I've baked a zillion pies, but I've never had this question come up before. I'm making the crusts for the Thanksgiving pies today, and then I'm going to pop them, unbaked, in the freezer until Wednesday. Normally I would blind bake them before filling, but do I still need to do this if I fill and bake them straight from the freezer? And if so, which I suspect is the case, any tips on blind baking a frozen crust?
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And by the way, I'm only knowledgable from reading and experience, I'm certainly no expert, You don't know me well enough to know whether I'm full of it or not..so check other sites for this info. I always double check...I'm not a trusting soul!
For the pecan pie, I'll do just that. For a crumb-topped apple pie, in your opinion is it better to freeze and blind bake then fill and bake, or freeze the crust, add and freeze the filling, then bake entirely from frozen?
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When I'm ready to bake the crust, I remove the lined crust from the freezer and the bag, place it on a cookie sheet (sometimes preheated, sometimes not..see note at bottom) and bake at 425 for about 10-20 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and remove the foil lining and bake for another 10 minutes or so, or just until the crust appears flakey and dry with no unbaked looking areas. (should look like a shortbread cookie) Watch the edges, if they are getting too browned, cover them loosly with foil.
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If you haven't docked the crust well, place pie weights in the foil lined crust and bake it at 425 about 20-25 minutes before removing the weights and foil to finish it as above.
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If you want the crust completely baked, allow the crust to brown once the foil is removed.
Note..if you are using glass pie plates, they should be put into the hot oven on a cool cookie sheet to insure they won't break because of the extreme change in tempuature. Metal pans can be placed on a cookie sheet that has been preheated in the oven.