I'd like to assemble this the night before, to bake the next morning. Will it work to freeze the bottom crust in the pie plate, and then dump the...

Hi guys, apologies for not seeing this question a month ago. I've never frozen a whole pie before, but I trust whatever the King Arthur people say, as well as everyone who has commented above! Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

The King Arthur link has some good tips. It suggests that you defrost a frozen pie overnight in the refrgerator before baking, to keep the crust tender. I forgot to mention that I usually defrost too before baking but for a much shorter time -- usually for just an hour or two.

Chris, the article you linked is perfect! Some excellent related pieces on freezing other holiday treats are linked from that page, too. Fantastic resource. Thank you so much. ;o)

I have friends who live in apple country and make lots and lots of unbaked pies every year. I don't think they probably use your freeze-the-bottom-first trick but I like it.

Here's a King Arthur Flour post on freezing unbaked apple pie. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/12/09/freeze-the-fastest-way-to-fresh-baked-fruit-pie/

Hi AJ, I am hoping that mrslarkin, pie expert that she is, will weigh in. But here are my thoughts. I have not made mrsl's Scrumptious Pie yet, but I plan to do so soon. However, borrowing a tip from my mother, I often do just what you outline above with fruit pies: Line pie plate with bottom crust, add fruit filling, cover with top crust and stick the entire pie in the freezer, unbaked. I have used this method with apple, sour cherry, rhubarb, and Amanda's raspberry swamp pie (although when I did that one, I did not add the cream and egg yolk mixture to the filling until I was baking it). Bottom crusts have never been soggy using this method, and since apple slices are tosssed in lemon juice, I would expect that that would prevent them from turning brown. :)