Shelf · Dough & batter · In the oven
Blind baking
Baking a pastry case on its own, lined and weighted, before any wet filling goes in.
- The temperature band
- The oven · 180 to 200 °C
- The time
- About 15 min
Why it works
Pastry crisps by driving water out of it. A wet filling supplies water faster than the oven can remove it, so an unbaked base under a custard never dries out and stays pale and sodden however long it bakes.
The tell
The weights come out and the base looks dry and matte rather than glossy, and the sides are set firm enough to stand without support.
No ladder here: the rungs would differ by a shine alone, and a drawn highlight is a picture of the lighting, not of the food.
How it fails
Skipping the weights lets the base puff and the sides slump down the tin. Chill the lined case hard before it goes in — pastry that starts cold shrinks far less, and a shrunken case cannot be stretched back.
In the app, the card opens on the recipe step that names it, with the tell drawn.
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