• Cooking Basics #13

    From Dave Drum@1:18/200 to All on Saturday, February 26, 2022 19:35:30
    BAKING PASTRY BLIND: The reason you bake pastry blind before adding a
    filling, is to ensure you don't have a soggy bottom. Line the raw pastry
    dough with parchment paper then fill with baking beans so the pastry
    doesn't rise. The pastry is then cooked for a short while, filled with
    any toppings and put back in the oven. Rather than trim the raw pastry
    to size in your tin, take a tip from pastry chefs who trim it once it's
    baked blind, to ensure a perfect edge. This will also help you if your
    pastry has shrunk a little.

    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Blind-Baked Pie Crust
    Categories: Five, Pastry
    Yield: 2 crusts

    2 tb Granulated sugar
    1 ts Salt
    2 2/3 c A-P flour; more for dusting
    1 1/2 c Chilled unsalted butter; in
    - 1/2" pieces

    Whisk sugar, salt, and flour in a large bowl. Add butter
    and, using your fingers, smash each piece into a thin
    disk. Take your time doing this and donΓÇÖt feel compelled
    to break butter into even smaller pieces. Drizzle 2/3 cup
    ice water over, dispersing it as widely as possible, and
    mix with a rubber spatula to bring mixture together into
    a shaggy mass.

    Turn dough out onto a surface and work together with
    your hands, pushing and flattening until dough holds
    together when squeezed in your palm but some streaks of
    dry flour are still visible.

    Divide dough into 2 portions.

    Flatten 1 portion of dough into an 8"-diameter disk. Cut
    into quarters, stack pieces on top of one another, and
    flatten dough with a rolling pin to about half of its
    original height. At this point dough should hold
    together with no dry spots remaining, and have nice big
    flakes of butter showing. Use a bench scraper or a large
    knife to clean any clingy bits of dough from surface.
    Dust surface with flour, then dust top of dough with
    flour.

    Roll out to a 1/4"-3/8"-thick round. Wrap dough around
    rolling pin and transfer to a standard 9" diameter pie
    dish. Unfurl into dish, then lift edges and allow dough
    to slump down into dish. Trim overhang to an even 1"
    (there will be some excess). Fold overhang under and
    crimp as desired. Cover and chill until very cold, at
    least 1 hour and up to 12 hours (cover tightly if
    chilling longer than 1 hour).

    Repeat process with remaining dough and another pie
    dish. Or form into a 1 1/2" thick disk, wrap in plastic,
    and chill up to 3 days (or freeze up to 1 month).

    Place a rack in middle of oven; set oven @ 400┬║F/205┬║C.
    Lay 2 sheets of parchment paper over dough and fill
    with pie weights or dried beans (they should fill the
    dish).

    Set on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (this will keep
    any butter drips from smoking up your oven). Bake until
    edges are golden brown and bottom is opaque (carefully
    lift parchment to check), 30-35 minutes. Remove from
    oven; reduce oven temperature to 300┬║F/150┬║C.

    Lift out parchment and weights. Bake crust until evenly
    chestnut brown all over, 10_15 minutes. If baking both
    crusts, turn oven dial back up to 400┬║F/205┬║C and repeat
    with remaining crust.

    By Chris Morocco

    RECIPE FROM: https://www.bonappetit.com

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    * Origin: Outpost BBS * Johnson City, TN (1:18/200)