Buzz
Baking is not my favorite activity, especially when it involves making pie. I enjoy eating it, but creating a perfect pie crust is a struggle. If I somehow manage to roll the dough into the pie plate without any tears or holes, it inevitably shrinks or puckers. Thankfully, fixing that issue is simple: just add more pie weights.
If you’re someone who enjoys baking and already knew that your pie plate should be completely filled with pie weights, then congratulations, you know something I didn’t. I was, as the millennials say, today years old when I discovered that pie weights aren’t just for preventing the crust from puffing up; they also help support the sides. Big thanks to The Kitchn and cookbook author Erin McDowell for this revelation.
Erin explains that pie weights serve a twofold purpose: to press down the bottom of the crust and to support the sides. Don’t be fooled by the small containers of pie weights you find in stores—whenever you par-bake a pie, the pie plate should be filled all the way to the top with weights. This is true no matter the type of pie weights you use, whether they’re dried beans, sugar, or ceramic weights.
I have to admit, I'm relieved to finally understand why my pie crusts shrink down the sides during the blind bake. While I have a solid understanding of gravity, I never thought to apply that logic to pie-making, and I didn’t consider that the sides needed support. (I don’t even have pie weights—I usually use sugar or rice because I’m on a budget—but the advice still applies no matter how you decide to weigh down your crust.)
