts
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Answer 2
I've tried a similar thing with porcelain dishes. Since I want the crust half-baked during blind baking (else it burns when I bake the filling) it was still moist when I got it out to fill the pie. And that moist half-baked dough stuck terribly to the inner dish, tearing the crust apart. I never had this problem with foil, since the worst that happens there is that the foil itself tears.
Also, I didn't have perfectly matching dishes, so the crust was not supported enough and slumped on the edges.
This is something I only attempted once or twice, so it may be possible to improve it with practice. But it is not a convenient shortcut that just works.
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