Rustic homemade peach pie, above view on wood

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For novice bakers, making a pie from scratch may exist i of the well-nigh challenging feats. If you've never done it before, chances are, yous don't have a pie pan just lying around. Luckily, you can use a cake pan in a pinch. For the best results, choose a recipe that makes a thick, juicy filling, like deep-dish apple or peach pies.

Pie Pans vs. Block Pans

A pie pan is usually circular with sloped sides and is relatively shallow compared to a cake pan; it often has a fluted rim to accommodate the crust. Pyrex glass pans are considered the best because they heat evenly, but pans are as well fabricated of fired clay, tin, black steel and disposable aluminum. Standard pie-pan size is 9 inches in diameter and i 1/iv inch deep, merely it varies. Deep-dish pie pans tin be as deep equally one 1/2 to two inches.

Cake pans are typically fabricated of aluminum, non glass. They ordinarily measure eight to 9 inches in diameter too. Block pans are noticeably deeper than traditional pie pans, ranging from 1 ane/2 to three inches deep. Round 8-inch cake pans piece of work all-time for baking pies because they can suit the volume of most pie recipes. An 8-inch springform pan as well works.

Prepping the Crust

Choose an appropriate recipe for your block-pan pie; a deep-dish recipe is your best bet. A rolled, flaky pie crust or a graham-cracker or cookie-nibble crust can all be baked in a cake pan.

For pie-crust dough, scroll the dough out to well-nigh 12 to thirteen inches in diameter. Place it in the viii-inch cake pan and press into the seams. Crimp the edges decoratively.

For a cookie-nibble crust, press it onto the bottom and up the sides of the cake pan.

Blind Baking

Nearly pie recipes phone call for blind blistering the crust to ensure it comes out flaky and flat, rather than soggy or puffed. Embrace the dough in the cake pan with parchment newspaper and make full the pan with pie weights or dry out beans, then broil for the specified time in the recipe. (Cookie-crumb crusts don't need to be blind broiled.)

Filling the Pie

Make the pie filling and place it in the pre-broiled pie crust, and then bake for the amount of time specified in the recipe. Bank check the pie; if the custard filling isn't quite prepare, or the fruit filling isn't bubbles hot, bake for five to 10 minutes longer.

Tip

If the edges of the crust are browning too chop-chop, crimp foil around them to prevent burning.

Add a summit crust to a deep-dish pie. Cut slashes on the superlative to let steam escape during baking.

Experiment with a novelty hybrid dessert is chosen a pake—soft, spongy cake surrounding a crusted fruit filling.