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Baking blind ... advice please ...

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Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Tue Mar 29, 2022 1:28 pm

After many years of successfully blind baking a pastry case for a quiche, they've suddenly begun to puff up.

I use a rich shortcrust pastry (8oz plain flour, 4 oz butter, pinch salt, an egg and a dash of cold water if needed).
I chill the pastry for half an hour in the fridge before rolling it out and lining the greased quiche tin (metal, fluted edges, loose base) ... ease the sides gently into the corners ... prick the base with a fork several times ... then I use scrumpled baking paper and ceramic beans ... after about 20 mins rest it goes into the oven (about 170C fan) for about 15 mins ... then out of the oven, paper and beans removed, base pricked again and back into the oven at a slightly lower temp for 10 mins.

The last three or four times I've done the above the base of the pastry case has been really puffed up when I've taken it out of the oven after the second bake ... today the case looked more like the O2 arena than a quicke/tart case!

I pricked the base again and gently flattened it ... I wondered if I ought to leave it and it would 'collapse' on it's own, but didn't want to risk it remaining like the O2 and being unable to fill it.

Do other folk have this problem? Do you think it's because I'm using egg in the pastry ... can't remember when I started using egg but it wasn't recently ... but years ago I used to just bind the pastry with water ... shall I revert to that?

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Mar 29, 2022 1:56 pm

Somethings changed hasn't it.....strange - I'm sure you've thought about whether you've changed brand of flour or if your oven temp has altered for some reason - I always use just water, I find egg makes it too short - but if that's what you usually do can't see why it should start ballooning now.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:04 pm

In the past year I have started using Sainsbury's own brand plain flour rather than W'rose .......... that's the only difference I can think of at the moment ...

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:16 pm

Ah ha - looks like you've solved the problem.....!
Even tho' it's 'just' plain, brand compositions do vary, looks like it's back to Waitrose for you!

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby miss mouse » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:19 pm

I think the pastry needs to dry out before baking so I roll out and leave it in the fridge uncovered for as long as possible.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:21 pm

Strange indeed. Thinking of what I do, the difference that might be relevant is that I only use egg yolk, not a whole egg for enriched pastry.

I also put the rolled out case in the tin back into the fridge to rest and often use foil instead of greaseproof but can't see that would make a difference to your problem. I like Dove's flour. It's expensive but I don't bake much on my own and they're a local firm. I used cheap supermarket flour for at least 45 years with reasonable results!

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Tue Mar 29, 2022 2:32 pm

Back when OH was at the Farm Shop I used to use a Golden Pastry Flour from a local mill .... it was pricey but made lovely pastry .. I'll have to see whether the farm shop I use now can get it ...

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:29 pm

I’ve had that happen occasionally, agree the flour is is likely to be the cause

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Earthmaiden » Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:39 pm

I am curious now. Assuming that the flour is the problem, what has it lacked or gained to produce this effect?

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Mar 29, 2022 4:23 pm

Earthmaiden wrote:I am curious now. Assuming that the flour is the problem, what has it lacked or gained to produce this effect?


I thought possibly that it might be gluten content - generally you prefer a low gluten flour for short pastry - but there's not much difference in the protein content between the Waitrose (10.5%) and the Sainsbury's (9.7%) but the Sainsbury is described as being British wheat, though the Waitrose is unspecified, so likely to be different varieties. So a very inconclusive bit of research - of course not all protein is gluten, so differences in the structure of either the proteins or the starch granules might make a difference, who knows?

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Mar 29, 2022 4:28 pm

It's a witchy thing with baking - if you find a flour that suits you......stick with it..... :D

I'm probably way off beam - but I've always understood that it has to do with proteins generated in the milling - there's probably a much more detailed explanation.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby scullion » Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:24 pm

have you tried heston b's way of baking blind using load of old coins - the heat transfer is better than with ceramic baking beans (which are quite a good insulator) and starts to cook the surface under the baking paper.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:41 pm

Don’t seem to have access to a stash of spare gold dubloons like Heston :lol:

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby miss mouse » Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:50 pm

Earthmaiden wrote:I am curious now. Assuming that the flour is the problem, what has it lacked or gained to produce this effect?



Could dampness be the problem? I have to say my pastry baking of late has had surprise soggy bottoms and I am too lazy to blind bake.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:11 am

UPDATE:

This week, without thinking, I made some of my usual rough puff pastry from the same bag of flour ... a total unmitigated disaster ... I've not produced such an awful piecrust since I was 13, or probably before then ... thick, doughy and grey ... and it sunk into the pie ... it was horrible ... even we didn't eat it :shock: ... undoubtedly Sainsbugs have a bad batch of flour ... my rough puff usually produces a piecrust of crisp light delight ... I shall look elsewhere for flour for a bit ... and avoid supermarket own brands as I expect many of them source theirs from the same provider.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby ChinchillaLady » Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:15 am

I made a rich shortcrust yesterday with Homepride as I couldnt get Sainsbugs own plain. Have to say it was one of the best pastry's I have ever made. Dont think I will change back to Sains, I dont make enough pastry for the cost to make that much difference.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Lusciouslush » Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:27 pm

What a pita! I have stuck with using Mcdougalls (sp?) now for a long time - both plain & s/r for that very reason.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby miss mouse » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:03 am

How interesting that the flour varies so much, tiresome for bakers though.

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Suffs » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:40 am

I've been using W'rose own brand plain and SR flour for years with absolutely no problem ... we swapped to Sainsbugs about a year ago, again with little noticable difference in the results until very recently. I've had a google and can't find anything online about a problem ... perhaps it was a small batch and I was unlucky ...

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Re: Baking blind ... advice please ...

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:55 am

Chinch seemed to notice a difference too and I have varied results with Sainsburys (not tried any other supermarket brand). I buy Doves if I am making something special. I suppose sources vary with supermarket flour and ocassionally it's not so good.

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