How do I make a pie with a crisp crust?

A pie fails at the base and the seal. Hot filling melts the fat in the pastry before it can set, and steam with nowhere to go collects under the lid and against the base. Both are simple to prevent.

What you'll need

• Pastry
• Pie dish
• Baking sheet
• Beaten egg (optional)
• Baking beans (optional)

Step by step

1. Cool the filling completely.Fridge-cold is ideal. Warm filling melts the butter in the pastry before the oven can set it, which gives a greasy soggy base.
2. Blind bake the base for a wet filling.For quiches, custard tarts and very wet fillings. For a dense meat filling it is less critical but still helps.
3. Preheat a baking sheet and put the dish on it.It gives the base direct bottom heat, which is what cooks the pastry through. A metal dish conducts better than ceramic.
4. Do not overfill.Filling to the brim boils over, wets the pastry edge and glues the pie to the dish. Leave a centimetre.
5. Seal the edges properly.Brush the rim with water or egg, press the lid on, then crimp. A poor seal lets filling escape and the lid lift.
6. Cut vents in the lid.Two or three slits, or a hole in the centre. Steam must escape or it collects under the lid and makes it soggy.
7. Egg wash the top for colour.Beaten egg gives a deep glossy brown. Milk gives a softer matt finish. Egg with a pinch of salt gives the strongest colour.
8. Bake hot at first, then reduce.200°C for 20 minutes to set and colour the pastry, then 180°C to heat the filling through without burning the top.

Tips

• A pie funnel or a hole with a small chimney of foil holds the lid up and lets steam out cleanly.
• Chill the assembled pie for twenty minutes before baking. Cold pastry going into a hot oven gives a crisper result.
• If the edges brown too fast, cover just the rim with a strip of foil and continue.

Common mistakes

• Putting hot filling into raw pastry — It melts the fat before the oven sets the structure, giving a greasy, soggy base that cannot be recovered.
• Not cutting vents in the lid — Steam has nowhere to go, so it condenses under the pastry and the lid goes soft, or the pie bursts at the seal.
• Baking on an oven shelf rather than a preheated sheet — The base gets much less direct heat and is the last part to cook, which is why it stays pale and soft.

Questions people ask