Piezing — Pie Crust Techniques | piezing.com
Blind baking bakes the crust fully; par-baking bakes it partially. The word par stands for partial, and the difference decides which pies get which treatment.
A blind bake is a complete bake with no filling in the shell. The crust is lined, weighted and baked until it is golden from center to edge, then the filling is added afterward. Cream pies take this route because their filling is already cooked and cooled before it meets the crust.
A par-bake is a partial bake. The crust is baked until the edges are golden and the center is dry but still pale, leaving the middle underdone on purpose so the filling can finish it. Custard pies such as pumpkin take this route because they bake at about 325°F, too low and slow to cook a raw crust.
Fruit pies take neither. Apple and similar fruit pies bake near 375°F for a full hour, which is long and hot enough to cook the crust from raw. That is why only custard crusts need a head start.
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The distinction is not about the dough recipe. A classic flaky dough at the 3-2-1 ratio — three parts flour, two parts fat, one part water by weight — can be used for any of the three treatments; the filling decides which one applies.
The two bakes also differ in timing. A full blind bake at 350°F runs about an hour; the matching par-bake runs 35 to 40 minutes. Under the upside-down sandwich method at 375°F, the full bake takes about 40 minutes and the par-bake 15 to 20.
Cookie and cracker crusts compress the same logic into minutes: par-bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, blind bake for 12 to 15.
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