Pie Tips, FAQs, and Common Mistakes

Let me take you to pie church.

The year’s best holiday is here: Thanksgiving. It’s also that one day of the year that many people go to pie church. They talk about going all year but only really go on Thanksgiving. It’s OK, I don’t judge. As a devout pie baker, aI m here to help. Even if you pray at the flaky alter of crust regularly, there are some key tips and tricks to ensure you have a pie worth every last bit of space in your stomach.

Apple, quince, and vanilla bean pie.

For the second year, I was one of the judges at a charity pie bake-off, the South Side Pie Challenge, here in Chicago. It gave me a great window into what makes a great pie and the common mistakes. The winning pie this year was an absolute beauty of a caramel-laced coconut cream pie.

This week, I stopped by WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station to talk all about holiday baking! Give it a listen for more pie tips. Last year, I wrote some tips to get the best pie crust over at Food & Wine.

Common Pie Mistakes & How to Fix Them

First tip: Make more pie.

Flavorless Crust: The most common mistake I found in crusts is also the easiest to fix. I tasted too many bland, flavorless pie crusts. Many were just under-seasoned. Some of my fellow judges are trained pastry chefs, and they agreed with me. Folks, your pie crust needs salt. And more salt than you think. Additional salt does not make your pie crust taste salty; it just makes it taste better.

How to fix it: For each stick of butter in my crust, I add ½ teaspoon fine sea salt plus about 2 teaspoons of sugar. The sugar helps with browning but also adds a touch of seasoning to the finished crust. Don’t skip the salt, please!

Soggy Bottoms: This dreaded problem has different solutions depending on the type of pie.

In Custard-y Pies: I know that the recipe on the back of the Libby’s Pumpkin can says to put the filling into a raw crust, but please do not do that. I beg you. You will have a soggy bottom. Those pies don’t get baked long enough for a properly cooked, crisp crust.

How to fix it: Please, for all that is good, blind-bake (or at least par-bake) the crust for pumpkin pie or pecan pie. Line your pie pan with the dough and freeze it for 10-15 minutes.. Preheat your oven to 400F with a rack in the middle. Take your frozen pie pan out, poke the bottom all over with a fork, line it with aluminum foil, and fill the pie (up to the top) with dried beans (the cheapest option). Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and bake for another 8-10 minutes until the bottom of the pie looks dry and turns golden brown. Pie queen Erin Jeanne McDowell has a whole video explaining how and why to par and blind bake your crust.

In Fruit Pies: I don’t par-bake crusts for fruit pies. (I advocate for pre-cooking your fruit fillings, though.) But so many glorious apple pies look like perfection from the top, only to disappoint from the bottom.

How to fix it: Bake your fruit pie on the bottom rack of the oven. That way the bottom crust is close to the heat and fully cooks at the same time that the top crust does. And bake it until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deep golden. I start my pies at 425F for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 until done (usually 60-80 minutes more).

A fully-baked apple pie.

Bland nuts: If you are making pecan pie (or any other nut-forward pie), I beg you, toast your nuts. We tasted several pecan pies that were just ok, but then a pie with deeply toasted pecans (and a hefty dose of salt) blew us away.

How to fix it: Put your pecans (or other nut) on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350F until they smell toasty and nutty, about 8 -15 minutes. Keep an eye on them: they can go from raw to burnt in a snap. Let them cool after they’re toasted, then use them in your pie recipe.

I toasted the pecans and blind baked the crust.

---

Pie FAQs

Art from my neice. Yes, I do love Jason and Pie. And Jason loves pie, too.

Salted or unsalted butter?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Most sticks of salted butter have the equivalent of about ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt added. That amount of salt isn’t going to impact your crust. But that’s not the question you should be asking.

What type/brand of butter is best for pie crusts?

This is the key question. I swear by using Kerrygold butter in my crust, and I found the salted version on sale, so that’s what I’m using this year. Plugra, Lurpak, or any other European style of butter works great, too. These butters are more malleable—they flatten into thin layers rather than crumble. The malleability leads to more flaky layers. While we’re on the subject, many butter brands have “flavor added,” so always check the label if you want butter without additives.

A plant-based option?

Miyoko’s Creamery Plant Milk Butter can be swapped one-to-one with butter in most pie crust recipes. The crust may brown a bit quicker with this option, so keep an eye on it. Shortening has zero flavor and no water in it so that it won’t give you as much flakiness, so I stay away from it.

Is egg wash always a must?

Not at all. Egg wash on top of a pie adds shine and helps the dough get brown. You can help your dough brown by adding a touch of sugar to the dough, and then you don’t need to egg wash it for color. It’s totally up to your preference—a shiny top or not. If you sprinkle some sugar on top, the egg wash (or simply some water) helps the sugar stick.

Tips for prepping ahead of time?

I have already made my pie dough, and it’s in the freezer. You can keep pie dough in the freezer (unrolled) for up to three months. I move it to the refrigerator the night before I want to roll it out and make the pie. If you pre-cook your apple pie filling, which I highly advise, you can make it the day before you plan to assemble and bake the pie.

Are there any pies that do well overnight?

Most pies are just fine if you make them the day before serving. Pies take a long time to bake and even longer to cool down, so I always make my pies the day before Thanksgiving. The oven is so busy on the big day, that there’s not time or space for these long bakes. I leave my pecan and apple pies at room temperature and put my pumpkin pie in the refrigerator. I wouldn’t make pies more than one day ahead if you can help it, though, if you want them at their pinnacle of yum.

The same pie, before and after baking. Look how much the apples shrink!

How to keep fillings from being runny?

For fruit pies, you need enough thickener (I usually use about 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch), and the thickener must boil. If you do not pre-cook your filling, you need to cook the pie until it’s bubbling all the way to the center. Or you can take the guesswork out of it and pre-cook the filling to give a bit more insurance that the filling will set. For pumpkin pies, they need to cook until the center jiggles like Jell-o, about 170-175F.  If it waves like a water bed, it’s not quite done. Don’t overcook it, though, or it can get grainy. Pecan pies should look puffed to the center. Oh, and your pie needs to be completely cool before slicing or the filling may be runny. Pies can take up to 4 hours to fully cool to room temperature. The wait is excruciating, I know.

How to avoid shrinking crusts during blind baking?

Some shrinkage is inevitable because of gluten. First off, when you crimp the crust, ensure that it sits right in the middle of the little lip on the pie pan, not inside it. If the crimp sits inside, it tends to slump. This tragedy has befallen me many times. When you blind bake, line the pie pan and crimp the crust. Then freeze the dough for up to 30 minutes while the oven preheats. Poke the dough all over with a fork (bottom and sides). Line the pan with foil and fill it up (all the way) with dried beans, rice, or sugar. Bake until the crimps are starting to brown. Remove the beans and bake until the bottom crust is dry and golden. My crust shrinks a little bit, but not much.  

What type of pie weights are best?

I prefer dried beans. They’re cheap, and they work perfectly. Don’t plan to eat them after using them as pie weights. Just keep them in a container labeled as pie beans.  I’ve used mine for more than a decade. And no, they don’t start to smell after a while…at least mine don’t.

Why is it called pie?

I guess it has something to do with magpies.

Do you have any pie tips, tricks, or answers to FAQs?

Happy Baking,
Martin