Page 116 - United States of Pie

spread it out to meet the meringue along the perimeter. The
meringue should cover the entire top of the pie.
Bake the pie for 10 to 15 minutes, until the meringue is golden

brown. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool to room
temperature before enjoying.

WHAT IS BLIND BAKING?

Blind baking refers to baking a piecrust before filling it. Though

many pies that have a precooked filling (such as cream pies and
meringue pies) call for a prebaked cookie or graham cracker
crust, others call for a prebaked standard short crust. In order for
an empty pie shell to maintain its shape as it bakes, the dough
must be weighted. In kitchen supply stores you may see fancy
boxes of terra-cotta spheres labeled as “pie weights.” While you
can definitely use these, pie weights don’t have to be anything
official. Dried beans or even rice, about 2 cups’ worth, work just

as well. They can even be cooled, stored, and reused for baking
time and again.
Before you weigh down the crust, you need to put foil, or,
better yet, parchment paper, into the shell in order to protect the
dough from the pie weights. The reason I recommend parchment

paper over foil is the condensation factor: when baking, the heat
may attract beads of moisture to the foil. Parchment paper is
dryer and more porous, and the result is a crisper crust. Crusts
that are blind baked should be filled the same day.