I will go to great lengths to avoid blind baking a pie crust. It is my least favorite task and I will settle for a soggy bottom before I spend an extra half hour pre-baking and cooling a crust. However, there are times when it is necessary and it can be done successfully with a little effort. Here are the steps to blind bake a crust:

• Roll and plate the pie crust and get it REALLY COLD before baking. You can put it in the refrigerator for a good 30 minutes or even better, put it in the freezer. This is the key to avoiding a shrinking pie.
• Pre-heat oven to 400.
• Pierce the bottom and sides of the pie crust multiple times with a fork.
• Line pie crust with foil and fill shell with pie weights or dry beans/rice. Be sure to fill all the way to the top so that the sides are weighted down as well. This will help prevent shrinking.
• Bake covered pie shell for about 15 minutes, then gently remove foil. Pierce any puffed crust with a fork to let the air out.
• Partially baked crust (this is for pies that will need to go back in the oven like pumpkin, etc.) – Return to oven uncovered for another 5-8 minutes until the bottom is JUST beginning to brown. Remove and let cool.
• Fully baked crust (this is for pies that will not be baked like chocolate pudding, banana cream, etc.) – Return to oven uncovered for 12 – 15 minutes until fully golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.

Things that might go wrong:

• The pie crust shrinks away from the sides. If this happens and you are doing a partially baked crust, press the crust back up the sides when you remove it from the oven the first time and uncover it. Put the foil back on with the weights and let it cool. Skip the step of returning it to the oven uncovered. If you are doing a fully baked crust, do the same thing, put the foil back on with the weights and return it to the oven to bake. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes.
• The edges start to burn. If this happens, cover with a ring of foil or pie shield if you have one. To avoid this all together, you can cover the edges from the start. If you are doing a partial crust and putting a pie back into the oven, this can be a problem because you have another 35-40 minutes of baking ahead of you. Definitely be prepared to cover the edges 10 or 15 minutes into baking the filled pie shell.
• You decide you hate blind baking crust. This is a completely normal reaction and I encourage you to avoid blind baking as much as you can in the future.