How do I keep my pie crust from getting soggy?!
How do I keep my pie crust from getting soggy?
When baking pies, the outer crust is always golden brown and flaky, but the pie crust under the fruit always turns out soggy. This has happened with both fruit pies and custard pies.
Answers:
Before you bake your crust, brush the bottom with a beaten egg. Then bake for 15 minutes, let cool, then add filling. Cover the outer edges with foil and bake as usual. When almost done baking, remove the foil and bake till edges are golden.
By brushing egg yolk on the bottom, then baking, you are forming a seal that will help keep moisture out.
Good Luck!
Try lowering your oven rack a little to help the bottom brown up. No matter what it's not going to be crisp, there's too much moisture in the fruit, but you can help it a little by letting the bottom brown.
Are you covering the outside of the crust with foil during most of the baking time? You need to cover the exposed part of teh crust as soon as it gets to the browned stage you want, to prevent it from burning while the rest of the crust finishes cooking. Basically what you have is a pie crust that is finished on the outside, but still raw on the inside. Covering the crust should correct that.
The only reason I can think of is are you starting the pie in a really hot oven to set the crust and then turning the oven down? Most pie recipes call to start the oven between 425-450 for about 15-30 minutes and then turning the oven down to 350-375 for the remainder of the cooking time. This way the crust gets a big jolt of heat from the oven to crisp it up for the remainder of the cooking.
My son is a baker and he says you have to cook it on a high heat. Pumkin pie bottom was always icky but now wonderful cooked at 450 ,
Put you pie pan in the middle of the oven. Sounds like your top crust is browning before the bottom crust. I don't know why your custard pie crusts are getting soggy - could be you are removing the one-crust from the oven too soon. Also be sure to refrigerate your custard and pudding pies.