Pre-baking Pie Crust

[jonokun]

I like to cook quiches, and the recipe I use for the crust involves flour, butter, salt, and a little cold water. When I do not pre-bake the crust, the crust turns out rather uncooked, even after having cooked the quiche for an hour.

When I try to pre-bake the crust, the crust ends up falling off the sides of the pan.

Can anyone point to ways to achieve having a fully-baked crust with the quiche while not destroying the crust at the pre-baking phase?

Much appreciated!
Jonathan

[Selkie]

Have you tried pre-baking at 350 for 15 minutes with a strip of aluminum foil around the edge? The idea is to not completely bake your crust, but just enough to resist becoming soggy on the bottom from the quiche filling and yet not over-bake the edge.

The foil doesn't have to be tight, so don't risk breaking your edge by squeezing it on. A loose fit is good enough.

[rlauzon]

Ya, it sounds like your crust needs "heat shield" when you bake it the second time. I need to do this when I make my grandma's pumpkin custard pie.

They make pie crust rings for this purpose. If you make a lot of these pies, I suggest investing in them. If you don't, as Selkie said, you can make one out of aluminum foil.

Personally, I'd bake the crust normally and then use the heat shield when you bake the pie with the filling.

[Michael in FtW]

Yeah, you need to blind bake (partially cook) a quiche crust. And, you need to support the sides so they do not collapse while baking empty.

To keep the sides from falling, line the crust (both the bottom and up the sides) with parchment paper or a large coffee filter, and fill it with dry beans, rice or split peas. Make sure to gently push the beans or rice up against the sides of the parchment, or coffee filter. This supports the sides and keeps it from collapsing while it is baking (while the dough is "setting").

You can reuse your beans, peas, or rice over and over again but do mark them as "pie weights" or something - you can not cook them for eating after baking them.

If you have a problem with the edges burning then you can to the foil shield bit - but I have never had a problem with that when blind baking a quiche shell.