Einkorn Pie Crust & Pumpkin Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the most appropriate type of pie dough or crust to use for pumpkin pie? ›

Mealy pie dough is perfect for baking pies with a very liquid filling like pumpkin pie or other custard pies. This is how you prep your mealy pie dough for a single-crust pie with a liquid filling. Make your filling and let it cool (this is a good thing to do the day before you make your pie).

Flour: For a tender crust, choose a low-protein flour. Pastry flour, with a protein content of about 8-10%, ranks between all-purpose flour and cake flour. All-purpose flour works just fine for pie crusts, while cake flour might lack enough protein to form a workable, elastic dough.

You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie. you should probably get: Pie weights are super helpful to have for pre-baking.

Make sure to get the pie dough into the area where the bottom meets the sides of the pan. Flute the edges, then take a fork and poke little rows of holes here and there on the bottom and sides of the pie crust dough. This will allow trapped air to escape and prevent the dough from puffing up.

A soggy crust is the curse of many a good pie, particularly custard-based ones like our dear pumpkin. To help avoid this, partially bake the crust before adding the filling (i.e., “blind bake” the crust). If you've never done this before, don't worry — it's easy. Just roll out the crust and fit it into the pan.

If you're making a pie that doesn't require a baked filling, you still need a baked crust. Or if you're baking a pie with a liquid-y filling that sets quickly in the oven, like pumpkin pie, your crust may need a baking headstart.

Other pies, typically those with a more delicate, egg- and cream-based filling (think custard pie or quiche) require at least some baking — but don't spend long enough in the oven (at a high enough temperature) to guarantee a fully baked, brown and crispy crust. In these cases, you need to prebake your crust.

Cornstarch. Cornstarch is a super-effective thickener that doesn't need much time to cook, although it does require high temperatures to activate. To avoid clumps, mix cornstarch with sugar before adding it to your filling.

Pie Filling Enhancer thickens fruit pie fillings the same way Instant ClearJel does. Its advantage is added ascorbic acid (which adds a bright, tart note), and superfine sugar, which prevents it from clumping. Pie Filling Enhancer is about half sugar, so you'll want to reduce the sugar in your recipe accordingly.

“For a classic pie dough, nothing beats all-purpose flour,” Erin Jeanne McDowell wrote in “The Book on Pie.” Even so, it can be bleached or unbleached, and the protein content can vary among brands even within one category. Other types include cake, pastry, bread and whole-wheat flours, to name just a few.

What is the secret to a great pie crust? ›

Start with chilled ingredients

Butter creates a sturdy, crisp pie crust. For this, it is important to keep all ingredients cold which will inhibit the development of gluten in the flour. Use butter right out of the refrigerator and add ice-cold water to make the dough.

To prevent it, you need to either create a barrier between the wet filling and raw pie dough, or ensure the pie dough browns and sets before the filling has a chance to soak it.

The protein from the egg white creates a seal between the crust and the filling and prevents the filling from making the crust too soggy. I've recently started doing this extra step and while it's not 100% necessary, it does add a little extra reassurance to keep your pie crust firmer.

Often, blind-baking solves this problem. If you're making a single crust custard-filled pie, like a pumpkin pie, bake the pie dough first before adding filling to allow some of the moisture in the crust to evaporate. You can also totally blind-bake fruit pies.

Par-bake the crust for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper/pie weights. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork to create steam vents and return crust (without weights) to the oven for 7-8 more minutes or until the bottom is *just* starting to brown.