FOOD NEWS
The Easy Tip To Make Sure Your Pastry Will Have A Crisp Bottom
BY RYAN CASHMAN
A soggy bottom on a pastry can ruin even the best recipes. If your pies and tarts always wind up with a mushy crust, try this baking tray trick to ensure a crisp bottom.
Place a heavy-bottomed baking tray in the oven as it preheats, assemble your pastry in its dish or pan, and place it directly onto the hot tray before baking as usual.
The hot surface of the pan should be more than enough to cook your pie crust before the filling makes it soggy, removing the stress and guesswork of achieving a robust crust.
Your oven has to be quite hot for this to work, at a temperature of at least 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot sheet tray can also make your pastry flakier.
When the crust meets the heat, the butter and water inside of the pastry will melt, creating rising steam and developing those sought-after flaky layers.
This trick allows the crust to cook fast and set quickly. Without it, the raw pie crust would soak up the filling's liquid before it gets a chance to build up a crisp, sturdy barrier.