The Best Pie Plate Material For A Crispy, Flaky Crust

Perfect pie doesn't just happen, especially if you want your favorite pie crust to be flaky. It is the result of many decisions, beginning with the choice of pie plate you use to bake it. A beautiful ceramic or glass pie pan makes for a picture-perfect Thanksgiving Day pie or celebratory Fourth of July dessert, but a metal pie tin wins with each bite. This baking tool delivers on overall performance because of its ability to conduct heat, producing flaky layers of crisp crust regardless of the type of pie you are making.

Why, when it comes to baking, do aluminum and steel pie plates reign supreme? Metal tins have many merits. Heating up quickly and evenly distributing that rising temperature results in better browning and a golden crust. Additionally, unlike ceramic or glass pie pans, they don't require a longer bake time or any temperature adjustments. This means your bake time and oven temperature are going to be consistent. If you are worried about the bottom of the crust not baking all the way through and being soggy, a tin pan with a textured bottom — you may have noticed this on one-time-use foil pie tins –  can be helpful. It allows air to circulate and, in turn, the crust to crisp up.

Another problem with those cute ceramic pans is the fact that they are slow to heat and slow to cool, which can lead to overbaking. Metal, on the other hand, heats up quickly and cools quickly, but you still need to be choosy when selecting a metal pie tin. Don't choose a dark pan. This is a common mistake that can ruin your homemade pies. Darker metal is going to absorb heat quickly, meaning all that time and care you took selecting just the right pan to make a golden, crispy crust will be for naught.

Regular metal pie tins have another advantage. If you like to make fancy fluted or crimped edges, these pans are easier to manipulate and maneuver in contrast to one that already has a scalloped rim. Additionally, if you are prepping and making holiday pie crusts in advance of gatherings, metal pie pans can go into the freezer without fear of cracking or shattering.