How to dock a pie crust and when it’s worth doing (2024)

FAQs

How do you dock a pie crust? ›

What does it mean to “dock” your pie dough? The process of docking is simple: It involves rolling out your dough, then pricking a bunch of holes across the surface with a fork or a docker.

With docking, the holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn't held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, not only impacting appearance but also leaving you with less space for whatever filling you have planned.

I like to use pastry flour because it contains less gluten than all-purpose flour and therefore creates a more tender crust, but all-purpose flour will work just fine if that's what you have on hand. The “2” is fat. Butter is the most common type of fat used, but other solid fats will work as well.

Q: What is meant by “docking” or to “dock” the dough when baking? A: Docking the dough is simply a fancy way of saying prick the dough all over with a fork. This technique helps the steam to escape, preventing pesky air bubbles from ruining your perfectly flat pastry base, while also helping it to bake more evenly.

Line with the parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans, filling right to the bottom of the crimps. Place the pie tin on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment paper and beans.

If you're getting just the crust on the bottom, it can be quite dry. The perfect bite happens when the creamy, savory filling is sandwiched between top and bottom crust. Flipping the pie upside down solves all those problems.

The simplest way to add vents to a top crust is by cutting slits in it with a sharp knife. Four or five 2-inch slits, arranged circularly, radiating from the center toward the edges, should be plenty. You can use your finger to widen the slits slightly.

Trim the excess dough from the top and bottom layers and seal the crusts together by pressing the dough with the tines of a fork or flute the edges together using your fingertips. The final step for a double-crust pie is to brush the dough with egg wash for a deep golden color and shine.

Start with chilled ingredients

Butter creates a sturdy, crisp pie crust. For this, it is important to keep all ingredients cold which will inhibit the development of gluten in the flour. Use butter right out of the refrigerator and add ice-cold water to make the dough.

“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.

What not to do when making pie crust? ›

Whether you use a food processor, a stand mixer, or your hands to incorporate the ingredients together, overmixing is a common mistake that leads to a chewy crust. It's tempting when baking to combine the ingredients completely, but the texture should resemble a coarse meal before adding your liquid.

Before returning to the oven without the weights, you need to prick the bottom crust with a fork to prevent it from puffing up. Pricking holes in pie crust is also called “docking” the pie crust.

One of the main benefits of a docking station is connecting multiple peripherals simultaneously, including external hard drives, monitors, printers, and other USB devices. With the right docking station, you can add multiple monitors and have a multi-monitor setup.

Chill the pie pan before you place the pie crust in the pan. Aerosol non-stick sprays - Use a very, very light and even coating so the spray doesn't pool in the pan. Hold the pan over the sink and spritz gently in short bursts, so that just the edge of the spray hits the pan at an angle.

There are two ways to go about blind baking: docking and using pie weights. Docking involves pricking the crust with a fork to allow steam to escape evenly. Otherwise the crust will tend to bubble up and cook unevenly. Pie weights do the essentially same thing by pressing down the crust and holding it in place.