Pie Quest 4: The Pie Pan

A soggy bottom has been the scourge of my pie baking adventure. If I could conquer the half-raw, tough, unappetizing bottom crust, the rest of the pie should just fall into place. Is it the dough recipe? Is it the pan? Is it the oven? Why yes. All of these, but especially THE PAN. I was perusing the King Arthur Baking Company’s website for pie baking tips one day and found THE KEY TO MY PIE BAKING SUCCESS. Yes, the key is… (drumroll please)… A METAL PIE PAN. Eureka!

King Arthur himself insists that a metal pie pan will solve your soggy bottom issues. Hmmm. Sally (from Sally’s Baking Addiction) insists on glass. Well, I needed help and I had been using glass and having soggy bottoms, so I decided to test this bit of advice and pit Sally and King Arthur against one another in a head-to-head, pie-to-pie baking competition.

The occasion: a church potluck. There would be no shortage of ready and willing taste-testers. My pie of choice: blueberry. The recipe: Sally’s Simply the Best Blueberry Pie. The pans: one glass and one metal. The pies were baked side by side, with every detail being exactly the same. The result: King Arthur was the winner! No question, hands down, winner winner blueberry pie dinner. To give Sally credit where credit is due, her recipe was amazing. Just look at it! Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering. The fresh juicy blueberries with a hint of lemon. MmmmHmmmm.

But that metal pan made all the difference in the bottom crust: it was nicely brown and crisp and flaky and delectable and everything a pie crust should be. The crust in the glass plate was not quite as lovely. There is no turning back now. I am forever a convert to the Metal Pie Pan Club (if there’s not one, I’m gonna start one). And get this— I used a thermometer to test the temperature of the pie filling when they were done baking and the one in the metal pan was a full 10 degrees hotter than the one in glass, so, you know, Science, baby.

King Arthur believes in his own advice so much that he sells a metal pie plate, but I found one exactly like his on Amazon for a bit cheaper or else I liked the free shipping or something (I’m wondering if they’re made by the same company). It is The Best. I’ve baked 20 pies in the past 3 1/2 months, and those metal pie pans are the only ones I use now. Here’s the link. They are so worth it. I also saw them for sale in a kitchen shop in Beaufort, SC, so you can hunt them down there if you happen to be in the area.

Ok, are you ready for the pies? Here are the Blueberry Pies (a church member mentioned to me that it was the best pie he’d ever eaten and he didn’t even know he was involved in a competition!) And yes, I know they are a bit overdone on top, I’m still figuring out my oven— more about that in another post.

Is your mouth watering yet? Here are all the accumulated pie-baking tips so far:

1. Bake pies on the low rack of the oven.
2. Let pie dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight before rolling out. It makes all the difference!
3. When blind baking a pie shell, layer a second layer of crust on top of the edge and crimp together.
4. When blind baking a pie shell, put a sheet of parchment paper in the shell and fill with pie weights before baking. Then carefully remove after 15 minutes, pierce the bottom of the shell with a fork and continue baking.
5. Use a metal pie pan. Just do it.

Liza Jane Lane

I gotta go. It’s time for me to put away my shopping for the day. I went bathing suit shopping with a friend. That’s an experience that should warrant its own blog post. When you’re over a certain age, finding a bathing suit that looks decent on you isn’t easy. Am I right? Byeee.