What Are Ceramic Pie Weights

Pie weights, small ceramic or metal balls, serve as a temporary filling during the first round of baking. They’re not extremely heavy, but they’re substantial enough to weigh the dough down enough to prevent puffing.

How do you use ceramic pie weights?

To use the pie weights, lay your uncooked pie crust in your pie plate. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the crust and gently press it down until it covers the bottom and sides of the crust. Fill foil with pie weights and bake as your recipe directs.

What can I use instead of ceramic pie weights?

Alternatives to Pie Weights 1 – Dried Beans, Rice, Popcorn. You may already have heard of “baking beans,” which are simply dried beans used as makeshift pie weights. 2 – Steel Balls or Other Metal Objects. 3 – Metal Chain. 4 – Sugar. 5 – Another Pie Form.

Are ceramic pie weights safe?

Anderson’s Baking Ceramic Pie Crust Weights are made of natural, food-safe ceramic stoneware. We liked that the pie weights could withstand up to 480 degrees in the oven. These pie crusts are great to use on both frozen and homemade pie crusts.

Why do ceramic pie weights smell?

The smell is hard to describe, but is most likely rancid fat from previous usage.

How do you use pastry ceramic balls?

How Do You Use Them? Make your crust according to your recipe or unroll your store-bought crust. Line your pie shell with parchment paper. Add the pie weights to the crust. Carefully lift the pie weights using the parchment paper overhang.

What are pie weights and how do you use them?

Blind baking a crust prevents a soggy pie bottom, which does not provide those picture-perfect layers of pie crust, filling, and topping in a perfectly triangular pie slice. Pie weights are the one saving grace to this soggy bottom fiasco and especially come in handy for pie fillings that cannot be baked at all.

What can I use if I don’t have pie weights?

If you don’t have pie weights or dried beans, the most effective weight to use is another pie dish, if you have one. Nestle it gently into the crust-lined pan; it should cover both the thin bottom crust and the thick rim.

What can I use for pie crust weights?

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—both will work just as well as pie weights.

How do you blind bake a pie crust without pie weights?

If you’re blind – baking and don’t have pie weights, try using: ① Dried beans: Set parchment paper or foil on top of the dough, then fill ‘er up with dried beans. ② Rice kernels: Use parchment paper or foil here, too, plus rice.

What are ceramic pie weights made of?

The most common type of pie weights consists of nothing more than a multitude of plain ceramic balls around 3/8 of an inch in diameter.

Are pie weights worth it?

Pie weights prevent the crust from forming air pockets that bubble up or shrinking as it cooks. They weigh down the dough, so that it holds its shape and stays firmly nestled against the pie plate.

Do I need to wash pie weights?

Pie weights are never wet or require cleaning!! 2 of 2 found this helpful.

How do you get the smell out of a pie weight?

I crumble up a piece of parchment paper first, put that down on the pie crust and then pour the pie weights into the parchment paper. Are you doing that? If that still doesn’t solve the problem, I’d soak them for several hours/overnight in cold water with dishwashing liquid and then thoroughly rinse in a colander.

How do you get mold off ceramic pie weights?

Run the weights under hot water and simultaneously scrub off any surface mold with a mild brush, like a new toothbrush. Once that has been completed, proceed with the standard protocol of soaking, boiling and baking.

Can you wash ceramic baking beans?

After baking and when the beans have cooled, remove and hand wash in soapy water. Thoroughly wash product in soapy water before first use, rinse and dry. Check the beans are cool before handling or returning to storage container.

What do baking beads do?

These weights are usually referred to as baking beans. They are important as they help to keep the pastry in shape as it cooks. Without the weights the pastry on the base can puff up and the pastry on the sides can collapse inward.

Can you blind bake without weights?

2. Pie weights (or a similar alternative) should be used to weigh down the pastry. Pie weights are what a lot of bakers and chefs use to blind bake pie crusts, but you can definitely blind bake a pie crust without weights.

How long should you blind bake?

Fill with rice, dried beans, or metal or ceramic baking weights. (This stops the pastry base rising during cooking.) Place on a baking tray and cook in an oven preheated to 220C for 8-10 minutes.

Can you cook beans used as pie weights?

Dried beans are a great alternative to pie weights when blind-baking a pie crust. The pie-weight beans were a bit firmer than the never-cooked beans and might have benefited from 10 more minutes of cooking, but they were creamy, intact, and entirely acceptable.

Can I use pennies as pie weights?

Use pie weights, not pennies. Left to their own devices, pie crusts will bubble, puff, crater, and become misshapen while blind baking in the oven. While bakers can use dried beans, raw rice, pennies, and granulated sugar as pie weights, we like to use the best product designed specifically for the job: pie weights.

Can I use coins instead of baking beans?

Rather than baking beans, you can use a handful of copper coins to weigh down your pastry. Whatever you use, though, don’t over-do it, or you’ll end up with a soggy bottom.