Everything you need to make pie, according to professional bakers
Plus, tips for avoiding soggy bottoms, and why you should never cut into pie right after it comes out of the oven.
Great Jones Sweetie Pie Dish
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$50.00
The intricate pie baking process is doable regardless of your experience level. We’ll walk you through each step, sharing helpful baking tools and tips along the way. All products are either tried-and-true Select staff favorites, recommended by experts or highly-rated options.
To help you visualize the process, we’ll use apple pie as an example throughout — an ideal choice if you’re struggling to make one. Grocery delivery platform Instacart tells us that according to pie sales data between October 2022 and September 2023, apple took the top spot, followed by pumpkin, key lime, cherry and lemon meringue.
Basic pie dough — like the kind you’d usually make for an apple pie — is typically butter-based and should result in a flakey yet tender crust. It’s composed of four or five ingredients: all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, a couple splashes of ice water, a pinch of kosher salt and, sometimes, a little bit of sugar.
There are dozens of pie dough recipes available online and in cookbooks — while they may specify different ingredient ratios, they’re generally similar. Some recipes make enough dough for a single-crust pie (those that only have crust on the bottom), while others make enough for a double-crust pie (those that have crust on the top and bottom). Keep in mind that you don’t always have to go with a traditional pie crust. For example, I always make pumpkin pie in a graham cracker crust and chocolate pudding pie in an Oreo cookie crust.
Below are a few helpful tools experts recommend using while making pie dough.
You can either measure ingredients by weight or by volume while baking. Measuring by weight involves using a scale — while baking pie dough, you’d weigh solid ingredients like flour and butter in ounces or grams, and liquid ingredients like water in milliliters or fluid ounces. Measuring by volume involves using measuring cups — you weigh liquid and solid ingredients in teaspoons, cups, tablespoons, etc.
Zoë François, pastry chef and host of Zoë Bakes on the Magnolia Network, thinks all baking should be done using a scale. “It makes the process more consistent and, once you’re used to using it, I find it much easier than dealing with measuring cups,” she says.
In my experience, Escali’s foldable kitchen scale takes up very little storage space. Its platform opens from 2.6 inches to 7.5 inches wide, allowing me to adjust it based on what type of bowl, plate or cup I’m measuring ingredients in. While making pie dough, for example, I open the scale’s platform to its widest point since I measure ingredients directly in my mixing bowl. It has a tare button and a mode button, which allows you to select the unit you want measurements displayed in. After five minutes of inactivity, the scale — which has a maximum capacity of 11 pounds — automatically turns off.
Once you’ve gathered and portioned out your ingredients, you can start bringing the dough together. Lauren Ko, founder of and pie designer at Lokokitchen, says you can save time by using a food processor or stand mixer.. However, all the experts we spoke to prefer making pie dough by hand. “I like to get my hands in the dough so I can feel what’s going on, but people should do what’s most comfortable,” François says.
While making pie dough by hand, Lisa Ludwinski, owner and head baker at Sister Pie in Detroit, Michigan, likes using stainless steel mixing bowls. They’re durable, sturdy and can withstand a lot of action, so you don’t have to worry about damaging them while baking, she says. Stainless steel also helps ingredients stay cold — cold dough is easier to roll out and work with, and it results in a flakier crust, Ludwinski says.
This dishwasher-safe set comes with three bowls in various sizes, as well as lids that can come in handy. For example, if your dough starts to get warm, cover the bowl with its lid and stick it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Ludwinski also recommends covering pie dough and letting it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours before you roll it out. Pie dough keeps well, so you can make it up to three days before the rest of the desert, according to experts.
Ko always keeps a silicone spatula on hand while making pie dough. It’s flexible so she can scrape off the sides of her mixing bowl and make sure ingredients don’t get stuck to the bottom.
GIR’s dishwasher-safe baking utensils are some of my favorite to use. They’re made from silicone, a naturally nonstick material that doesn’t scratch cookware, in my experience. The brand’s spatula is stiff enough to turn thick dough but flexible enough to bend while I’m scraping the sides of my mixing bowl. I find the Ultimate Spatula to be best for mixing thick batters and turning doughs since it’s one of GIR’s longer, wider options.
Ludwinski says a bench scraper is particularly helpful for cutting butter into pie dough, which involves breaking down large chunks of butter and working them into dry ingredients. Since your hands can get warm and melt butter while bringing the dough together, using a bench scraper also helps you move it around without potentially compromising its texture or consistency, François says.
OXO’s dishwasher-safe bench scraper has a tall, stainless steel blade that keeps your hands away from food, and a large, rounded, non-slip handle. There are also quarter inch markings on the blade if you need to measure ingredients before cutting them.
A pastry blender also cuts butter into pie dough, and Ludwinski recommends using it after first going in with a bench scraper. The bench scraper helps you chop up a large portion of butter into smaller pieces, and the pastry blender works the butter into the dry ingredients.
Available in medium (3 inches wide) and large (4 inches wide) sizes, this dough blender has five thick stainless steel blades to cut through cold butter. Its handle is also covered in soft rubber for a comfortable grip. To clean the dough blender — which has a 4.7-star rating from 23,204 reviews on Amazon — you’ll have to hand wash it, according to the brand.
There are dozens of pie fillings you can add to your crust, including fruit, custard, cream and even savory fillings like chicken pot pie. The filling you choose dictates what ingredients and kitchen tools you’ll use — be sure to read your recipe before baking to ensure you have all the necessary supplies.
Apple pie filling, for example, requires ingredients like apples, cinnamon, flour and sugar, and tools like a knife, cutting board, mixing bowl and spatula, plus a deep skillet if your recipe requires a cooked filling before adding it to the crust. Pumpkin pie, however, is made with ingredients like pumpkin puree, heavy cream and cornstarch, which you blend together with a hand mixer or blender.
Before rolling out your dough, decide if you’ll want to save some of it to decorate the top of the pie. If so, divide the dough into different sections, designating one for the top of the pie and one for the bottom. Using a bench scraper makes it easy to divide up the dough, Ludwinski says. Apple pie typically has a top crust or lattice crust, but you can always mix it up.
While you can use common household objects like wine bottles or canned beans, rolling pins provide a more even result. They come in several different styles, but our experts prefer the lighter tapered type. Its shape resembles a batton and it’s wider in the middle with narrower ends. Ludwinski also finds tapered rolling pins easier to maneuver with precision.
Regardless of the type of rolling pin you use, your dough should be about ⅛-inch thick once it’s rolled out, experts say. It will likely tear or rip if it’s any thinner, and if it’s much thicker, the crust may not bake all the way through.
This tapered rolling pin is made from maple wood and measures 20 ½ inches long by 1 ½ inches wide. It has to be hand washed and has a 4.7-star average rating from 871 reviews on Amazon.
A marble counter is an ideal surface to roll dough out on because it stays cool, even during the warmer months, François says. Wood butcher-block counters work well, too — they provide a smooth, cool surface to work on. But if you don’t have either at home, you can purchase a board made from either material.
Beyond the large surface area, this marble board sits on six rubber feet that raise it an inch above the countertop and help prevent turbulence as I’m rolling out pie dough. You can purchase the board in four sizes: 12-by-6 inches, 16-by-12 inches, 18-by-18 inches and 20-by-16 inches. Plus, it’s easy to clean with a little dish soap and warm water.
The material your pie dish is made from affects how the dessert bakes. While an apple pie — or any pie for that matter — can be cooked in a glass, aluminum or ceramic dish, we asked experts about each type’s strengths and weaknesses so you can decide which you prefer.
At Sister Pie, Ludwinski uses aluminum pans. Aluminum can withstand temperature changes well, like if you take a frozen pie crust from the freezer and put it directly into the oven, she says. Aluminum is also a great heat conductor, which helps ensure that the bottom of the pie crust gets crispy while baking, Ludwinski adds.
Ko says using USA Pan’s steel pie dish always helps her achieve a crispy crust. The bottom of the pan has a ribbed texture, which helps air circulate around the base of the pie to encourage even cooking, according to the brand. The 9-inch pan must be hand-washed and it’s oven-safe up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
The main benefit of glass pie pans is that they make it easy to see whether the bottom of your dessert is fully baked, Ko says. However, glass is thicker than aluminum, so it might take longer for the bottom of the pie crust to get crispy, François says.
This 9-inch glass dish, which comes with a lid, is made from thermal-shock-resistant borosilicate glass, meaning it can go from the freezer or refrigerator to the oven without cracking, according to the brand. The lid also has built-in vents so heat and moisture can escape, preventing condensation from building up on the pie. The pie dish — which has a 4.7-star average rating from 15,464 reviews on Amazon — is oven-safe up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s dishwasher-safe, as is its lid.
Ceramic pie dishes bake similarly to glass options, François says. As long as you’re willing to wait a little longer for the bottom of the pie to get crispy, a ceramic dish is worth using if you plan on serving the dessert in it — they’re often the most decorative and a great gift for bakers during the holidays.
I gifted myself this Great Jones ceramic dish a few years ago because I wanted a beautiful pan to bake and serve my pies in during the holidays. It’s deep so I can pack a mountain of fruit fillings into my crust, and I love that the wavy rim guides me as I crimp the edges. The pie dish is oven-safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and dishwasher-safe, though it’s also easy to hand-wash.
The top of your pie is a black canvas, and how you decorate it can become your signature move as a baker. “There are no rules, and it’s a great place to get creative,” François says. You can keep it simple with a plain top crust and crimped edges, try your hand at an intricate lattice pattern or use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and lay them atop the pie. If you want to abandon a top crust entirely, adding a crumble is always an option, as is keeping the top bare and decorating it with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and candied nuts or fruit before serving.
A ruler and a pastry roller can help you cut straight lines in pie dough if you’re making strips for a lattice or braided design, Ko says. However, when she first started dabbling in pie art, Ko relied on a sharp knife and the edge of a cookie sheet to cut straight lines in dough.
This dishwasher-safe, double-headed pastry wheel has one fluted wheel and one flat wheel, allowing you to cut dough strips with scalloped or straight edges. The wheels have stainless steel blades, and the tool’s grip is covered in soft non-slip rubber. It also has a 4.7-star average rating from 4,892 reviews on Amazon.
Once the oven reaches your recipe’s specified temperature, it’s time to bake. You may also be asked to bake the pie at a high temperature for a few minutes before lowering it for the rest of the baking period, or to rotate the pie halfway through so that all sides are evenly baked. I set timers on my phone, watch or Amazon Echo Dot while baking so I don’t forget about what’s in the oven.
Experts say the below items are useful once you put your pie in the oven — some encourage even baking while others serve as signals your pie is fully cooked. They’re all optional, so you might want to try one or two when you bake your first pie, and then adjust from there based on preferences you develop.
No matter what material her pie dish is made from, François preheats a baking stone and bakes the pie on top. The baking stone absorbs heat from the oven and evenly transfers it across the pie dish, helping the bottom crust get crispy and cook all the way through, she says.
Since this pizza stone is 14 inches in diameter, it gives you plenty of room for your pie dish (most are 9 or 10 inches in diameter). It has raised edges on the bottom, just barely raising the stone off whatever surface it’s resting on to help you pick it up. The stone — which has a 4.5-star average rating from 353 reviews on Amazon — is oven-safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. To clean it, just rinse it and let it air dry.
Placing your pie dish on top of a sheet pan while it’s baking will allow the sheet pan to catch anything that may bubble over, like juice from fruit, Ludwinski says. It also helps you rotate the pie in the oven, or remove it when it’s done baking.
Because Great Jones’ sheet pan is covered in a nonstick ceramic coating, I never worry about chocolate, sugar or fruit juice getting stuck to it. I place my pie dish on top in the oven, and if anything drips while baking, I easily scrub it off after. The half-size sheet pan is made from aluminized steel and is oven-safe up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as dishwasher-safe, although I hand-wash it. The sheet pan comes in five vibrant colors, so I also use it as a serving tray too.
A pie bird allows steam to escape from a double-crusted pie while the dessert is baking, François says. It also lets you know when the pie is cooked through, although you can also rely on visual cues, like the filling bubbling through the center, Ludwinski says.
Similar to the brand’s Dutch ovens, Le Creuset’s pie bird is made from stoneware and coated in a non-porous glaze, so pie filling won’t stain it and it won’t absorb flavors, according to the brand. This pie bird is oven-safe up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and dishwasher-safe. It also has a 4.8-star average rating from 1,240 reviews on Amazon.
You may notice that the edges of your pie start to get golden brown and crispy faster than the rest of the desert. To prevent them from getting too brown for your liking, add a crust shield, which covers the perimeter of the pie and protects the edges while the rest of the dessert bakes.
In addition to making your own from folded tin foil, brands offer reusable silicone crust shields like this dishwasher-safe one, which has a 4.4-star average rating from 4,660 reviews on Amazon. You can adjust the shield’s diameter from 8 to 11.5 inches so it perfectly fits your pie dish’s rim. Once you decide on a diameter, you slide the lock into the closest notch so the shield stays put in the oven.
Never cut into your pie while it’s hot, Ludwinski says. After taking it out of the oven, let it cool at room temperature for at least four hours so the filling fully sets. If you slice into a pie when it’s hot, the filling will be too runny and it won’t stay together when you serve it. Don’t cool your pie in the refrigerator — you want the butter in the crust to stay soft, and it will stiffen up in the fridge, ruining the texture.
Experts recommend placing your pie on a cooling rack after it comes out of the oven. The elevated wire rack has an open grid pattern, and it allows air to circulate around the entire baked good, helping it cool quickly.
I believe you can never have too many cooling racks, especially around the holidays if you’re cooking and baking a variety of dishes and need space for all of them. Hiware’s cooling racks come in a pack of two and are available in three sizes: 8.5-by-12 inches, 10-by-15 inches and 12-by-16 inches. They stand on four feet and are built with two supportive crossbars, so you can place heavier cookware on top without worrying about the racks breaking. The racks are dishwasher-safe and have a 4.7-star average rating from 13,046 reviews on Amazon.
After all that prepping, baking and waiting, it’s finally time to slice and serve your pie. I find it easiest to first cut into the pie with a sharp chef’s knife, and then lift it out of the dish with a pie server or offset spatula, like the kind you’d use to frost a cake. Ludwinski thinks pie tastes best when served at room temperature, and while it’s delicious by itself, you can also add ice cream, whipped cream or some confectioner’s sugar on top.
Especially during the holidays, prepping dishes in advance can relieve some of the stress around hosting guests. Pie is one of the best desserts to make ahead of time because it keeps so well, Ludwinski says. You can make pie up to two days before you plan to serve it, cover it and leave it out at room temperature if it’s a fruit pie (like an apple, blueberry or cherry pie), or refrigerate it if it contains cream, custard or similar egg and dairy products (like a chocolate cream pie or key lime pie).
Yes, you can freeze whole pies raw or fully baked. They last months in the freezer so long as they’re wrapped and sealed well. Ko says she often fully assembles pies — particularly fruit-filled or savory ones — and freezes them whole. When she’s ready to make one, she takes it out of the freezer, puts it on a rimmed baking sheet and pops it in a preheated oven until it’s cooked through.
If you freeze a fully baked pie, Ko recommends reheating it in the oven at 350 degrees Farenheit until warmed through.
If you have pie leftovers, Ludwinski recommends covering it in plastic wrap and either leaving it out at room temperature or placing it in the refrigerator, depending on what type of pie it is. Placing a pie in the refrigerator may change the texture of its crust since the butter inside it will harden, so don’t be surprised if it tastes a little different than it did when you first tried it.
The number one secret to a flaky pie crust is cold butter. While you’re making pie dough, the butter should not melt and become homogeneous with the rest of the ingredients, Ludwinski says. Instead, you want to see butter streaks when you roll out the dough. “In the oven, those visible bits of butter get hot and burst into the dough, and that creates the flaky layers,” she says.
Also be sure you don’t overwork or underwork the pie dough, which can be tricky. As a rule of thumb, bring the dough together with your hands until any liquid you added is completely incorporated, Ludwinski says. And there should not be any dry ingredients left at the bottom of the bowl when you’re done mixing.
If your pie has a soggy bottom after you bake it, it’s likely due to liquid from the filling soaking through the crust. There are a few ways to avoid this.
Blind baking — also known as par baking — requires you to bake the pie crust without the filling inside. Recipes don’t always call for this step, but you’ll often need to blind bake a crust before adding a liquidy filling, like pumpkin pie or custard pie filling. Blind baking a crust in these instances prevents it from getting soggy and ensures it cooks all the way through. If you want an extra crispy pie crust, you can always blind bake your pie for a few minutes, whether or not the recipe calls for it.
The filling in a pie helps anchor the crust in place, so when you’re blind baking, you’ll need to use pie weights — little oven-safe ceramic beads — to prevent the crust from slumping down, François says. You can also line the crust with tinfoil and use dried beans as pie weights: “They’re cheaper and more readily available,” François says.
At Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure that all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and with no undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
Zoe Malin is an associate updates editor at Select who writes about kitchen tools, including cookware sets, meal prep containers, ice cream makers and more. For this article, she interviewed three experts about how to make pie and tools they find helpful while doing so.
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