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How long does the tin foil need to be around the crust when baking?

Linda
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  • does the recipe call for pre-cooking the crust ? – Max Nov 22 '17 at 20:38
  • @Max good point! Linda, are we talking about putting foil on top of a pre-baking crust or foil around the crust while the filling is being baked? Or something completely different? – Stephie Nov 22 '17 at 20:46
  • I heard of at least three recipes for pumpkin pies. Could you maybe give us more details? – Mołot Nov 22 '17 at 23:48

2 Answers2

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It helps if you think about the reason the foil is used in the first place:

If a pie filling needs a certain time to set or bake, the crust might brown too much or even burn. The foil partially shields the crust from the oven heat.

How pronounced the “crust getting too dark before filling is done effect” really is depends on the recipe (combination of type of filling and type of crust) and the oven temperature. The characteristics of your oven are also to be considered. So giving you a formula is not effective and may even be plain wrong.

What you should do is:

  • If the recipe gives a recommendation, stick to that, adjust as needed if the crust browns too quickly or not enough.
  • Otherwise, observe the pie and if you notice that the crust seems “almost right”, but the filling needs obviously longer than until the crust is done, add the foil shield.

I encourage you to start baking without the foil and add it according to visual clues. If you have enough experience with a specific recipe and know quite precisely how long to bake with or without foil, you can also shield first and remove the foil later, if you really want to.

Erica
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Stephie
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  • If I was to just leave a foil shield on for the entire bake, what would be the effect -- undercooked crust, or simply paler than I might want? – Erica Nov 22 '17 at 23:15
  • @Erica Without an idea of the temperature, filling type and baking time, results could be everywhere between soggy and perfect. – Stephie Nov 23 '17 at 10:23
  • Ha, fair enough, I would clearly need to Ask a New Question with more detail ;) – Erica Nov 23 '17 at 12:52
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On average, you will want to remove the tin foil 20 minutes before it's done. That has been the rule I have followed.

Adrienme
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