At what temperature do you bake your pastry?

Rose favors the high temperature baking (425F).

Do you bake on the bottom shelf or middle?

I’ve been having some issues with this—when I bake at 425F, I find the crust is done well before the filling, especially when I bake from frozen.  Definitely bake on the bottom shelf on a well heated pizza stone and use a Pyrex pan to help you determine if it’s browning too much (or if you need to bake longer).  I do find the higher initial temperature does help set the crust and is advisable.  Most recently (when baking from frozen) I baked at 425 F for about 10-15 mins. and then lowered the temperature to 350F and baked until the centre is 140F and then increased the temperature to 400F until the temperature was 200F.  This worked well—I do believe I covered the pies with foil after the initial 10-15 mins. (cut centre out of a foil pizza pan for a reusable/disposable pie shield—I was using a metal shield and I think it actually caused the edge to darken even more!!)—you can always take the shield off at the end of baking for more browning.  This was the best result I’ve had from a frozen pie—all thanks to the forum:

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/index_ee.php/forums/viewthread/1470/

Also, discovered that some cherries I was using were extra, extra juicy, so I actually ended up draining off of all the liquid (adding more cherries) and baking as directed since I was getting a cherry soup filling!!!

Thanks so much for all the tips!

I find 425F far too high in my oven. But I see some experts even recommend 450F!

One I have found which may be useful - fruit such as apple can be pre-cooked in the microwave on high for about five minutes - before oven baking. Evidently sorts out the filling being underdone.

When you say pastry, do you mean pie?  Most flaky pastry, including flaky pie crust, needs a higher oven temp to set the layers so the butter won’t melt into the flour and destroy the layers. 

If your pies are getting too brown before the fruit is done, then either your oven is too hot or you may have put too much filling in the pan.  The best way to make a deep dish pie is to cook the filling stovetop and pour it into a fully blind baked crust.

Which shelf, for me, depends on the pan and the recipe and, if I’ve made it before, past experience.  Often I find that I get the best pie crust if I start it on a stone, but then move it off after the first 20-30 minutes or so.  In my oven, it seems like the stone transfers heat to whatever is on it, but then remains a little cooler for a long time.  I confirmed this when making sequential pizzas.

Good observation about the stone, Julie.  I’ve had issues with my pizzas not browning enough—even at high heat and a well heated stone (1+hr in the oven!).  So multiple stones may be the answer.

Pie Crust.  I will go the fully blind baked crust route in future.

When I baked last night I lowered the temp to 375F - after 20 minutes at 400F - the result was better but still slightly too hot. I used foil strips too.
My oven seems to be on the hot side! I will bake again tomorrow. Thank you for your input.

Sherrie - 26 January 2011 09:28 AM

Good observation about the stone, Julie.  I’ve had issues with my pizzas not browning enough—even at high heat and a well heated stone (1+hr in the oven!).  So multiple stones may be the answer.

I make smallish pizzas and each one gets its own corner of the stone, plus I rotate them.  If I bake them sequentially in the center, the first one is very brown and crispy but the others, less so.

For added browning, you could also consider adding or increasing the sugar a little.

Paul - 26 January 2011 09:32 AM

  I will bake again tomorrow.

Pictures?

When I make pizza I also have to rotate them, otherwise one side gets too brown (close to being burnt) and the other not brown enough.

Yes Paul we’d love to see pics please!

Show time??

Not with all you professionals around!! I am still trying to adapt Rose’s recipes to African conditions.

Just discovered my SA cream cheese (which is not low fat) contains only 15% fat as against the 37.7% in Rose’s US made cream cheese.
So should I use double the amount?

My stove incidentally would incinerate any pie placed at the stove bottom. The pie base is even a tad overdone when baked on the middle shelf.

I do need to move the pie lower though so maybe try some foil under the base?

Baked again this morning at 400F - 25F lower than before but the pastry was not as crisp. Rose is right about the high temps being needed for pastry.

Maybe I should switch to my convection oven but think I will stick to the usual stove for the moment.

Baking again tomorrow.