Why Should You Rest Your Pie After Baking? (2024)

In The Family

Why Should You Rest Your Pie After Baking?

Why Should You Rest Your Pie After Baking? (1)

One of the most important steps in a fruit pie happens after you pull the dish from the oven. Before you slice in, it’s critical to let the pie cool down for several hours, both for a clean slice and a safe forkful. We realize this is a low-key form of torture—you’ve already been smelling fresh baked pie for about an hour, and now you can’t even touch the thing—but it’s necessary time for your filling to reach its truest potential.

Fresh from the oven, pie filling is a lava-like mass of fruit chunks adrift in a starchy, sugary syrup. If you slice in right way, that syrup will flood everywhere, leaving you with a collapsed top crust and runny filling you’ll have to spoon up from a bowl. Resting gives the starches in the filling a chance to set into a gel that’ll hold everything neatly in place, which makes for a nice clean slice of pie. This process takes time. Because pie filling is so saturated with sugar, it’s able to reach temperatures well above the boiling point of water, and even with a fan directed at your pie, cool air takes a long time to draw down the temperature of a dense, piping hot, well-insulated mass of pie.

Impatience with your hot pie doesn’t just mean a messy slice—it can easily burn your tongue, a cruel irony that could keep you from enjoying the fruits of your labor altogether.

For moreTASTE Food Questions,subscribe to our podcastTASTE DailyonApple iTunesandSpotify.It’s also free to add to your Alexa flash briefings. Justadd the TASTE Daily Skill.

Cook with us.

Get our freshest features and recipes weekly.

Max Falkowitz

Max Falkowitz is a food and travel writer for The New York Times, Saveur, GQ, New York magazine’s Grub Street, and other outlets. He’s also the coauthor of The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook with Helen You.

Why Should You Rest Your Pie After Baking? (2024)

FAQs

Why Should You Rest Your Pie After Baking? ›

Cooling is crucial for thickeners like flour, cornstarch, and even the natural pectin found in the fruit to work their magic. The thickeners were activated in the oven, but the pie filling gels further with cooling.

What happens if you don't let pie dough rest? ›

The pie dough isn't given enough time to relax and chill

The pie crust could have a firm or tough texture if you bake your pie before resting your dough. Giving your dough time to rest will allow all the ingredients to chill, help the moisture distribute more evenly throughout the dough, and make it easier to roll out.

How long to wait after baking pie? ›

If you want the pie to slice cleanly, without oozing filling, allow it to cool completely before serving; this will take at least a couple of hours. To serve warm rather than at room temperature, reheat your cooled pie, tented with aluminum foil, for about 20 minutes in a 350°F oven.

Why does a pie need to rest? ›

Resting gives the starches in the filling a chance to set into a gel that'll hold everything neatly in place, which makes for a nice clean slice of pie. This process takes time.

How long should pie crust rest after making it? ›

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

Does a pie continue to cook while resting? ›

"Remember, when you remove it from the oven it will continue cooking as it rests and cools down." These telltale signs signal you've probably left your pumpkin pie in the oven too long: Small bubbles in the filling around the edges of the pie. Filling that cracks or separates from the crust.

Does pie need to rest after baking? ›

Yes. Cooling is crucial for thickeners like flour, cornstarch, and even the natural pectin found in the fruit to work their magic. The thickeners were activated in the oven, but the pie filling gels further with cooling.

What is the best oven setting for baking pie? ›

When pies are baked in the traditional Bake mode, the recipe temperature will be in the 375-400F range. However, when baking in convection, it is advisable to reduce the recipe temperature by 25 degrees to avoid overcooking the edge of the pastry.

Can you eat pie right out of the oven? ›

The filling continues to cook and will fully set as the pie cools, so giving a pie plenty of time at room temperature before serving is important. "We usually let our pecan pies sit out for about an hour," says Chef Kolle, "until the filling's cool enough to touch."

What happens if you leave pie out overnight? ›

McDowell says that fruit and custard pies are best eaten within the first 24 hours after baking, but can be stored at room temperature for up to two days—any longer than that, and the crust will start to get soggy.

How do you keep pie crust crispy after baking? ›

How to Prevent a Soggy Bottom Pie Crust
  1. Blind Bake the Crust.
  2. Choose the Right Rack in the Oven.
  3. Brush the Bottom with Corn Syrup or Egg White.
  4. Put the Pie on a Hot Cookie Sheet.
  5. Make a Thicker Crust.
  6. Add a Layer.
  7. Consider a Metal Pie Pan.
Mar 18, 2024

Is pie crust better with butter or crisco? ›

My preferred fat for pie crusts will always be butter. To me, it is all about flavor, and no other fat gives flavor to a crust like butter does. Other fats, even though they have great pros, lack flavor,” De Sa Martins said. “The more flavorful the butter, the more flavor your pie crust will have,” Huntsberger added.

Should I bake the bottom pie crust first? ›

But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.

Do I really need to rest my pie dough for at least an hour before rolling it out and then freeze my pie crust before baking it off? ›

Next, you need to let the dough rest. Wrap each dough ball in a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a flat disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Even if you want to bake your pie the same day, you still need to let the dough rest.

What happens if pie dough is too warm? ›

Not only that, such doughs are thirsty as well, eager to absorb moisture from a pie filling, making the crust soggy and pale. When things heat up in the kitchen—say, anything above 73°F—the only viable solution is to focus on keeping the dough temperature below 70°F (21°C).

What happens if you don't pre bake pie crust? ›

"Blind baking" is the term for baking a piecrust before you add anything to the pie. If you don't blind bake the crust, the liquid from the filling will prevent the pastry from becoming flaky and crisp. You'll be left with a pie that has a soggy bottom. (It tastes just as bad as it sounds).

Why should you let your pie dough rest before rolling it out? ›

2) Let the pastry rest and chill before rolling it out

This step accomplishes two things: It ensures the fat is cold, which encourages pastry that's flaky rather than crumbly. And it gives the gluten in the flour a chance to relax, making it easier to roll (and less likely to shrink later on).

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Foster Heidenreich CPA

Last Updated:

Views: 6233

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (76 voted)

Reviews: 83% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Foster Heidenreich CPA

Birthday: 1995-01-14

Address: 55021 Usha Garden, North Larisa, DE 19209

Phone: +6812240846623

Job: Corporate Healthcare Strategist

Hobby: Singing, Listening to music, Rafting, LARPing, Gardening, Quilting, Rappelling

Introduction: My name is Foster Heidenreich CPA, I am a delightful, quaint, glorious, quaint, faithful, enchanting, fine person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.