Make a pie (and especially one homemade pie crust) can be intimidating. But we’ve got all the tips and tricks for getting tender, flaky, beautiful pie crust that doesn’t shrink — plus solutions in case, somehow, that still happens.

These solutions to common pie-making problems will work for any of your favorite pie crust recipes. I have a weakness for my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie: I use half butter and half lard in pie crust – the former for rich flavor and the latter to ensure ultimate flakiness and tenderness. (And you can substitute vegetable shortening for the lard, if you like.)

And, as long as you’re going to the trouble of making pie dough from scratch, do yourself a favor and make enough dough for three single-crust pies: enough for Turkey Day, leftover pie turkey and another use later. . You can prepare the pie crust well in advance. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for two to three days or in the freezer for up to two months.

In the meantime, here are five common problems when baking pies and how to avoid them.

1. My crust is hard, not flaky

Cool your ingredients

To achieve a flaky crust, be sure to work with very cold ingredients to prevent the fat from melting before your crust goes into the oven (when it melts in the oven, it will create air pockets that fill with steam and expand to produce flaky layers). ).

Store your cooking fat (like butter, shortening, or lard) in the refrigerator overnight to keep it very cold. When a pie crust recipe calls for ice water, pour it into a bowl of cold water with plenty of ice.

Use a light touch

Using a food processor will prevent you from overworking the dough compared to mixing it by hand. If you prepare the dough by hand, be careful not to overwork it; stir in the mixture until you have pea-sized pieces of butter, lard, or shortening.

Rest it before deploying it

Be sure to wrap and chill the dough for a few hours before rolling it out; this allows the flour to fully hydrate.

2. My dough sticks or breaks

Be gentle

Take your time to roll out the dough. Place it on a lightly floured work surface and make light movements with your rolling pin in different directions from the center of the dough outward (pressing too hard while rolling could make the crust tough); Pick up the dough from time to time and rotate it. Dust the surface with a little flour if necessary to prevent sticking.

Nail the landing

Roll out the dough, then carefully lower it onto the pie dish without stretching it; stretching causes shrinkage. Don’t force anything, but let it drape. Don’t cut it yet; let the dough cool for a few minutes in the pie plate to relax.

Cut the edges a little longer than the edge of the pie dish, fold the edge down, and finish the edge as you prefer. You can use a classic flute; press the dough with the tines of a fork to create a pattern; or roll out scraps of dough, cut them with a small cookie cutter and stick the cutouts on the edge with a beaten egg. After shaping the edge of the dough, refrigerate again for a few minutes to allow the dough to relax and set before baking.

3. The bottom of my crust is soggy

For moist custard type fillings such as classic pumpkin pie (or less classic pumpkin and cream cheese pie), pecan pieAnd chess pieblind baking is essential to avoid a soggy crust. This simply means baking the crust until golden brown and slightly crisp before the filling goes in. You can also use this step for fruit tarts for added assurance that the bottom of your crust will be fully cooked and golden brown.

To help the bottom of the crust brown nicely, make your pie in a glass pie dish: glass pie dishes tend to brown the bottom of the crust a little better.

How to Blind Bake Your Pie Crust

Line the dough with parchment paper (crumple it first to make it more pliable) and fill with pie weights – either real ceramic pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Fill to the top so that the dough is pressed against the sides of the dish.

Blind bake with pie weights at a relatively high temperature (400°F or whatever temperature your recipe calls for) in the lower middle position of the oven for 15 minutes (or however long your recipe specifies). Then carefully remove the parchment paper and the pie weights, and bake for a few more minutes to dry the bottom of the crust.

4. My crust is burnt

Make sure you don’t overcook a cream pie. When you shake it gently, the edges should be set but the center should still be a little wobbly. With fruit tarts, overcooking is less risky (and undercooking is actually more common), but you can still take the following steps to avoid excessive browning.

Start hot

For custard tarts, start cooking the filling by baking at the same temperature used for blind baking, then lower the temperature to around 350°F to more gently finish cooking the custard. For fruit tarts, start the oven on high (around 425°F) for about 30 minutes before reducing the heat to around 350°F — this will help your crust set.

Protect the edges

Fold a sheet of foil in half and cut a half circle from the middle; open the foil and arrange it on the pie, centering the open circle in the middle of the filling. Lightly crimp the edges of the foil onto the pie dish to secure it.

5. My crust has shrunk

If despite everything the crust has shrunk to the edge of the pie dish, all is not lost. You can add a “necklace” of whipped creamcrumbled cookies or chopped nuts around the edge of the pie to hide the mistake. Or cut the tart and arrange the pieces on individual plates on the dessert buffet; the imperfect crust will not be visible this way.