BLIND BAKING
To blind bake, line a chilled pastry-lined tin with foil, gently pressing well into the corners. Fill with baking weights, pushing them up the sides of the pastry shell. (Raw rice, dried beans or purchased pastry weights all work equally well.) Place in an oven preheated to 160°C and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and baking weights. Return the tart shell to the oven for a further 7-10 minutes until golden on the base.
If any splits appear in the pastry, gently fill them with small pieces of the reserved pastry off-cuts, smoothing over the joins, and return to the oven for 5 minutes.
For absolute confidence that a tart shell will not leak, seal the pastry by brushing with beaten egg and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
TIP: When working with a sweet pastry, once the pastry case is blind baked, off-cuts can be rolled out to 5mm thick to make biscuits. Unfilled biscuits keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks and are delicious sandwiched with a filling such as jam, dulche de leche or ganache.
