"everything I read tells me we shouldn't use normal.dot as our blank
document"

Can you give an example of something you've read that tells you this?
Normal.dot is the default "blank document", by definition. Perhaps you've
misunderstood suggestions about not putting stuff into the headers and
footers of normal.dot, eg to use it as the standard company letterhead or
similar (which is indeed good advice). But if you just want a plain blank
document, there's no need to complicate matters.