Why Baking Your Pie Crust Upside Down Is Actually Genius

Baking the perfect pie crust is no easy feat. Sure, the ingredient list is pretty minimal and most mistakes can easily be hidden with flavorful fillings and creamy toppings, but there's a reason why ready-made pie crusts were invented. Before you feel tempted to take that shortcut, consider trying one easy trick to make the process easier: Baking the crust upside down.

It might sound a little strange, but baking a pie crust upside down can actually lead to amazing results. The trick applies to crusts that need to be "blind baked" or par-baked before the filling is added. The reason for doing this is to firm up the crust as much as possible and set it for a loose, liquid filling like fruit or custard. But if you try to bake a flaky pie crust without anything to hold it down, the walls will slump down and the shape will be lost.

The most common fix is to place beans or special weights in the middle of the dough, but this can get messy and cause burns. Enter, gravity. You can make life much easier by simply placing a second pie dish on top of the pastry and inverting the dishes for baking. Gravity will hold the dough down between the two pans, leading to a much better shape with higher walls, and you don't need to worry about any cumbersome beans.

A small pedestal will help keep the two pans in place in the oven if you want to be really careful. A small cake tin works great, but you could use a soufflé dish or some ramekins too. Just center on a tray, and place the pie crust, sandwiched between the two pie dishes, on top.

The only issue you might face is that you could lose any fancy crimping as the weight will flatten it out; additionally, the second pie dish needs to be of an identical size. But you can use the aluminum throw-away dishes from the store, and any braiding or detail on top of the walls of the crust should be preserved.

The process works great for a classic pumpkin pie, a chocolate cream pie, or a banoffee. There are plenty of other fail proof tips for homemade pie crust too, and we have some great pie tricks from Lauren Ko if you want to double up. You'll be walking right past those store-bought pie crusts before you know it.