Issues bakers know: Defend your pie in reverse

Because the designated Thanksgiving pie baker in my household, I’ve skilled many highs (rave critiques and empty pie plates) and lows (forgetting so as to add sugar to the filling and finicky ovens that by no means absolutely baked the pumpkin pie filling). However there’s one persistent drawback that rears its head almost each time I bake a pie: the way to prepare dinner the pie lengthy sufficient that the filling is ready and cooked by way of, with out burning the crust …    

As a result of pie fillings — particularly fruit pies — usually take a very long time to completely bake, the perimeters of the crust can grow to be overly browned earlier than the pie is cooked by way of. After all, there’s a easy device that may forestall this, the aptly named pie crust defend.  

Usually made from silicone, this ring is designed to suit over your pie crust, defending it from the direct warmth of the oven. You usually place the defend in your pie towards the tip of baking, when you see the crust is taking up the correct golden brown coloration, and it’ll shield the crust from browning additional when you await the filling to completely set. (Strips of aluminum foil may also be used as a makeshift defend, however we don’t suggest it; it’s annoyingly troublesome to cowl the perimeters of a pie plate with strips of aluminum, and they generally tend to fall off throughout baking.)

Pictures by Danielle Sykes; Meals Styling by Liz Neily

A pie defend is nice. However you already know what isn’t nice? Attempting to put a pie defend onto the new, partially cooked pastry of a pie that’s within the oven. Just lately, I had an excellent easy lightbulb second: What if I reversed the method and put the pie defend on first, when the pastry and pie plate had been nonetheless cool, then take it off towards the tip of baking? 

By doing so, you possibly can make sure the pie defend is securely fixed earlier than the pie pan goes into the oven and might deal with it simply (as a result of securing a defend to the partially baked crust whereas avoiding piping scorching steel is neither straightforward nor enjoyable). As soon as there’s about quarter-hour of bake time remaining, you possibly can take away the pie defend (it is a lot simpler to take a pie defend off a scorching pie that put it on, belief) and permit the crust to bake uncovered to realize the right golden hue and flaky texture. Plus, it provides you a bit of additional insurance coverage — you possibly can at all times add the pie defend again on if it nonetheless takes on coloration too shortly (because it’s principally unimaginable to overbake fruit fillings), however there’s no turning again in case you add it on too late.

Store all the pieces you want to grow to be a pie baking grasp. 

Cowl picture by Mark Weinberg.