Do I cook the pastry first when making a pie?

To prevent them becoming soggy, shortcrust pastry cases need to be partially cooked before adding moist fillings. This process, known as blind baking, which seals the surface and results in a crisp pastry case.

How do you keep the bottom crust of a pie from getting soggy?

Sprinkle dried breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or other types of cereal, on the bottom crust before filling and baking in the oven. This will prevent the filling from turning the crust soggy.

Should you use hot or cold water when making a pie crust?

Using cold water and even cold tools helps keep the fat chilled while you work with the dough until it’s time for it to go in the oven. When you use hot water to make pastry, you’ll lose the flakiness but end up with a dough that’s not quite as delicate.

Can you put hot filling into shortcrust pastry?

When the fat remains cool until cooking, it melts into layers in the pastry as it cooks, making it nice and flaky. If you put hot filling into your pastry case, you will melt some of the fat prematurely and so the pastry won’t be as good as would be if you let it cool.

Do you put puff pastry on the bottom of a pie?

It might sound a little strange using puff pastry for the base of the pie (since all the puffiness is going to be squashed down with pie filling), but it works, and it saves the effort of using a different type of pastry for the base.

Why is the bottom of my pastry soggy?

The main ingredients in pastry are flour and fat. The gluten in the flour gives pastry its texture, while fat offers flavour. If the fat melts before a strong gluten structure has formed, the pastry will end up soggy. To ensure crisp pastry, the base can be blind baked before adding the filling.

Why does pie crust need cold water?

The trick to making no fail pastry is simply using very cold water, as it helps to keep the fat cold so it does not melt. If the fat ends up melting before it makes it to the oven, it’s absorbed into the flour and any chance of producing a flaky pie crust is lost.

Why cold water is needed when making a pie crust?

As the fat is mixed with the flour, it is warmed slightly. Then, the water is poured in, and the ice-cold temperature of the water prevents the fat from warming any further, which could potentially melt it into the flour rather than retaining the small bits of fat.

How do you make a ready made pie crust?

Pie Crust

1. Let refrigerated crusts stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes, or microwave one pouch on DEFROST (30\% power) for 10 to 20 seconds before unrolling.
2. Remove frozen crusts from box and let stand at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes before unrolling. Do not microwave frozen crusts.