Home-made Pie Crust: Tips & Troubleshooting

[weinoo]

I can't imagine pre-baking the top crust.

[tim]

TThis is really strange. We would love to know the source of the recipes.

 

If you are a beginner you should utilize the very easiest, and best pie crust recipe ever.  http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/07/easy-pie-dough-recipe.html?ref=search

 

Good luck

[Lisa Shock]

I've never heard of pre-baking a top crust, except for cobblers of the type that have biscuits (not batter) on top. Once in a while I see a recipe that calls for the biscuits to be precooked a bit.

[MelissaH]

I first heard about prebaking the crust for a 2-crust pie in an article about Bill Yosses, (soon-to-be-former) White House pastry chef. He'd blind bake the bottom crust, load the pie with apples or whatever, and then add the top crust and bake the whole pie. Supposedly, the advantage is that the bottom crust is guaranteed to get cooked properly and stay crisp.

 

I've been known to bake "cookies" of pie crust, and place one on top of each serving of open-faced pie. For people who love crust, this is a way to give them more of the good stuff.

[Lisa Shock]

I first heard about prebaking the crust for a 2-crust pie in an article about Bill Yosses, (soon-to-be-former) White House pastry chef. He'd blind bake the bottom crust, load the pie with apples or whatever, and then add the top crust and bake the whole pie. Supposedly, the advantage is that the bottom crust is guaranteed to get cooked properly and stay crisp.

 

I've been known to bake "cookies" of pie crust, and place one on top of each serving of open-faced pie. For people who love crust, this is a way to give them more of the good stuff.

 

Blind baking the bottom crust is very, very common.

What I have not seen is a prebaked top crust for a whole pie. -One that is then attached to a blind baked bottom crust filled with apple filling as mentioned by the OP.

[Beusho]

The source is from Susan Corriher's Cookwise, it's the big chunk apple pie from that book which people who I know who've had it said it was great. She blind bakes the bottom crust and then uses the remaining dough rolled out and put on a metal bowl which she then bakes. The pie is made by cooking the bottom crust, top crust and pie filling separately and then just assembling all three, there's no mention of baking after the top crust is put on.

[Anna N]

Just a minor correction. The author is Shirley O. Corriher and here's the recipe I think is meant:

http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/pie/applepiebigchunk01.html

[Jim D.]

That recipe is quite something.  I love the poster's note at the end:  "This recipe takes some time."  To put it mildly.  It does sound intriguing, but I don't quite understand how the top crust works.  If you drape it over a bowl and bake it "until deep golden brown," won't it be too convex in shape to fit over the apples without breaking?

[Smithy]

That recipe is quite something. I love the poster's note at the end: "This recipe takes some time." To put it mildly. It does sound intriguing, but I don't quite understand how the top crust works. If you drape it over a bowl and bake it "until deep golden brown," won't it be too convex in shape to fit over the apples without breaking?

I think the idea is that it's stiff enough after baking to fit over all like a crisp cap. I've never thought of cooking an apple filling separately from the crust, much less cooking both crusts separately from each other. Bless Shirley Corriher for her innovations, but it seems a lot of complication compared to my family's standard apple pie with crumb crust. I'll happily try it if someone else makes it! ;-)

[Shalmanese]

In the Corriher recipe, you're not pre-baking the top crust, you're just plain baking it. There's no secondary bake.

[Smithy]

In the Corriher recipe, you're not pre-baking the top crust, you're just plain baking it. There's no secondary bake.

 

Right you are.  

 

Bake the bottom crust, bake the top crust, cook the filling; assemble and serve.

[Shelby]

I must confess that I always cook my apple filling a bit before putting it in the pie.  I like the apples to be soft and have always had the crust get done before the apples were the way I liked them.

[Beusho]

So I was planning on doing this

1. Bake the bottom crust the night before

2. Cook the apple filling

3. Assemble bottom crust and filling

4. Add a top crust from the left over dough

5. bake briefly to bake the top crust

A few questions

 

What would be a good temp/time to shoot for in #5, the filling and bottom crust are already finished, the only thing I would need the last heating step for is to bake the top crust. I'm thinking it would be a lattice crust. Would this overbake the bottom crust or fillings? 

Thanks for any help

[Lisa Shock]

You do run that risk, I would just par-bake the bottom, with egg wash to seal it. However, that would need to be done right before assembly. A par-cooked crust won't hold well.

[cyalexa]

A coconut cream pie has been requested by my brother for his birthday. I am pie-crust challenged. The CI crust using vodka is the only one I know I can make successfully. Do you think I can sub coconut rum for the vodka? Also, I looked at the Sweetie-licious crust recipe made with graham crackers and coconut and am tempted to try that. Any comments on that? Thanks in advance.

[Mjx]

For the CI crust, if the the booze contains at least as much ABV, and there are no flavours there that you'd just as soon not have in your pie (e.g. garlic schnapps), use whatever spirit you have on hand. I've used gin, tequila, whisky, you name it.

[David Ross]

I use coconut rum in the pie filling but not the crust. I garnish the top of the pie with whipped cream also flavored with coconut rum and then some toasted sweetened coconut.  My basic pie crust is very easy, but you should make it by hand.  I've found that using a food processor to make pie crust cuts the butter and flour too fine resulting in a crust that falls apart when baked.   

 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup salted butter

1/2 cup Crisco

Ice water

 

Blend the dry ingredients then cut in the butter and Crisco by hand with a pastry cutter.  Slowly add ice water, blending into the dough with a fork.  Add enough ice water so the dough forms a soft ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Bring the dough to room temperature before you roll it out for your pie crust.

[andiesenji]

I don't care much for graham crackers paired with coconut.

 

For similar 9 to 10 inch pies I make a crust with vanilla wafers and coconut (unsweetened) and a little sugar plus the butter needed for it to hold together.

 

Crush enough vanilla wafers roughly to make 1 1/4 cups - add 1/3 cup flaked coconut  1/4 cup granulated (use less if you are using superfine)

put in blender or food processor, pulse till small crumbs and completely blended

add  5 tablespoons of butter, cut into thin pats.

pulse just till butter is completely blended.

 

dump into pie plate and using something flat press down to even the bottom and then work it up the sides to the top edge - I use a measuring cup.

 

Bake in a 375° oven for  5-6 minutes.

 

Cool completely before adding the filling.  Works for all cream pies - for banana cream you can use dried banana flakes instead of the coconut. 

 

The same ratio can be used for chocolate wafers  for a crust for  chocolate pies, Boston cream, etc.

 

When I know I will be doing several pies over a period of a few weeks, I make this stuff up in "bulk" and store it in the freezer so it is ready to use.

 

I only bake in 9 and 10 inch glass or ceramic pie plates - I've found the thin metal ones cause a bit of scorching on the bottoms of the crust.

[HungryC]

Agree that a crumb crust is nice w/coconut cream.  Find some coconut wafer cookies/sables/sandies and use those.  No need to stress over a pie crust when a crumb crust will do.  Murray makes a scalloped, round coconut cookie (the kind with a hole in the middle) that would make a nice coconut crust.  Or make your own coconut sables and crumble them up.

 

Or make a press-in-the-pan tart crust, which is way easier than rolled-out pie crust.

[patti_h]

I don't care much for graham crackers paired with coconut.

For similar 9 to 10 inch pies I make a crust with vanilla wafers and coconut (unsweetened) and a little sugar plus the butter needed for it to hold together.

Crush enough vanilla wafers roughly to make 1 1/4 cups - add 1/3 cup flaked coconut 1/4 cup granulated (use less if you are using superfine)

put in blender or food processor, pulse till small crumbs and completely blended

add 5 tablespoons of butter, cut into thin pats.

pulse just till butter is completely blended.

dump into pie plate and using something flat press down to even the bottom and then work it up the sides to the top edge - I use a measuring cup.

Bake in a 375° oven for 5-6 minutes.

Cool completely before adding the filling. Works for all cream pies - for banana cream you can use dried banana flakes instead of the coconut.

The same ratio can be used for chocolate wafers for a crust for chocolate pies, Boston cream, etc.

When I know I will be doing several pies over a period of a few weeks, I make this stuff up in "bulk" and store it in the freezer so it is ready to use.

I only bake in 9 and 10 inch glass or ceramic pie plates - I've found the thin metal ones cause a bit of scorching on the bottoms of the crust.

This is great- I am making a key lime pie tomorrow and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a graham cracker crust. I'm trying out the nilla wafer crust- thanks for the idea!

Edited July 23, 2014 by patti_h (log)

[cyalexa]

Thanks to those who replied.

 

I'm putting vanilla wafers on the shopping list!

 

Andiensenji, I only have sweetened coconut on hand and no time to go the "big city" before I bake. Will cutting the sugar down to 2TB work? Also, the sweetened coconut tends to be rather moist so I may decrease the butter a bit as well, unless you think that is a bad idea. Have you by chance ever weighed 1 1/4 cups of roughly crushed vanilla wafers? I'm probably over thinking this, typical of me when I'm baking sweets. I'm much braver with bread and savory. 

[andiesenji]

Thanks to those who replied.

 

I'm putting vanilla wafers on the shopping list!

 

Andiensenji, I only have sweetened coconut on hand and no time to go the "big city" before I bake. Will cutting the sugar down to 2TB work? Also, the sweetened coconut tends to be rather moist so I may decrease the butter a bit as well, unless you think that is a bad idea. Have you by chance ever weighed 1 1/4 cups of roughly crushed vanilla wafers? I'm probably over thinking this, typical of me when I'm baking sweets. I'm much braver with bread and savory. 

Because of the sugar in the coconut, it might get a bit burnt - not such a bad thing if it doesn't go too far.  So perhaps reducing the temp by 25 degrees and WATCHING it while baking would be best. 

 

I haven't weighed the cookies.  I generally toss a bunch in a ziplock bag and bang them into small chunks and then just use dip some out with a measuring cup.  I don't eat the cookies, I only use them in baking or sprinkled on top of desserts that look a bit "plain" or need a touch of texture.

[Lisa Shock]

Sometimes, I use animal crackers in a crumb crust. I just don't tell everyone, so people think the flavor is familiar, and they like it, but they have no idea why.

[Lindacakes]

I recommend using Trader Joe's brand graham crackers for a graham cracker crust.  Read the label, all natural ingredients, which is not what you get with Honey Maid or Keebler.  They taste better.

 

I would think the same holds for vanilla wafers.

[cyalexa]

I recommend using Trader Joe's brand graham crackers for a graham cracker crust.  

 

Sadly, I have to drive to Dallas to go to Trader Joe's. I do so at least twice yearly.