Why does my pie crust shrink?!


Question:

Why does my pie crust shrink?

I was baking a pie the other day and I needed to bake the crust before I put in the filling. The problem is the crust totally shrunk. I have used this recipe before and had no problem; but the last couple of times it did this. Help please.


Answers:
Generally when you blind-bake a pie crust, you need to do 2 things. First you must dock the crust (poke it with a fork about 40 or 50 times all around the crust). This provides a relaese for steam and will help keep the crust from poofing like bread or puff-pastry.

Second, you should weight it down with pie weights or an equivelant. Simply lay out a piece of foil over the crust and fill with the weights. I use dry beans for this because I am too cheap to spend money on actual pie weights. Just make sure you dont cook the beans later lol. That should help prevent the shrinking crust problem to some point, but there will always be a minimal level of shrinkage when you blind bake your crusts.

Good luck

Because it lost moisture...did you coat it with egg white?

I line it with foil and fill the foil with navy beans to be sure the crust doesn't shrink - you could try it.

Place dried peas or beans in the bottom of the fresh dough and bake the crust. This helps the crust from bubbling up and air releasing which causes the shrinking. My dad uses a bag's worth of dried black eyed peas. Then when the crust cools you can remove the peas and add your filling and continue!




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