12.5–12.6 Common Defects in Pastry and Pies and their Probable Causes
Tough Pastry
- High protein flour
- Substitution of equal amount of butter or margarine for fat
- Insufficient fat
- Fat not distributed well enough
- Too much water
- Uneven distribution of water, requiring more manipulation
- Over stirring after water is added
- Dough not rolled immediately
- Re-rolling
- Excess flour on rolling board
Crumbly, Mealy (not flaky) Crust and//or Too Tender to Remove from Rolling Board
- Low protein flour
- Too much fat
- Fat too soft (warm) or melted
- Fat cut in too finely
- Too little water
- Under-mixing after water is added
Reduced flakiness, or flakes not separated
- Low protein flour
- Not enough water to provide steam
- Under-mixing
- Over-mixing
Excess shrinking or misshapen crust
- Dough stretched when shaping in pan
- Dough rolled to uneven thickness
- Excess re-rolling or patching dough
- Also see “Tough Pastry”
Puffing of a pie shell baked without filling
- Insufficient crust perforations
Crust too brown or browned very rapidly
- Rolled too thin
- Very dry
Uneven browning
- Dough rolled to uneven thickness
- Edges too high
- Pie placed too high or too low in oven
- Pie placed too close to oven walls or to other pan
- Not enough filling
Crust doesn’t brown
- Too little fat
- Over-mixing
- Too much flour used when rolling dough
- Crust rolled too thick
- Wet dough
Soaked lower crust*
- Shiny pie tin
- Filling allowed to stand in crust before baking
- Placing pie pan on foil or baking sheet
- Too low oven temperature
- Too short baking time
- Cold filling
- Also see “Crust doesn’t brown”
- Custard pie:
- Overcooked filling (syneresis)
- Two-crust fruit pie
- Fruit filling not thickened before baking
- Insufficient vents
- Break or tear in bottom crust
* Suggestions to prevent soaked lower crust
- Use high initial baking temperature
- Custard Pies:
- Brush crust with slightly beaten egg white and bake at high temperature for a few minutes to coagulate egg white
- Use a filling with a high egg-to-milk ratio
- Preheat milk for filling
- Chill pie crust for 1 hour before filling
- Partially pre-bake the crust before adding the filling
- Fruit Pies:
- Coat with melted butter
One Crust Pie, e.g. Pumpkin or Custard
- Crust rises through the filling
- Tear or hole in crust
Two-Crust Fruit Pies
- Top crust “tents”
- Inadequate vents in top crust
- Fresh fruit was not packed firmly
- Pie filling boils over
- Too much filling
- Top and bottom crusts not sealed together well
- Insufficient thickening of filling
- Inadequate vents in top crust
- Vents too close to edge of pie
- Oven shelf not level
- Uneven thickness of top crust
- Over-baking
