What can you use instead of baking beans? 6 solutions

The simple version: 6 alternatives to baking beans

The principle stays the same in every case. You lay baking paper over the pastry, then you fill it with something heavy, right up to the edges. Here are the six that genuinely work, from the most common to the most durable.

1. Uncooked rice

This is the most widely used option, and the finest. The grains are small, so they follow the corners and hold the sides up. Do keep that rice for weighting afterwards though: once it has been through the oven a few times, it no longer cooks properly.

2. Dried pulses

Beans, chickpeas or lentils all do the job. They are bigger than rice, however, so they are less precise in the corner. Like rice, they can be reused dozens of times for this purpose, provided you store them dry.

3. Coarse salt

Salt is dense. It therefore weighs the pastry down with less volume, which is handy on tartlets. It also absorbs some of the moisture during baking. Again, do not put it back in the salt cellar afterwards.

4. Sugar

This lesser known trick has one advantage: the sugar can then be reused in the bakery, lightly toasted. Watch the colour, though, because it darkens faster than the other weights.

5. A food grade stainless steel chain

This is the professional version of weighting. The chain follows the base, lifts out in one movement, washes easily and lasts for years. It costs more to buy, but it does not wear out.

6. A second mould nested on top

You simply place an identical mould over the pastry. The method works well on small formats. Be aware, though, that it traps steam and slows the base down as it dries.

What weighing down actually does

The weight is not there to flatten the pastry. It compensates for two things happening at once. Understand them, and you know when you can do without.

First, the water in the pastry turns to steam. That steam tries to escape, so it lifts the base and forms blisters. Second, the gluten shrinks under the heat. The sides then slide down and the tart loses height.

The weight treats both symptoms at the same time. In other words, it masks a problem rather than solving it. That is precisely why a well organised bakery ends up doing without.

What weighing down really costs in production

One at a time, weighting costs nothing. In batches, the bill changes nature. Count the movements rather than the minutes, and you will see straight away where the time goes.

For a single weighted shell, the full sequence takes six movements. You cut and lay the paper, you fill it, you load the oven, you pull the tray out halfway through, you lift out the hot weights, then you put the tray back in.

Over a batch of one hundred tartlets, that adds up to six hundred handling steps, two hundred of them on a tray straight out of the oven. That is where the real cost sits: not in the price of the rice, but in oven time and in the risk of burns.

Method 1: blind baking with weights, done properly

If you keep the weights, four points make all the difference.

1. Rest the pastry in the fridge after lining, thirty minutes minimum. That step alone limits shrinkage.
2. Dock the base with a fork or a docking roller, so the steam has a way out.
3. Fill the paper right up to the edges, not just in the middle. A half filled weight does not hold the sides.
4. Lift the weights out before the end of the bake, so the base can colour and dry.

For the full protocol, moisture management in fillings and anti moisture barriers, see our article on the crispy tart base.

Baking paper or baking cloth: what should you replace?

The weights must never touch the pastry directly, otherwise the grains embed themselves in it. So you need a separation.

For that specific job, baking paper remains the simplest answer. It follows the pastry, it cuts to size and it goes in the bin after baking. It is a recurring consumable, but no cloth replaces it properly inside a tart shell.

The baking cloth plays a different role: it replaces the paper under the rings, on the tray. SILMAT pastry cloths are made of silicone coated fibreglass and hold from -40 to +240 °C. Fifteen sizes are available, from 205 x 295 to 600 x 800 mm, between 6.88 and 35.71 euros excl. VAT. That removes the tray paper, which is the bulk of the consumable, without touching the weights themselves.

Method 2: the perforated ring, when perforation replaces weight

The perforated tart ring is a stainless steel band pierced with micro perforations. They encourage the water to evaporate during baking and improve heat distribution. The steam therefore escapes instead of lifting the base.

In practice, weighting becomes unnecessary once three conditions are met. The pastry has rested in the fridge, the mould is perforated, and the oven is genuinely up to temperature when you load it. If one of the three is missing, the weights are still needed.

The rings supplied by Mae Innovation are Gobel references, straight edged stainless steel, made in France. They withstand 300 °C and are dishwasher safe. The range covers diameters 80 to 300 mm, in heights of 20 and 35 mm. The Ø200 x 20 mm is 8.42 euros excl. VAT each.

Method 3: dropping the weights and the blind bake

There is a third route, which changes the logic altogether. Rather than holding the pastry while it bakes, you give it its final shape straight away in a cavity.

That is the principle behind the Instant Tarte range, designed with Pierre-Henri Roullard, Meilleur Ouvrier de France pastry chef and confectioner 2023. The mould is made from silicone coated perforated fibreglass. The perforation handles evaporation, the coating allows release without greasing, and it holds up to +280 °C.

The action takes three steps. You cut the pastry with a cutter, then you drop it into the cavity. A light press with the finger is enough after that. No ring, no paper, no weights.

“You will work as fast as a pastry press”

Pierre-Henri Roullard, Meilleur Ouvrier de France pastry chef and confectioner 2023, designer of the Instant Tarte range.

Fourteen references are available at 47.47 euros excl. VAT, in round, fluted, boat, oblong and mini formats. Mae Innovation quotes output rates of 200 to 5,000 pieces a day, and the product sheet mentions up to two hundred tart shells produced in record time.

The 4 mistakes that ruin a blind bake

First mistake, filling the weights halfway. The centre holds, but the sides collapse, and that is exactly where the fault shows.

Second mistake, baking pastry that has not rested. No weight makes up for shrinkage, it only delays it.

Third mistake, leaving the weights in to the end. The base then stays pale and damp, because it never met direct heat.

Fourth mistake, cooking with rice you have used as a weight. After several bakes it has lost its water and it will cook badly.

Recommended equipment for baking shells without weights

FAQ: baking beans and blind baking