How to Parbake a Pie Crust
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Learn how to parbake a pie crust with my easy step by step tutorial with photos and a full video! Recipes like pumpkin pie and quiche will call for a parbaked pie crust, so get all the tips and tricks here.
If you want to level up your pie baking skills, check out some of my other posts like Tips for Golden Brown Pie Crust, Should You Cook Pie Filling Before Baking? or my tutorial How to Roll Out a Pie.
Table of Contents
What does parbaking mean?
Parbaking stands for “partially baking” and it means exactly that, you partially bake the pie crust.
Why do you need to parbake a pie crust?
When you’re making a pie like Pumpkin Pie or Pecan Pie where the filling is liquid, and the pie needs to bake in the oven, is when you need to partially bake a pie crust. This is important because if you don’t parbake a pie crust and you fill it with a liquid, two things will happen. First, as the butter starts to melt in the crust, the crust becomes warm. Without a solid filling (like apples, for example) the crust can sink into the middle of the pie because the filling is liquid so it can’t hold up the weight of the crust while it bakes and sets. So a Dutch Apple Pie, for example, does not need to be parbaked but a Pumpkin Pie does! The second thing that will happen is you’ll most likely have a soggy pie crust on the bottom if you don’t parbake it when you fill it with a liquid filling.
Is parbaking the same as blind baking?
No, parbaking is partially baking a pie crust and blind baking is fully baking the pie crust with no filling. You’d blind bake a pie crust for a pie that you’d add a cooked filling to, like a French Silk Pie. The only difference in parbaking and blind baking is just more time in the oven on the second bake. As with blind baking you fully cook the pie crust. If you need to blind bake a pie crust, you can use this recipe and bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes on the second bake, or until it looks golden brown and done.
Do I need pie weights to parbake a pie crust?
Yes and no. You don’t need official pie weights, so you don’t need to go out and buy pie weights! But you do need something to use as pie weights. You can easily make your own pie weights out of rice, quinoa, or beans! Anything that’s small enough, can withstand the heat of the oven, and will keep the pie crust standing up is all you need. I don’t even have fancy pie weights; I just use rice! I have a jar of rice in my pantry labeled Pie Weights and I just reuse the same rice each time.
Do I need a mixer for this recipe?
No, you do not need a mixer to make pie crust. I prefer to use it as I believe it’s easier and faster! But, if you don’t have a mixer then you can use a large bowl and your hands (or a pastry cutter, if you have one). Do not use a hand mixer as that could whip the butter, which we do not want. To make the pie dough by hand, just squish together the small cubes of butter into the flour until it looks like wet sand. Then add in the water and combine it completely into a dough. It’s that simple, but it will be a bit more messy!
Tools Needed
Stand Mixer (or just a bowl and use your hands)
Plastic Wrap
9-inch Pie Pan (aluminum or cast iron is best)
Parchment Paper (get my favorite nontoxic parchment paper and get 10% off with MIMIBAKES)
Pie Weights
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Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Start with a chilled pie dough. It’s super important that your pie dough is chilled as this results in a buttery and flaky crust. If you are new to making pie crust, then check out my article for All Butter Pie Crust as I have tons of tips and tricks for making pie crust for beginners! You will need to make pie dough the day before you plan to roll out your pie.
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan well with butter.
Step 3
Flour your work surface and remove the pie dough from the fridge. Roll out the pie dough to ¼-inch thick. The pie dough should be slightly larger than your pie pan by about 1 to 2 inches. An easy way to test this is to just hold the pie pan over the rolled out dough, that way you don’t have to move the dough to see if it’s large enough.
Step 4
Gently lift the dough and place it into the pie pan. Many people will this over their rolling pin and roll it out onto the pie pan. I find this incredibly difficult, for whatever reason and I have been making pies for well over a decade! So, this is not necessary and I think it’s much easier to lift it with your hands. If you pie dough is chilled, as it should be, this should be no problem!
From the crust to the pie pan by gently pressing it into the bottom first and then gently pressing it to the sides.
Step 5
If you have excess pie dough on one side that’s much larger than another side, trim it with a pairing knife so that it’s all even. You want the dough to be larger than the pie pan, but even around so that you don’t have crust on one side that is thicker than the other side. Once it’s trimmed (if needed), roll the dough into the middle of the pan so it’s even with the edge of the pan. You should only be folding and rolling over 1 to 2 times if your pie dough is the right size.
To flute the edges of the pan dough, use your index finger of one hand and your index finger and thumb of the hand to create a flute. If you don’t want to flute the pie, you could also leave it plan or even press a fork into the edges for a simple design.
Step 6
Place parchment paper into the pie pan and fill it with pie weights. You can use traditional pie weights or you can use a homemade version, like plain rice or beans! There is no need to buy fancy pie weights just to parbake a pie crust. I use rice whenever I parbake and I have a dedicated jar in the pantry labeled “pie weights” and it’s just the same rice that I keep reusing.
Step 7
Bake the pie crust for 20 minutes (or if you are at high altitude 15 minutes). The edges should look lightly baked and not raw anymore.
Step 8
Remove pie weights and the parchment paper. You can poke holes into the pie crust with a fork, and this can help with air circulation in the crust to cook more evenly and also help it from puffing up. But, honestly, I don’t do this a lot of the time! I don’t think it’s super necessary and my pie crust always puffs up a bit anyways, haha. If your pie crust puffs up, then you can just press it down with your hands and it’s totally fine! So, I like say this part is optional.
Step 8
Time for the second bake. This ensures that the bottom of the crust is actually partially baked. With the parchment paper and pie weights in there, the middle won’t bake very well, so this second bake is crucial to prevent a soggy crust. Bake again for 5 minutes. If you think the pie crust doesn’t look partially baked in the center and is still raw, then don’t be afraid to bake it again for a few more minutes! You may notice your pie crust sinks a little bit during this step, and that’s okay.
Step 9
Fill the pie with whatever filling you are making and bake again.
FAQ's
This is the kind of crust you would use for pumpkin pie or pecan pie. If you blind bake the crust (just bake this longer to fully cook) then you could fill this with custard or puddings as well.
Yes, if you only have unsalted butter you can use that. Just add a little pinch of salt into the dry ingredients.
You can leave this pie crust wrapped in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours. Any longer than that, and you should freeze it if you cannot roll out and bake the pie crust at that time.
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How to Parbake a Pie Crust
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (optional)
- Pie Weights
Ingredients
- 127 grams all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)
- ½ teaspoon cane sugar
- 113 grams salted butter (cold)
- ¼ cup cold water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, and cane sugar. Turn on low for two to three rotations to combine the dry ingredients.
- Remove the butter from the fridge and chop into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the flakier the crust: Cut the stick of butter into four and then chop into small cubes from there. Add the cold, cubed butter to the flour mixture. Measure out the cold water and have it ready.
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly start to incorporate the ingredients. Gradually turn the mixer to medium speed. Once the butter mixture looks like wet sand, immediately add in all the cold water. As soon as the dough comes together, stop the mixer.
- Have a piece of plastic wrap ready and form it into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Allow to cool in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan with butter.
- Remove the pie dough from the fridge. Remove the plastic wrap and place on a floured surface. Roll out the into a disk that is ¼-inch thick, it should be about 11-inches in diameter. Place the pie dough into the pie pan and press lightly to form against the pan. It should be large enough that the dough folds right over the top of the pan.
- Roll the excess dough into the pie pan so it’s even with the edges of the pie pan. Flute the edges by using your thumb and index finger of your right hand to pinch the rolled edge of dough and push your index finger of your left hand into it to create the “flute”. Continue around the entire pie to flute the edges.
- Place a piece of parchment paper into the pie pan and form it to the sides. Add rice or pie weights and parbake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the parchment paper and weights, and poke holes with a fork in the bottom and bake for another 5 minutes. (If you need to blind bake, instead of baking for only 5 minutes at this step, bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust looks completely done and is lightly golden brown.)
- Use this partially baked crust for any recipe that calls for a parbaked pie crust.
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