Blind baking

[hammerman]

I've never really done a lot of pastry cooking....possibly because i've never understood the concept of blind baking. I'd like to start cooking quiches, bakewell tarts, pies etc etc.

Why do some pastries require blind baking and some don't and are there any hard and fast rules when it comes to blind baking.

Many thanks in advance

[hammerman]

Thanks sodemall....i can understand the reasoning behind that but this morning, i was watching someone make a bakewell tart. She said the pastry didn't need blind baking and proceeded to tip a couple of litres of the wet "almond mix" straight onto the raw pastry.

I've also cooked quiches before without blind baking and tipped the wet egg mix onto raw pastry.

Any ideas ?