6 Common Pie-Making Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them (2024)

FAQs

What are the errors in pie making? ›

A: First, don't just reach for more flour—too much extra flour will make the crust tough, and won't treat the real problem, which is that your butter is too soft. I recently read in Weller's cookbook A Good Bake that it should take no more than one to two minutes to roll out a pie crust.

The Pie Filling should be at room temperature and not cold before filling the pie, for two reasons. Firstly, fridge-cold filling is stiff and difficult to evenly pack into the pie crust. Secondly, puff pastry sitting atop fridge-cold filling doesn't cook as evenly.

A: Dotting the top of a fruit pie filling with butter is an old habit but one that is called for in only about half of the pie recipes out there. Some maintain that the butter is for taste; others claim that it helps the filling set up, particularly when using flour as a thickener.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

For example, sweeter apples tend to break down easier than their acidic partners. This means that apples like Red Delicious break down quickly, turning your pie into more of an applesauce than a delectable dessert.

Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency. Tapioca starch is preferable for products that will be frozen because it will not break down when thawed. We like tapioca in blueberry, cherry or peach pies.

Perfect Pie Tip #6: Choose Tart Apples

When apples are cooked, this pectin breaks down, and the apples turn mushy.

This time, though, there was one very clear victor. Butter made a tastier, flakier, sturdier crust by far. This isn't to say that shortening and lard aren't useful ingredients. Shortening is a great way to get incredibly tender desserts.

Overworking pie dough

You should always stick to kneading your pie dough just enough so that the flour and the butter are combined, but not so much so that your dough becomes elastic and hard to work. In hindsight, the easiest way to fix an overworked pie crust is to prevent overworking it in the first place.

Why add vinegar to pie crust? ›

Though the science is sketchy, a few professional pie bakers swear that it improves the texture of the crust, and they wouldn't dream of making pie dough without it. (Others swear by similarly acidic ingredients like lemon juice.) The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say.

1. Preheat the oven to the temperature that your recipe recommends. Most fruit pies bake at a temperature between 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Some recipes call for baking the pie in a 450 degree F oven to begin with, then turning down the oven to about 350 degrees F.

Reducing the oven temperature after about 15 minutes allows the pie to bake fully without danger of burning. However, if the edge of the crust looks like it's browning too quickly towards the end of the bake, cover it with a pie shield or strips of aluminum foil.

Can You Prep Apple Pie Ahead of Time? Our Test Kitchen doesn't recommend assembling an apple pie before baking it at a later time. If made ahead without baking, the pastry crust can become too wet and end up soggy after baking.

Not preheating the oven to the correct temperature can cause uneven baking and impact the final result. Issues can also occur if you open the oven during baking as well. The oven temperature drops when you open the door and can affect how a baked goods rise.

Oven temperature too low; cold pastry put over hot filling; too much liquid in filling or too little filling. Insufficient liquid; too little kneading; liquid not boiling when added to flour. liquid not boiling when added to flour, too much liquid, dough not cooked enough to set required shape.

Pie charts are useful for showing proportions and comparisons between different categories or groups. Error bars are useful for displaying the variability or uncertainty in data, especially when comparing means or averages.