Blind baking

One of my co-workers left this week. Since he was a fan of this blog, I wanted him to try my pies before he left. I made an apple and a blueberry pie again since there are quite a few people in my group. The pies were prepared a day before being put in the oven.

I'm still trying to perfect the berry pie although this time, I was using only blueberries. I'm too cheap to buy raspberries.

Last week, I screwed up the blind baking process so I made sure not do that again for this week. I punched some holes at the bottom and on the sides of the crust with a fork.

I then added a sheet of parchment paper on the dough filled with dry rice.

I then baked it at 250°F for 10 minutes.

There were no air pockets. I expected the crust to shrink but it didn't. I put the fillings in the pie and left it in the fridge while I rolled the upper crust and cut it into strips. Once I took the pie out from the fridge, I realized that the bottom crust was too brittle for the upper crust to be tucked in underneath.

Strips of were not tucked in underneath the bottom crust

I baked both the apple pie and blueberry pie the following morning at the same time at 425°F for 25 minutes, although they weren't on top of each other this time.

Why didn't I think of this last week?

The pies switched place after 13 minutes because I wasn't sure if the centre of my oven was hotter than other areas. I turned the temperature down to 375°F, and the blueberry pie started bubbling already. I let it bubbled for a little longer before taking it out as I wanted it to be a little bit more runny than last week.

Baked at 425°F for 25 minutes and then 375°F for only 4 more minutes

As you can see, the egg white was enough to hold the strips together; tucking was not necessary. The pie tasted good but it wasn't tart compared to my last berry pie. The blueberries were soft as I wanted them to be, but they were a little runny as it soften the bottom crust.

The top crust was crispy but I couldn't tell if the bottom crust was as I quickly finished my slice; I had a meeting to attend to! One thing that I'm certain though is that the juice seemed to have seeped into the bottom crust. It could have been due to the blind baking process where I had to use a fork to punch holes on the bottom crust. The juice could have seeped in the bottom crust overnight in the fridge. Or I could have left the pie in the oven for too long. So many possibilities!

Baked at 425°F for 25 minutes then 375°F for 20 minutes

The apple pie didn't turn out too well either as it was runny as well. Normally, the apple pie doesn't get runny when baked at 425°F for 25 minutes then 375°F for 20 minutes using Gala apples. Putting the pie in the fridge for a day may have weaken the outer membrane of the apple slices, and thus releasing more juice when baked. I supposed an apple pie that is prepared a day prior to must be baked shorter than usual.

As for the berry pie, I'll have to suck it up and pay a little extra for the raspberries. They make a big difference on the pie that's worth the cost. As for my other adjustments to toughen the bottom crust, I'll have to think about it later. It's 3:00 in the morning right now and I'm tired. I'm going to bed.