Tried all the tips suggested here. Switched from King Arthur to Bravetart crust. 7 failed pie crusts later, I'm still getting shrinkage. Help.

Having now tried the Bravetart recipe, I can see how it could have been problematic for you. This recipe actually is has much more in common with faux puff pastry recipes that I've made that a standard pie crust. It's also kind of a pain- cutting the butter into 1/2" cubes (126 of them for 1/2lb. butter) and then tracking down all those cubes in a bowl of flour is a lot more trouble than just cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, but doable. This dough has a very high moisture content and is handled much more than the usual pie pastry; that, together with the fact that it is not rested before rolling it out, give it a strong tendency to spring back, so it's a little difficult to roll out, and these things will also contribute to shrinkage when it's baked. On the plus side, it showed no tendency to split. I baked one by my usual method- no rest after rolling it out, 400 deg. for 15 min with weights, 10 min without. It came out ok- it required some pretty nippy work with a fork to keep it from bubblin up without the weights and the rim swelled more than I'm used to- I still think that your main problem was not lining it tightly enough before baking. I have another crust to try this afternoon by their baking method- I would think that would tame it a bit more in the oven, but I would say that this is a poor recipe choice for an inexperienced baker who just wants a pie. I would recommend finding a recipe either by Maida Heatter, who has a genius for writing understandable recipes that work, or one from Rose Levy Beranbaum, who gives the most detailed instructions and meticulous procedures in the game- it may take you a week to make a pie crust, but it will by damn work. Best of luck.

I didn't have luck with Bravetart's recipe -- I just prefer the proportions and mixing method I grew up with -- but I found the Bravetart long prebake time / sugar method to work well for me. I previously had a lot of slumps, overbaked spots, stinky kitchen from beans. It did take a couple times to convince myself to do it right though. Freeze or chill thoroughly (my freezer/fridge is packed so this is a pain), line all the way up with thin foil (heavy duty can be more damaging to the crust; or if you only have parchment crumple it up in a tight ball then flatten it back out and it'll conform well to the crust), then fill it all the way up with sugar and lightly press down on it to ensure the foil/parchment is in contact. Bake it all the way through or almost all the way. I believe 100% that other methods people mentioned work (higher temp/short time) and it's a matter of finding the one that works best for you. Good luck. Once you find it, it'll be great.

Are you trying to make the Bravetart pie crust? If so, maybe it's time to try a different recipe.

For those times I absolutely must have no shrinkage, I use a second glass pie plate and create a sandwich of pie plates with the pie dough in the middle. Then bake the entire thing upside down. Once done, you can flip and remove the top plate.

I found this video from Ken Haedrich very useful. It has some great tips for how to gently roll out the pie dough. I incorporated his ideas with the Bravetart recipe. I rolled out VERY gently, rotating the dough. The first two times I made the Bravetart recipe (for the Himalayan Blackberry Pie on this site, then for apple pie) I did not use the sugar weighting method, I used pie weights. I also rested the dough after a preliminary light rolling (like Ken Haedrich suggests) instead of rolling it completely and then refrigerating. Try not to stretch the dough at all when rolling or transferring to the pan and as others have said, use a pan with a good rim and try not to trim it too close. I didn't bake for 1 hour as the recipe states, I probably did about a 10-20 minute pre-bake then put in the filling. I really liked the Bravetart recipe, it was my first really successful piecrust, but having said that, there are other recipes out there that people have success with, so ultimately it's a question of what works for you. It's a very specific recipe and I departed from it a little (didn't add the water all at once, probably added ice cubes, added just enough water to moisten, and used heavy "Gold touch" pie tins instead of Pyrex). Keep going and you'll find what works for you.

The first thing I do when making a pie crust is I do it by hand....no mixer, no food processor....when I do it by hand, I can feel it better and learn from it. I put the ingredients in a bowl and I use my fingers, breaking things up quickly. I put only enough water in to JUST bring it together, there is still dry bits and some flour.....but that’s ok, if your dough feels moist at all, there’s too much water. It’s not a cookie dough. A rest in the fridge (I do overnight if possible) will hydrate everything properly. Then I roll it out so that I’ll have a good 1.5 - 2” excess around the edge and ease it into the pie plate. I use a disposable, aluminum pie plate every time, without exception. It has a nice lip that the crust can rest on and the aluminum seems to support it. Not sure how it works, I don’t really question it. When I ease it into the pie plate I make sure I do not stretch the dough, I lift the edge and push it as far down into the corner as I possibly can. Any space and the dough will collapse into that space and pull the edge down with it, so I make sure it’s flush with the edge and completely eased into the corner. Then I trim. I trim so that there’s a good inch extra. I like a good thick crust on the edge so I make sure I have enough, it also ensures that you aren’t tempted to stretch it to have enough. I then roll the excess under itself. I don’t fold, I roll tightly then pinch tightly, all the while making sure the excess is sitting right on that lip. The lip is important, if your pie plate doesn’t have a horizontal lip (that doesn’t gently slope, a nice defined edge) then get one that does. Then I crimp...I crimp tightly. You don’t have to crimp, but it helps keep the crust from unraveling. You could use a fork to secure it down to the edge, that might help. Whichever you do, make sure the edge is still sitting on the edge, not a micrometer inside the edge and not a micrometer outside the edge....right on the edge. I dock my crust then throw it in the freezer to chill completely. I blind bake my crust hot and fast. Usually 375 F, so preheat the oven. Egg wash the frozen solid crust and line with parchment (I use big coffee filters) and fill, I mean FILL, with pie weights (beans are fine, I use rice). The pie weights should create a barrier to keep the edge up like sandbags at a levy. The immediately in the oven for 15 ish minutes. By then the crust should be set and you can remove the weights and finish the baking for 5 or so minutes.

Like many things, good pie takes practice and everyone has a lot of failed attempts before they learn the fine nuances. I still get them every once in a while but after years the biggest culprits for slumping are:
- too much water (the biggest one in my opinion)
- overworking the dough
- not resting the dough properly
- wrong pie plate
- sides too short
- not enough pie weights
- oven too cool during blind baking.

I know it seems fussy, but all the details are such fine nuances. You’ll get there at some point.

The Bravetart crust calls for bleached Gold Medal Flour. When I made it, I chilled the flour as well as the rolling pin and board. She advises to put the crust, in its pan, in the refrigerator rather than the freezer to rest; you mention you put it in the freezer though I don't know that that would necessarily affect it. According to the original recipe in the Bravetart book,, the baking time should be only one hour with the foil/sugar then optional 10 minutes more if not browned after removing them from the oven. I'm wondering why it took 2 hours to bake--did you find it wasn't browning properly?

You'll always get shrinkage, but you should be able to control it better than that. It's not much to go on, but it looks to me like the crust wasn't completely lined when you baked it. A lot of people seem to use parchment for this, and to be honest I've never been able to see how that would work; if you use foil you should be able to follow the shape closely all the way up the sides, then fill up to the rim (of the pan) with beans; I don't know how sugar got traction for this use, but it should work OK if you're extremely careful about how you take it out. Other factors could be overworking the dough (always) or getting it too warm along the way, or too much moisture. KA flour is great, but it's relatively high gluten, and unbleached flour is generally a bit harder than bleached; a softer flour might help incrementally, but it's not a solution .

Crust #2

Here are the two crusts.