Pie crust puzzler

[chefpeon]

Well, here comes pie season, like it or not!

I love blind baking my crusts, because I have found it's an unbeatable method for avoiding the

ol' soggy crust syndrome. This, of course works great for single crust pies. But what about double crust pies? Once the bottom part is blind baked, it's pretty darn hard to seal a top crust to it. I

suppose I could wash the top edge with water or egg wash and that would work, but then I don't get to have a pretty fluted edge......just a flat edge with fork marks or something.

Is it an impossibility to blind bake a bottom crust and have a pretty top crust with a nice high fluted edge, or am I missing something in the aspect of methodology?

Any suggestions or help is mucho appreciated!!!!

[andiesenji]

I blind-bake pie shells on the OUTSIDE of an inverted Pyrex pie plate, cutting the dough off at the point where the side meets the lip of the top.

When the shell is placed into the pie plate in which the pie will be baked, there is a free space between the top of the shell and the lip of the pie plate and when I add the top, I fold the edges under and tuck into this space then flute the edge of the now doubled dough.

I don't worry about sealing the edges because I line the pie plate in which the pie will be baked with parchment paper. I buy the pre-cut rounds and just cut into the edge all the way around so when it is pushed down into the place, the cuts will overlap. If juices leak out it doesn't mar the look of the pie and the paper keeps it from sticking to the plate.

(I usually cut several at a time, I put a saucer over the center of the paper rounds and using a mat knife, make the cuts from the edge of the sauce out to the edge)

I learned the trick of blind-baking pie shells on the outside of a pie pan about 40 years ago. I dock the dough with a rolling docker before I place it over the pie pan but you can also prick it with a fork after you have placed it on the pan.

This technique means you do not need to use pie weights or liners to keep the sides from slumping. It takes a little practice to get it right but you can try it with smaller things.

I blind-bake little shells over the outside bottoms of either the regular or the jumbo muffin pans. Much easier than dealing with a bunch of little individual pans.

[Wendy DeBord]

I do similar to you andiesenji baking my blind pie crusts inverted. The only real difference is that I place another pie pan over the top so that it will flatten the crust. If you don't flatten it, it will puff up as it bakes. Then when it's reinverted and filled it can crack/break from the weight of the filling.

I've also prebaked bottom crusts in an attempt to avoid the possible soggie bottom. I don't know of a way to join the top and bottom once either is baked so it's traditional looking. I'll be pretty shocked if someone knows how to. But if you don't object you can leave your top crust floating. I'd rather have that then a wet bottom crust. I think if your more creative in how you do your top crust it's fine and can look decent. I'd do something more elaborate, like a leaf pattern or a lattice then just fork my edges.......

In a previous thread http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=47036&hl= we talked about pie making and I think you might like some of the techniques we talked about. For example, baking a fruit pie from a frozen state. If your doing these at work and have to make alot of pies, that works really well for me.

[phaelon56]

I'm intrigued by this concept but does the top crust look a bit weird? I'm visualizing well defined edges where it hits the edge of the inverted bottom and then drops down the what is actually the top edge of the pyrex pie dish that it's being baked on. Is there some way to blind bake the top crust so that it will have a more natural curve when it's removed and added to the pie before final baking?

[andiesenji]

I don't blind bake the top crust, only the bottom.

The bottom crust, pre-baked, is insulated by the fruit in the pie itself.

The top crust bakes very rapidly so that when the filling is done, so is the top crust.

If you bake it long enough to cook a non-pre-baked bottom, the top will be charred.

When I bake an egg custard pie, it does not have a top crust. However I do want a fancy edge around the circumference.

I cut little rounds, leaves or rosettes from dough, pull the pie (which is on a sheet pan) from the oven when it is about half done and the edges have thickened enough to support the dough, then add the "trim" overlapping the pieces around the entire outside edge, but not actually resting on the rim of the pie pan or plate.

Again, this takes a little practice but it looks nice and gives a "finished" look to the pie.

You can brush it with egg wash or a little simple syrup then sprinkle it with non-melting sugar to make it sparkle.

The remaining baking time should be just enought to finish setting the custard and browing the added dough trim without causing it to scorch.

You can practice by making a batch of dough, rolling it to different thicknesses and baking it on a sheet pan to see just how long it takes to bake to just showing color, to light brown, with and without an egg wash or whatever.

If you have the times recorded on a little card it can help the next time you want to make a pie with a terrific presentation appearance. And you can always eat the practic pieces as a snack.

[andiesenji]

I do similar to you andiesenji baking my blind pie crusts inverted. The only real difference is that I place another pie pan over the top so that it will flatten the crust. If you don't flatten it, it will puff up as it bakes. Then when it's reinverted and filled it can crack/break from the weight of the filling.

--------------------------------------------

After I roll the dough I run a rolling docker all over it. This is just a 3 inch long white nylon roller, 1 inch in diameter with steel spines sticking out all over it and a T-shaped wire handle to push it along.

This makes little holes every 1/4 inch so it keeps the dough from puffing, or at least I have had no problems.

The one I have is no longer made but this vendor has a couple which are similar but made of different materials: pastry tools

I find it saves me a lot of time and trouble.

I use it on other pastry also.

I saw one like it on ebay recently, listed as a "Docker brand" meat tenderizer!