PRODUCT: Par-Baked Pie Shell
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This article features a par-baked pie crust that you can buy, ready to fill and re-bake (photos #1, #2 and #3—see details below). It’s appropriate for pumpkin pies and other pies of the season. Inveterate pie bakers will have come across an instruction to “par-bake” the crust. Par-baking means to partially bake an empty pie shell before adding the filling. Blind baking and pre baking are synonyms for the same technique. Par-baking is called for when the filling takes less time to bake than the crust—such as custard pies, cream pies, quiche, all with lots of eggs in the filling. You may even have seen pie weights—stainless steel balls or ceramic beads that weigh down the bottom of the crust. Why? So that the dough keeps its shape and doesn’t puff up, only to slump down in a mess when the par-baked crust comes out of the oven. But you don’t need special pie weights. Dry beans from your pantry do just fine, and can be reused to bake more pies. No dry beans? No pie weights? Use uncooked rice! No matter what you use, place a round of parchment paper or aluminum foil between the crust and the weights/beans/rice. And allow the pie shell to cool completely before adding the filling. Note Re Beans & Rice Good Eggs, a Bay area grocery delivery service that provides fresh groceries, including baked goods and sustainable meat, dairy and eggs, from top Bay area producers. Here’s more about Good Eggs. One of their time-savers this holiday season is this par-baked pie shell (photos at left) from Three Babes Bake Shop in San Francisco. Good Eggs only delivers locally, but you can order the crusts directly from Three Babes Bakeshop, which ships nationwide. Save time with this beautiful, par-baked, ready-to-fill crust. Keep it in the freezer until ready to use. Then, just fill the frozen pie shell and bake as per your recipe’s instructions. It’s a prettier fluted crust than we could ever hope to make. |
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