Blind baking is simple in theory: line the raw pastry, weigh it down, bake it until it holds its shape. In practice the weights decide how well it goes. Too little weight and the base puffs and the sides slump; weights that hold heat badly leave a pale, soft bottom; weights that are a pain to clean end up in the back of a cupboard. Here is a comparison of the four main things people put in a pie shell – and how to get the best out of glass, which is what we make.
What pie weights actually do
Raw pastry is full of butter and air. In the oven the butter melts, the air expands, and an unsupported crust bubbles in the middle and shrinks down the sides. Weights hold the dough against the pan until the structure sets, and they carry heat into the base so it browns instead of steaming. That is why the two things that matter most are coverage (enough weight to fill the shell to the rim, pressed into the corners) and heat (the weights should get hot and stay hot).
The four options, honestly
| Dried beans or rice | Ceramic beads | Steel chain | Borosilicate glass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Light, so you need a deep layer; it takes a lot of beans to fill a 9-inch shell to the rim. | Small beads pack well, but many sets are sold in amounts too small for a full 9-inch pan. | A chain sits neatly at the edge but leaves the center thin unless you coil it. "Shield" format weights tend to be too light weight and do not fit different size pans well. | One 2.5 lb bag fills a standard 9-inch pan to the rim. |
| Heat | Poor conductor; the base under beans often stays pale. | Fair. | Excellent, and very hot to handle afterwards. | Good, and heat-safe to 600 °F (315 °C). |
| Cleaning | Cannot be washed; they absorb fat and eventually smell. | Porous: butter and odors soak in over time, and they can shed a fine dust. | Washable, but crevices in a chain trap grease. | Non-porous, so nothing soaks in. Warm soapy water and they are clean. |
| Lifespan | A few bakes, then they are done. | Years, but they get grubby and dusty. | Indefinite. | Indefinite, as long as you retire any piece that chips. |
| Cost | Cheap (but adds up if baking a lot of pies). | Low to moderate. | Highest. | Moderate; one purchase. |
Beans are the right answer if you blind bake once a year: use them, label the jar "pie weights", and never cook them. Ceramic beads are the traditional upgrade, and they work; their weaknesses are the dust and the way they take on the smell of every pie they have sat in. Steel chains is excellent at the job (steel "shields" less so), at a price. Glass is what we settled on because it does the job as well as steel for most home pies while being the easiest of the four to keep clean, and the least likely to end up smelling of last Thanksgiving.
Why borosilicate
Borosilicate is the glass used for laboratory beakers and oven dishes: it tolerates heat and sudden temperature changes far better than ordinary glass. Our weights are made from it, are lead- and cadmium-free, and are safe to 600 °F. Because the surface is non-porous nothing soaks in, so there is no dust, no residue and no smell, and they dry as soon as you wipe them. Each bag is 2.5 lb, enough to fill a standard 9-inch pan to the rim and most 10-inch pans; a deep-dish pan takes nearly the whole bag, so if you blind bake big deep-dish pies often, a second bag is worth having.
Round or jewel?
Same glass, same weight, same drawstring bag; the difference is the shape. The round weights are the classic marble form. The jewel weights are a faceted shape (patent pending) designed so that they do not roll: they stay put on the counter when you pour them, they pack against each other in the shell, and they sit still in the corners of a fluted tart pan. If you have ever chased a marble under the oven, the jewels are for you.
How to blind bake with glass weights
- Chill the lined pan. Roll the pastry, line the pan, trim, and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes (or the freezer for 10). Cold pastry shrinks less.
- Line with parchment. Crumple a sheet of parchment first so it softens, then press it into the corners of the shell. Foil works too.
- Fill to the rim. Pour in the weights and push them into the corners and up the sides. The sides are where a crust slumps, so do not leave them thin.
- Bake. 375 °F (190 °C) for about 20 minutes, or as your recipe says, until the edges are set and just coloring.
- Lift out by the parchment. Gather the corners and lift the whole lot onto a tray. The weights are hot; leave them there to cool.
- Finish the base. For a fully baked shell, return the empty crust to the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes until the base is dry and golden. For a filled pie that bakes again, a few minutes is enough.
Looking after them
Wash in warm soapy water, dry, and put them back in the bag. Let them cool on a tray rather than tipping hot weights into a cold sink. Glass is glass: a piece dropped on a tile floor can chip. Give the bag a glance now and then and retire anything with a chipped edge. Treated normally they last forever, and they never get any dustier or smellier than the day you bought them.
What others say
Our round glass weights have been picked in pie-weight round-ups by The Spruce Eats, ehow, WANE 15 and the Chicago Tribune. The things reviewers mention most often are that one bag fills a 9-inch pan, that they clean up in seconds, that they do not crumble into dust the way ceramics can, and that the bag makes them easy to store.
| Pie weights | Pack | Shop here | On Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round glass pie weights | 2.5 lb with blue drawstring bag | View | Amazon |
| Jewel glass pie weights | 2.5 lb with red drawstring bag | View | Amazon |
The short version: beans if you bake one pie a year, steel if money is no object, and glass for everyone who wants weights that fill the pan, get hot, wash clean and stay that way.