The festive period looms and it’s time to begin thinking about my Christmas Mince Pies and organising things to make the period as enjoyable and stress free as possible. And it’s particularly time for me to think about this year’s mince pies filled with cranberry and whisky mincemeat.
A quick kale, egg, and bacon supper for the chilli Autumn – Winter nights. And learn to master the skill of poaching an egg.
Blind baking made easy, this is not an overly arduous process but following a few basic steps will ensure perfect results every time. We will show you how to create a blind baked tart shell ready to be used with a variety of fillings. This is quite a long explanation but it’s worth the effort in reading all the way through.
I would always recommend baking using metal tins and rings for blind baking. Silicone containers can also a be used for general baking. But I think the robustness of metal give a more reliable result for tarts and flans. I’m not a fan of ceramic quiche or flan dishes. The material is too thick for fast heat transfer and it’s very difficult to remove the finish article from the dish.
For deeper robust tarts I like to use a 23cm x 3cm loose bottomed tart shell. The ones made by masterclass are excellent quality and will last for years.
Baking sheets should be robust enough not to bend or warp in the oven. An increasing number of chefs are using perforated baking sheets or baking mats which allow the hot air to circulate around the pastry more efficiently.
Remember all ovens are different, some run a little hotter some cooler. Some ovens they will have one side hotter than the other. This requires you to turn the food around to even things out half way through cooking. Trust yourself, you know your oven better that anybody. Don’t be a slave to a recipe – even mine! If you find your food over colouring turn the oven down a little. And if you need to turn the food around, do it quickly without leaving the oven door open for ages.
Now if you haven’t already done so, look up our post Getting to Grips with Pastry to discover how easy it is to make your own pastry.
Now we have our pastry well chilled, but if you’re trying to use any pastry in a hot kitchen or at home on a warm summer’s day it’s a great help to chill anything in contact with the pastry.
Work surfaces can be cooled by placing a baking tray where to plan to roll out and throwing some ice cubes into the tray. As they melt it will cool the work surface for you. Make sure you dry off the surface before you begin.
While the surface is cooling pop the rolling pin into the fridge to cool down. I prefer to use a polypropylene pin that is easy to keep clean but also will stay chilled for ages it left in the fridge overnight.
I would always recommend baking using metal tins and rings for blind baking. Silicone is also a great material for general baking, but I think the robustness of metal gives a more reliable result for tarts and flans.
I’m not a fan of ceramic quiche or flan dishes, the material is too thick for fast heat transfer and it’s very difficult to remove the finish article from the dish.
Down to work. Lightly flour the work surface and place your pastry in the centre. Begin to roll gently with the pin, turning around the pastry as you go to even out the stress. Keep rolling and turning dusting with a pinch of flour if needed but don’t use handfuls of it.
Once you have a circle of pastry large enough to fill the tart shell and about 5mm thick roll the pastry around the pin. Bring up the tart tin then carefully unroll the pastry allowing it to drop into the shell taking care not to cut the pastry off on the edges of the tin.
Take a small piece of spare dough and wrap it in cling film. Use this to press the dough down into the corners of the shell and around the fluted edges. Using your fingers will cut through the pastry. But the soft ball of dough will gently form the pastry to the shape of the shell. If the tart is to be filled with a custard base like a lemon tart don’t remove the excess pastry from the top. Carefully fold it over the rim on the outside. This will stop the pastry shrinking down inside the rim during baking. And prevent any liquid seeping down between the cooked shall and the tin when the tart is filled for its second bake.
If the shell is to be filled with a firmer filling after baking. Trim off the excess pastry and pinch up the rim with the fingertips to fix it to the top of the tin. As soon as the tart is completed place it into the fridge to rest for at least an hour before baking.
Its fairly frequent practice in commercial kitchens to use several layers of cling film to line the shell before adding weight to hold the pastry down. It works very well and produces very neat straight sides as the film moulds to the shape of the shell. This keeps pressure on the pastry preventing it from lifting or swelling while in the oven. If your pastry shell is to have a dry or thick filling added you can lightly prick the base with a fork to release steam.
If, however if you’re using a thin custard like filling, I would avoid this as the filling may leak though to the meatal shell and weld the pastry to the shell.
However, the court is out relating to the possibility of plasticiser leaching into the pastry with the heat of the oven. The film won’t melt it, needs a bit over 200˚c to do that, and we are generally baking at about 175˚c – 180˚c. Commercial film is stronger and thicker than the type to use at home. And with the possible plasticiser problem I recommend using greaseproof paper at home.
Cut off a square of greaseproof at least 6cm larger than the diameter of the tart shell. Fold it in half then turn 90º and fold in half again to form a square. Find the corner of the square that was the centre of the sheet. Hold the corner between finger and thumb then fold the opposite end of the paper over a little like making a paper plane. Keep repeating the folds until you have a thick wedge shape. Now using scissors trim the open end of the paper wedge in a curve to remove all the loose sections. Open out the paper and with any luck you will have a circle of greaseproof large that the pastry shell.
Before using the paper to line the shell scrunch it up in your hands. In fact, it’s best to squash and crush it two or three times before use. The idea is to make the paper a forgiving as possible and mould itself to the pastry without forming gaps or cutting through the pastry.
Before we get to the next steps turn on the oven to, we are going to bake at 170ºc -180º (fan) 185˚c – 200˚c conventional but I want you to turn the oven up another 20˚c. then place your baking sheet into the oven to heat up.
Take the lined tart shell and carefully place the paper on top of the pastry. Press the paper into the corners of the shell and add some weight into the paper to hold the pastry down.
Personal preference here is simply to use dried peas. They are cheap, work well and can be re-used many times. Ceramic baking beans don’t do a better job and cost a fortune and please don’t use rice! Some people advocate rice, but I think it’s a nightmare. Its difficult to remove the rice neatly with the paper after baking, it falls all over the place. Also, and more importantly it can find its way between the paper and the pastry during filling. If that happens the rice sinks into the pastry during baking and is exceedingly difficult to remove. Fine if you like crunchy pastry!
When you are ready to bake open the oven and slide the tart shell onto the pre-heated baking sheet. Turn the oven down to the correct baking temperature and set a timer for 12 minutes.
The idea is quite simple, the act of opening the door and putting in the tart cools the oven down this means the pastry begins to cook at the correct temperature, not sitting in too cool an oven and melting before beginning to set.
If we put the tart into the oven on a cold tray it will take ages for the base of the tart to heat though and again it will be soft, and none of want a soggy bottom, do we….
After the 12 minutes remove the tray from the oven and SHUT THE OVEN DOOR! I don’t know how many times I have watched somebody checking their baking with the oven door wide open. Then they can’t understand why they get poor results.
Carefully lift one edge of the paper and have a look at the base of the shell. If it looks uncooked return the tray to the oven for 3-4 minutes more. If the pastry looks cooked but moist lift the paper and beans out of the tart the return it to the oven for another 3 minutes to dry the base.
And bingo… you should have a blind baked tart shell to fill or use as you wish. This process is the same for large or small individual tarts, give it a go. Check out our post on a Pear and Blueberry Frangipane Tart to test out your new skills.
There is of course an alternative option of using bottomless tart rings. these are often perforated to allow moisture to escape the pastry during baking and give a crisper finish. Once you have had a chance to practice the basics have a look at our post on how to use perforated tart rings.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
How to make a pear and blueberry frangipane tart with fresh custard sauce.
Time to get planting next years garlic crop ready for the Spring. Also learn how to make a Chefs Secret – chive oil.
Courgette and tomato Chutney. It’s that chutney time of year and one of the things I look forward to in the Summer / Autumn crossover is making my preserves to see me through to the next crop of fruit and vegetables. There is something comforting and rewarding in bringing in food from the garden or gathering wild berries and turning them into something to be savoured through the winter. I feel a bit like a squirrel stashing away my treats for later.
I had intended to start these blogs earlier in the year to reflect our progress in the garden. But like all well made plans it didn’t quite work out. As you will hear, I’m not really a gardener, I like to cook it, love to eat it, but the growing side of things is still a bit of a mystery to me.
Over the past two years we have put in raised beds and erected a polytunnel with some success, and a few disasters. I hope you can learn from more from my disasters and experiences, but more of that later, let’s get into the kitchen.
People have been preserving food for centuries. At first out of necessity, now it’s for the pleasure of the tastes and textures these techniques give us. Smoking, salting, pickling, bottling, fermentation, drying, chilling, they all still have a place in the kitchen and quite often with more than one technique been used together. Over the series of these blogs, I hope to cover all these techniques and use them in some unexpected ways.
My first offering uses salting to remove some of the bitterness from courgettes as long as you don’t leave the vegetable exposed to the salt for too long it shouldn’t make them taste overly salty. Try it prior to roasting courgette or aubergine on the BBQ, or oven.
Courgette and Tomato Chutney
500g courgettes plus 1tsp salt
500g ripe tomatoes, imperfect ones are fine
250ml cider vinegar
275g light brown soft sugar
120g red onions (roughly 2)
2 granny smiths’ apples
100g sultanas
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp chili flakes
1tsp yellow mustard seeds
¼ tsp garam masala
Wash, top, tail, and dice the courgettes roughly 1cm thick. Place the dice into a colander set over a bowl and sprinkle the 1tsp of salt over the dice and mix in. Leave the colander to sit for about 20 minutes for the salt to suck some of the bitterness out from the vegetable.
Peel and cut the onions into 1cm dice and set aside. Repeat this with the apples, discarding the core.
Peel and chop the garlic, then crush to a paste using the salt to break down the garlic and release the oils.
Pour the oil into a wide shallow pan and pop over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook slowly for about 10 minutes or until soft. Chop the tomatoes and add to the pan with the vinegar and sugar then turn up the heat a little. Stir the pan until it simmers, and the sugar has dissolved.
Wash the courgette under running water and drain well. Add them to the pan with the balance of the ingredients. Turn up the heat stirring to the boil.
Cook on a rolling boil stirring from time to time until the mixture has thickened and when a spatula is scraped across the bottom of the pan liquid does not flow back into the gap.
Using a jam funnel fill warm sterilised jars with the hot chutney to the lower rim, cover the mix with a disc of waxed paper then seal with the lid. Let the jars cool completely then store in a cool dark place for at least a month before use.
Now go to The Golden Rules of Home Preserving page to get tips on safe preserving and how to sterilise your jars prior to filling.
Enjoy life !
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
If you enjoyed your visit with us, please subscribe up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at The Westcoaster. Subscribe Here
©John Webber. 2023
Getting to grips with pastry, Learn how to make the best sweet and short pastry successfully without stress.
Hi, welcome to ‘The Westcoaster’ our food and lifestyle blog by John Webber. Our mission is simple – one to excite and encourage people to produce good fresh food. Secondly to promote the virtues of costal countryside living,