What to do with leftover baking beans (pastry making)

You mean the ones you put on top of the pastry while it’s being baked blind so it doesn’t puff up? I keep them and reuse them a few times.

If you’re done using them for pastry, use them to make soup.

I’m lost. Beans & making pastry???????

I would throw them out the window of a speeding train!lol!

@lucillelucillelucille And I’d open the window!!!

Like all has “beans” retire them.

@jbfletcherfan -I can’t stop laughing about this!You made my day!The check is in the mail:))

@jbfletcherfan When you stop laughing, read my answer for the definitive one. :-)

Assuming you are talking about real dried beans and not the ceramic beans sold for pastry making, then use them as dried beans. Make chili, soup, baked beans or whatever bean dishes you prefer.

@janbb I read your answer, but that made it even more confusing. You’re putting beans….on pastry…and all the while…you’re blind? And then reusing them? still scratching my head

I like bean soup. Are you suggesting that I should try a bean cake? Or maybe a coffee cake—”now made with real beans!” or what?

Well, I learned something new today, and that doesn’t happen nearly often enough. (Save the snide comments, please. I already know this and admit it.)

I didn’t even know what blind baking was until I saw that in the Wikipedia reference for “ceramic beans”, so I really learned two things. Or maybe I just learned two things about one thing. Damn, I’m not really sure what I learned, if anything.

Can I have my cake now?

my head hurts

@jbfletcherfan Sometimes when you want to bake pastry, you partially bake it before adding the filling. To do this you weigh down the pastry with baking beans (separated with tin foil or baking paper) which allows it to cook evenly. As for why its called baking blind I have no idea.

@Ame_Evil Ahhhhh…now it all makes sense. I’d never heard of this. One more thing I’ve learned on fluther. Thanks. :-)

I would advise against using these beans in soup, unless you don’t mind really tough beans in your soup.
don’t ask me how I know this

I usually just put them in an airtight container and use them many times before discarding in the compost pile.

@wilma Would these beans be fine if left to cook in say a chilli for 50 mins?

@Ame_Evil If you really want to cook them, then I would soak them overnight first, and be prepared for them to never get really tender and nice. They are edible, just not like fresh beans.

I’ll buy the ceramic kind then I guess.

I put mine in a jar with a lid and use them over and over.

First soak overnight, then boil for a couple of hours, then put in the blender. Stir into a container with unflavored yogurt or softened cream cheese. They make a really great bean dip.

The ceramic ones do work better, anyway. Beans aren’t heavy enough to do the job without piling them in pretty thick, but that makes them act as an insulator and the heat can’t get to the crust from the top. It takes fewer of the ceramic beads to get the weight necessary to keep the crust from blistering, and the material itself transfers heat better, so the bottom bakes more quickly.