So I get it, the whole "when do I pre-bake something" is super confusing.Think of it this way: poor pie dough wouldn’t stand a chance (aka be a soggy mess) with a custard filling if we don’t give it a head start. Hence why we pre-bake, because custard pies are too delicious to have soggy bottoms.Custard pies = pumpkin pies. Chocolate cream pies. Banana cream pie. Any cream pie really or pie that has a liquid-type filling that needs to be baked.You also pre-bake a pie crust for no-bake FRESH fruit filled pies. (Think fresh strawberry pie lathered in sticky glaze.)You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie.you should probably get: Pie weights are super helpful to have for pre-baking. Pie weights are usually little ceramic balls, but if you don’t have them or can’t find them, dry rice or dry beans work really well too, but there’s just nothing like those cute little ceramic balls!partially pre-baked vs totally pre-baked: There are two ways to pre-bake a pie shell.partially pre-baked: The first way is to not fully bake the pie crust (otherwise known as a "partially pre-baked crust" or a "partially baked crust") because the filling will need time to cook too. For example, a pumpkin pie. If we fully baked our pie crust, it would be cardboard dry by the time our custard was done baking. This method is to just give our pie crust a head start in the baking process before we load the liquid custard in.totally pre-baked: The second way to pre-bake a crust is to fully cook the crust. This method is used for fillings that don’t need to bake, but need to chill instead. (ie, fresh fruit pies, pudding pies). Another example is a chocolate pudding pie, in which case the pudding has already been cooked, it just needs to set and chill. A good rule of thumb for knowing when you’ll need a fully baked pie crust instead of a pre-baked pie crust is when the filling itself is pretty solid, and not liquid at all and really, whether or not the filling needs to bake.the how: Preheat oven to 425°F and place a cookie sheet inside the oven to get nice and hot. In a small bowl whisk together one egg white and 1 teaspoon of water. Have a pastry brush next to your egg wash cause we’ll need it soon.Once buttery flakey pie dough has been chilled, take one disc of dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.Roll one disk out into a 12-inch circle at about ⅜-inch thick. (The length of time out of the fridge depends on how hot or cool your kitchen is.) Roll dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 12-inches / 30cm in diameter.Fit crust into a 9-inch pie dish, taking care not to stretch or pull the dough, or press dough in hard or too much, or the pie crust will shrink when baked. Cut excess dough so there is only a ½ to 1-inch overhang. Leave overhang, cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for 30 minutes.After dough has rested, crimp the edges of the dough, and prick the bottom and the sides of your pie shell at least 15 times. Line a piece of aluminum foil around your crust and fill with pie weights.Place your pie crust on the pre-heated sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. Quickly take the pie out of the oven and remove foil and pie weights and brush the bottom and sides with your egg white mixture.Return pie crust to oven, uncovered and continue to bake for 3 more minutes.The only difference here is if you wanted to fully bake the pie crust, you’d bake it for 20 more minutes instead of 3 minutes.And there you have it! Pre-baked goodness. See? That wasn’t so bad.
FAQs
You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie.
How do you keep pre baked pie crust from getting soggy? ›
Brush Your Pie in Egg Wash
Once you've pre-baked your pie, brush the bottom and sides of the crust with egg wash, then reheat at 400° for 4 minutes to set the glaze. This creates a seal between the crust and the filling so that your crust stays crispy and golden once the filling is added.
How long do I blind bake a pie crust? ›
Add pie weights, dry rice, dried beans or (as I've done here) dry wheat berries, enough to fill the pan 2/3 full. Chill the crust for 30 minutes; this will solidify the fat, which helps prevent shrinkage. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and lift out the paper and weights.
How long to bake homemade pie crust at 350 degrees? ›
If your recipe doesn't have instructions and you're wondering how long to pre bake the pie, here's what I do: I pre bake the prepped pie crust at 350°F. If the crust is homemade from scratch, I pre bake for 35 minutes. If the crust is store-bought, I pre bake for 30 minutes.
Should you poke holes in the bottom of pie crust? ›
With docking, the holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn't held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, not only impacting appearance but also leaving you with less space for whatever filling you have planned.
What happens if you don't chill pie crust before baking? ›
Non-chilled crust is fairly crumbly and less smooth, which makes it harder to roll out and means it may not look as polished. It will brown more quickly and the final product will likely be tougher, heavier, and more doughy – none of those in a bad way. It will likely have a more intense, butter flavor.
How do you bake an apple pie so the bottom crust is not soggy? ›
Blind Bake the Crust
One of the fool-proof ways to ensure a crisp bottom pie crust is to do what is called blind baking. This simply means that you bake the crust—either fully if you are adding a custard or cream that won't be cooked, or partially if the whole pie needs to bake—before adding the filling.
How do you get a crispy crust on the bottom of a pie? ›
Getting a brown, flaky/crispy bottom crust on your pie is all about quick and effective heat transfer. That's why aluminum or aluminum/steel pans — rather than glass or stoneware — are your best choice for baking pie. Metal, especially aluminum, transfers heat quickly and efficiently from oven to pie crust.
How do you pre bake a pie crust without shrinking it? ›
Higher temperatures make the gluten in pie crusts tighten up and shrink a bit. So if your recipe requires pre-baking the pie crust, it will shrink less if you bake it “low and slow” (around 350 degrees F).
What kind of pies need a prebaked crust? ›
Other pies, typically those with a more delicate, egg- and cream-based filling (think custard pie or quiche) require at least some baking — but don't spend long enough in the oven (at a high enough temperature) to guarantee a fully baked, brown and crispy crust. In these cases, you need to prebake your crust.
Some recipes like quiches recommend partially cooked pie shells because the baking time wouldn't be long enough to fully cook the dough otherwise. Pre-baking a crust can ensure that your pie or tart crust will be fully baked and browned, and not soggy.
Should I egg wash my pie crust before blind baking? ›
An egg wash is not necessary when blind baking, though if you want to add some shine to the edges of the pie, you can brush the crust with egg wash after removing the pie weights and before returning the pie to the oven to finish baking.
Does homemade pie crust need to be baked before filling? ›
There are a few instances, actually. You need a par-baked or fully baked crust if you're making quiche, no-bake pie, custard pie, cream pie, pudding pie, or simply want an extra-crisp pie crust. If you're making a pie that doesn't require a baked filling, you still need a baked crust.
How do you know when a pie crust is baked? ›
You want it to look dry and flaky, but still pale. For a fully baked crust, cook until the bottom turns a light golden color. The whole process won't take more than 15 or 20 minutes.
Why is my pie crust hard after baking? ›
The pie dough isn't given enough time to relax and chill
The pie crust could have a firm or tough texture if you bake your pie before resting your dough. Giving your dough time to rest will allow all the ingredients to chill, help the moisture distribute more evenly throughout the dough, and make it easier to roll out.
How long should pie crust rest before baking? ›
Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.
How do you Prebake a pie crust without shrinking it? ›
Tip 4: Bake Low and Slow
High heat encourages the pie dough to shrink and puff, reducing its capacity for filling, distorting the decorative border, and creating air pockets all over the bottom and sides of the crust. I vastly prefer blind-baking for an hour at 350°F (175°C), with pie weights in place the entire time.
How long do you blind bake pastry and at what temperature? ›
Line the base and sides of an uncooked pastry case with non-stick baking paper. Fill with rice, dried beans, or metal or ceramic baking weights. (This stops the pastry base rising during cooking.) Place on a baking tray and cook in an oven preheated to 220C for 8-10 minutes.
Should you butter pie crust before baking? ›
Pie and tart doughs have so much butter in them that they almost self-grease as they bake. The butter melts and turns into steam and browns the bottoms making them crispy. If you add more grease into that situation, the texture of your pie crust may change in the oven. So you definitely don't want to overdo it.
So I get it, the whole "when do I pre-bake something" is super confusing.Think of it this way: poor pie dough wouldn’t stand a chance (aka be a soggy mess) with a custard filling if we don’t give it a head start. Hence why we pre-bake, because custard pies are too delicious to have soggy bottoms.Custard pies = pumpkin pies. Chocolate cream pies. Banana cream pie. Any cream pie really or pie that has a liquid-type filling that needs to be baked.You also pre-bake a pie crust for no-bake FRESH fruit filled pies. (Think fresh strawberry pie lathered in sticky glaze.)You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie.
you should probably get: Pie weights are super helpful to have for pre-baking. Pie weights are usually little ceramic balls, but if you don’t have them or can’t find them, dry rice or dry beans work really well too, but there’s just nothing like those cute little ceramic balls!partially pre-baked vs totally pre-baked: There are two ways to pre-bake a pie shell.partially pre-baked: The first way is to not fully bake the pie crust (otherwise known as a "partially pre-baked crust" or a "partially baked crust") because the filling will need time to cook too. For example, a pumpkin pie. If we fully baked our pie crust, it would be cardboard dry by the time our custard was done baking. This method is to just give our pie crust a head start in the baking process before we load the liquid custard in.totally pre-baked: The second way to pre-bake a crust is to fully cook the crust. This method is used for fillings that don’t need to bake, but need to chill instead. (ie, fresh fruit pies, pudding pies). Another example is a chocolate pudding pie, in which case the pudding has already been cooked, it just needs to set and chill. A good rule of thumb for knowing when you’ll need a fully baked pie crust instead of a pre-baked pie crust is when the filling itself is pretty solid, and not liquid at all and really, whether or not the filling needs to bake.the how: Preheat oven to 425°F and place a cookie sheet inside the oven to get nice and hot. In a small bowl whisk together one egg white and 1 teaspoon of water. Have a pastry brush next to your egg wash cause we’ll need it soon.
Once buttery flakey pie dough has been chilled, take one disc of dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.Roll one disk out into a 12-inch circle at about ⅜-inch thick. (The length of time out of the fridge depends on how hot or cool your kitchen is.) Roll dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface until it is roughly 12-inches / 30cm in diameter.Fit crust into a 9-inch pie dish, taking care not to stretch or pull the dough, or press dough in hard or too much, or the pie crust will shrink when baked. Cut excess dough so there is only a ½ to 1-inch overhang. Leave overhang, cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for 30 minutes.After dough has rested, crimp the edges of the dough, and prick the bottom and the sides of your pie shell at least 15 times. Line a piece of aluminum foil around your crust and fill with pie weights.
Place your pie crust on the pre-heated sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. Quickly take the pie out of the oven and remove foil and pie weights and brush the bottom and sides with your egg white mixture.Return pie crust to oven, uncovered and continue to bake for 3 more minutes.The only difference here is if you wanted to fully bake the pie crust, you’d bake it for 20 more minutes instead of 3 minutes.And there you have it! Pre-baked goodness. See? That wasn’t so bad.
