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?

Abra Bennett
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5 Comments

Abra B. November 21, 2010
I know you're not full of it, its totally obvious! My crusts are bagged and in the freezer, and soon I'll get them out and foil them, then they can mind their own business, barring a power outage, until Wednesday morning. Thanks for all your help!
 
Soozll November 21, 2010
I blind bake it first. The apples are warmer than the frozen crust, even if chilled. I'd fear the moisture will start seeping from the apples as it sits in the sugar before it finally gets cold enough to freeze and affect the crust. Maybe not enough to do any real harm but then, I'm overly cautious!. It's your call.
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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!
 
Abra B. November 21, 2010
Thanks so much, Soozll, that's a great answer! I can tell that you're a real baker, so I'm going to follow your advice to the letter. And I will dock the dough thoroughly. Let me ask you another, since you're a fount of knowledge?

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?
 
Soozll November 21, 2010
I've done it successfully two ways. I like to par-bake my crust first for single crust pies that are oven baked. I always dock the crust before freezing it but you don't have to if recipe says not to.. I flash freeze the crusts on a cookie sheet in a turkey size oven bag (or any bag that will loosely cover the pie plate will do). Once frozen (about an hour) I remove them from the bag, line the crust tightly with foil, place back in the bag and store until needed.
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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.
 
Mr_Vittles November 21, 2010
I've bought some prefilled uncooked pies and they can go straight into the freezer just fine. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to either.
 
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