Yesterday I wrote a post called  Pie Crust - Store Bought or Home Made that showed you how to make a scrumptious flaky pie crust at home and today I’m going to explain how to line a pie pan with it.

How to Line a Pie Pan

To line a pie pan, remove the rolled crust from the refrigerator or freezer and let sit on the counter, wrapped, until pliable.

Carefully peel off one of the pieces of parchment paper.

Center the dough, on the pie plate, and peel off the remaining piece of parchment.  The dough will probably still be a little stiff.  Let it sit on the pie plate until the center of the crust starts to “slump” down into the pan.  At this point, it should be soft enough to manipulate.

Lift an edge of the crust and ease it down into the pie plate.  Try not to stretch the dough, or it will be more likely to shrink in the oven.

Using a piece of leftover dough, gently press the dough into the edges of the pan.  Trim any ragged edges about ½” larger than the rim of the pie plate.  Fold the ½” under to make a smooth edge, and then crimp.  I find that crimping with a fork is easiest - just press down gently all around the edge with the tines.

Dock the dough using a small paring knife.  Poke a lot of little holes in the bottom of the crust and up the sides.  This will help keep the crust from bubbling up in the oven.
Freeze the crust until firm.

Crumple a piece of parchment into a little ball.  Then, uncrumple it and use it to line the frozen crust.  Fill the parchment with with dried beans or pie weights, if you have them.

Bake in a 350° F. oven until the edges of the crust are set and no longer shiny.  Take the crust out of the oven. Carefully remove the parchment and beans/weights.

Brush the bottom of the crust and up the sides with a thin layer of well beaten egg.  This is an egg wash.

If you are filling the crust with a filling that requires further baking, return the crust to the oven until the crust is no longer shiny and the egg is dry. Don’t let the dough color much, if at all.  This is called parbaking.  The dried egg acts as a kind of shellac and will help to keep the crust from getting soggy.

If you are filling the crust with a filling that needs no further baking, continue to bake the crust until it is deep golden brown.  You might need to cover the edges of the crust with some foil to prevent over-browning.

That’s it. Easy and much less expensive than store bought pie crusts and without the extra “stuff”.

Related Topics

How to Make a Pie Crust

How to Make Pie Crust at Home

My wife makes a fantastic apple pie.  She is really good at it and can put together a perfect apple pie in about fifteen minutes.  She uses commercial pie crust found in the refrigerator section of the supermarket, and feels no guilt about it at all.  Being a full time working mom with very little extra free time for baking on the weekends and staring at a basket of gorgeous apples from the farmer’s co-op, she doesn’t mind a shortcut. But does she really need a shortcut when it comes to pie crust?

Store bought pie crust (which can be frozen by the way)  is certainly convenient, and if my wife can use it to make a great homemade pie, I’m all for it.  Then, I started wondering what’s in commercial pie crust.  Here’s what I found out.

According to the back of the box, Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust contains the following ingredients:

• Enriched flour, bleached
• Partially Hydrogenated Lard with BHA and BHT Added to Protect Flavor
• Wheat starch
• Water
• Salt
• Rice flour
• Xanthan gum
• Potassium Sorbate and Potassium Propionate (preservatives)
• Citric acid
• Yellow 5 and Red 40

Now, homemade crust only contains three main ingredients - flour, fat and water.  So it makes me wonder what all these extra ingredients are for.

I guess I can understand some preservatives, because they can’t know how long you’ll keep the dough in the freezer.  Citric acid could add a subtle “zing.”  Most home bakers get that with a little vinegar. But partially hydrogenated fats that contain trans fats? BHA and BHT? Xanthan gum? Food coloring?

I’m not suggesting that any of these ingredients are harmful.  After all, they are all FDA approved.  And, if it gives busy people a leg up on making homemade desserts, then that’s great.

But, if you’re interested in making your own crust with just a few ingredients, all of which are pronounceable, here’s how to make your own pie crust.

Flaky Pie Crust

12 oz. all purpose flour
9.5 oz. very cold butter, lard, 0 trans-fat shortening or a combination (try 4 oz. fresh lard and 4 oz. butter)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3-5 oz. ice water—fill a glass with ice cubes, and then add water

As you can see, it’s a pretty basic list of ingredients.  But, if I ask ten home cooks what they find most intimidating about baking, I bet that at least seven of them would answer “pie crust.”  That’s because making a good pie crust takes a light hand and a feel for the ingredients.  It takes practice, but once you get it, you’ll have it for life.

How to Prepare a Flaky Pie Crust

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Cooking Questions & Answers

I get email from you guys all the time asking me questions about various cooking topics. The questions come from all over and I do my best to answer them. If I can’t give you a good response, I recruit the help of one of my many professional chef friends. Here are a few questions I bet many of you would like answers to.

Pounding Chicken Breasts

What is the correct way to pound chicken breasts to use in chicken picatta? Do I start with thin slices or if I already have “normal” sized chicken breasts, do I slice them thinner before pounding? How hard should I pound?

photo from goodhousekeeping.com

You do not need to slice full breasts any thinner in order to pound them out.  I would use the smooth side of a meat mallet or even a fairly heavy, smooth bottomed frying pan.  Spray a little oil on the meat so the mallet will slide and then start in the center, pounding and sliding off to one side (as opposed to just crashing straight down on the meat).

Continue pounding, sliding off in a slightly different direction each time (or, conversely, turning the meat between each blow) to create an even thickness.  I’ve also seen this done with the meat between two pieces of plastic wrap and I have used wax paper.  Keep pounding until the meat is roughly 1/4″ thick and all your frustrations have melted away. Another great reason for learning how to cook.

Take your time; this isn’t a test of strength.  In fact you want to do this a gently as possible (if pounding can ever be considered gentle) because you don’t want to tear the meat.  This same technique can also be used on any other type of lean meat–turkey, pork or beef.

Smashed Potatoes

I want to know how to make restaurant style smashed potatoes….the kind that are chunky.

Okay, here’s what you do:  use red bliss potatoes, or some other type of potato with lovely red skin.  If they are very small, boil them whole in well salted water until easily pierced with a fork.  Cut larger potatoes in half or quarters.

When tender, drain well, then put back on the heat and let them dry for a couple of minutes.  This will keep them fluffier–the dryer, the better.  Leave the skins on.  Since you want to keep them chunky, add all your add-ins before you start smashing:  some warmed dairy–either milk, half and half, cream, sour cream (don’t let the sour cream boil), etc.

Salt and pepper to taste, butter to taste and perhaps some roasted garlic.  Then, smash away with a potato masher that has large openings - the kind that has one thick metal tube that curves back and forth is a good one for this.  Smash to your particular smashiness and enjoy.

For garnish try sprinkling with fresh chives or parsley.

Egg Expiration

How do you tell if your eggs are expired and not good to use?

That is an “eggcellent” question, and no, I couldn’t help myself!

Eggs stay usable for a surprisingly long time as long as they are refrigerated.  The best way to tell if an egg is still usable without cracking it open is to put it in water–at least 4 inches of water.  If it stays on the bottom, you’re good to go.  If it’s a floater, toss it away.

Why this works: All eggs have a membrane between the shell and the albumin (the clear, viscous liquid inside).  There is no air between the membrane and the shell in a freshly-laid egg, but as the egg ages, the air pocket inside gets larger and larger due to osmosis through the permeable shell. Once the egg has enough of an air pocket to float, it has definitely passed its prime.

I have also been told by a egg farmer that if you hold an egg with the pointy side down and shine a flashlight on the top of the egg, you can see a space between the egg and the shell with older eggs. I’ve tried this and either it doesn’t work or my eggs were all very fresh.

Prolong egg life by storing eggs in the containers they came in on the bottom shelf of your fridge.  Don’t store them in those cute little egg holders that come in some refrigerator doors.  It’s warmer in the doors because of all the opening and closing.