How to Keep Pumpkin Pie Crust From Getting Soggy?

Have you ever bitten into a perfect fruit pie only to discover the bottom crust is a bit … soggy? Baking fruit releases a great deal of liquid, making this an easy pitfall.

In some cases, cornstarch, a thickener you mix into the filling, will not absorb all of the liquid. Steam is released by the crust itself as it bakes.

Looking to up your pumpkin pie game and dodge that soggy crust scenario? Here’s a neat little trick: blind baking. It’s a simple method where you bake the pie dough first before adding the filling.

Pumpkin pie, being a single crust custard-filled treat, tends to hold onto moisture from the filling, which can lead to a less-than-ideal crust texture. But fret not.

Blind baking lets some of that moisture in the crust escape, ensuring you achieve that perfect balance of flakiness and firmness.

And here’s the kicker: it only takes about a minute to set up. Just line your pie crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then fill it with pie weights or dried beans to prevent it from puffing up while baking.

Slide it into the oven for a quick pre-bake session, then remove the weights and continue baking with your pumpkin filling as usual.

There’s just one problem. It is common for fruit pies to have a double crust (whether it is a plain top or something fancier, such as a lattice top). Blind baking a double crust pie requires a lot of effort.

It’s a good thing baker Dan Langan comes up with a handy solution for keeping double-crust fruit pies crisp, golden, and perfectly flaky.

Before adding the dough to a pie pan, he says to sprinkle several teaspoons of wafer crumbs (such as vanilla wafer crumbs, sugar cookie crumbs, or breadcrumbs) in the bottom.

During baking, these dry wafer crumbs will absorb moisture from the bottom crust. Dan explains that this is so helpful in keeping the bottom crust dry.

Once the dough is in the pie plate, he adds more crumbs on top before putting in the filling.

These extra crumbs soak up any leftover moisture, making sure the crust is crispy, golden, and flaky. It’s the secret to a perfect pie crust!

Other Ways to Prevent Soggy Pumpkin Pie Crust

In order to ensure that your delicious crust bakes up crisp, here are a few things you can do.

Keep Moisture Out

By keeping the moisture out in the first place, you can prevent a soggy pie crust. After you toss your fruit with sugar and let it sit for a while, you can strain the juices out.

The juices can be discarded or boiled down to make a syrup that can be tossed back in with the fruit before baking.

Make sure you cut a little vent in the top crust, especially if you’re making a double-crust fruit pie – this allows the steam to escape from the filling instead of settling in the crust.

Bake on a Hot Baking Sheet

By melting the fat nubs inside the pie crust quickly, steam is released that puffs up the crust and makes it light, flaky, and crisp.

In order to avoid sogginess, you want the crust to set as soon as possible before the filling seeps in.

Once your oven has been preheated, place a baking sheet directly over your pie dish – this extra heat will make a world of difference in the time it takes for the crust to cook and set.

Brush With Chocolate

To make things even crispier, brush blind-baked crust with chocolate to make things even crisper, similarly to brushing unbaked crust with egg to make a moisture barrier.

Before adding your filling, let your blind-baked crust cool completely. Then brush it with melted chocolate. Plus, you get a chocolate bonus layer along with the super-crisp crust!

Brush With Egg

Sealing the surface of the crust makes a barrier between it and the filling that prevents a soggy crust.

When the crust is brushed with beaten egg or egg white mixed with water before adding the filling, the proteins in the egg create a moisture barrier and provide protection from moisture while the crust bakes.

Summary

It is common practice to blind bake pie crusts in order to prevent them from becoming soggy.

When you blind bake a crust, you pre-bake it before adding any wet filling (sometimes covered in parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent it from bubbling up).

When you add a cooked filling such as custard or mousse, you must blind bake the pie until it is completely cooked, or you can partially bake the crust before adding the filling. You’ll be able to keep everything crisp and nice by blind baking!