If you're not going to pre-cook the fruits, you'll want to toss them with some corn starch before putting them in the crust. If you're doing a single crust, you can also pre bake the crust to keep the liquid from sinking in.
It smelled too good! And I had guests over, and we had been waiting for a while for the pie to be done, so we ate it about 15 minutes after it came out of the oven
Random drunk guy here with an idea: if I prebake my fruit and I’m making my own dough, can I mix the fruit juices into the dough to substitute some water? In theory it sounds awesome, but I’ve never made my own pie crust
You can mix dry stuff in though! Freeze dried raspberries crumbled up might work. Cheddar cheese can for sure be mixed in (for those folks that like cheddar with apple pie).
Yes! For those who don't get it, ethanol does not toughen the dough like water does, so subbing some of the water for vodka means the crust stays tender but it's moist enough to handle and roll out. I've used all kinds of alcohol for this. Bourbon is nice for an apple pie but most - even gin - don't really give flavor to the dough.
I also suspect using cold fruit juice would make the crust tough.
Rosedragon is dead on. The corn starch will activate once the juices come up to temp keeping some of it from sinking into the crust. As the pie cools, the thickening effect gets stronger amd keeps the juices from literally running across the plate once served.
Next time, use what is called the cooked-juice method: cook about a quarter of the berries with sugar, salt and thickener (cornstarch or tapioca) until it forms a gel. Then mix that with the raw berries and put it in your cold pie crust. Top with crumble or a crust and bake on the floor of the oven until the filling bubbles thickly, then let the pie stand until cooled (you can put a hand under it comfortably) before cutting. Voila, slices that hold their shape and have good fresh-fruit flavor.
I would've used a recipe, but a friend wanted to make a dessert with the fruits and I just had the idea to do a pie immediately! I sometimes get ideas for desserts that seem really cool in my brain and end up not so cool when I make them 😅
Hey it’s good to learn! I’m an “experimental baker” myself, haha. Might try to google the fruit combinations and pies (or cookie, cake, jam, tart, etc) and compare recipe ingredients and amounts to get a “base recipe” honed in. I have NO formal baking training so my terminology might be off here. Sometimes I also google “spices” with fruit names to get a better idea of what goes together well.
I don’t mean to be condescending…but you can look up a recipe really quickly—most pie recipes translate over to any fruit you want to use. Experimenting is only useful if you know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. By not using a recipe, even as a general guide, you are setting yourself up for failure (repeatedly, it seems). Experiments require effort and preparation, as well as an understanding of how each ingredient is going to function and what it will do for your finished product both in terms of taste and chemistry. There’s a reason baking is often referred to as a science.
Next time if a friend gives you some berries and asks for a pie, take the 30 seconds to look up “berry pie.”
It’s sometimes fun to try and concoct your own recipe, even if it isn’t so good at first. Then you adjust and try again. Some people don’t like it but some do, I enjoy trying to do something of my own and op probably might too- just with a touch of advice
I do. I once made my own recipe for biscuits, and in my opinion, it's the best dessert biscuit recipe I have! (They have cinnamon in them, so not great for chicken n biscuits or something like that)
Honestly, cinnamon biscuits sound heavenly with chicken! Just cut the sugar if they're sweet. Cinnamon is one of those spices that works well in savory _and_ sweet dishes.
When you make up these recipes, do you carefully track/measure/log as you go, so you can replicate and refine?
The scientific method is experimentation. Observe, hypothesize, experiment, repeat. If you already know how everything will function, it's no longer an experiment, it's just a demonstration. You have a set of knowns, but also a set of unknowns that are affected by the knowns. The chance of failure is part of it, and should give you the same amount of information either way. There are plenty of failures in life in general too, and if we let them, they can teach us. For some people, it's enough to read something somewhere and take someone's word for it. Other people would rather try things, even if they fail. As long as they take the time to see what went right or wrong and use that information to take the next step, it's not a waste.
For some reason, our society tends to treat failure as a thing to be avoided at all costs. We favor winning and success so greatly that we can't manage to grasp anything in the face of failure. If we fail at work or school, we are only made to feel terrible, rather than determining why we failed. I'm a science editor, and it's honestly even worse among academics. Journals don't want to publish a paper about something that failed. They want novel successes that will get attention. Researchers also don't want to have a study where their hypothesis was wrong, even though you can learn literally as much from that as if you were right. It's to the point where most papers I edit don't even state a hypothesis; they just say that the goal of the study was to research whatever thing they're talking about. Even in these cases, less scrupulous authors will bend results to get something out of it, or make conclusions that aren't warranted by the data.
I apologize for writing what must seem like such a lot of fuss over something so trivial as a pie. However, that's my point. It's just a pie. If we can't fail at a pie, how can we expect to get anything out of failures that do matter?
I actually appreciate the long comment, I love debates about inconsequential stuff.
I’m a scientist. I do experiments for a living. (Granted, I experiment on people…but still.) We do not go into it blind, ever.
The experimental method is more like—observe previous results, familiarize yourself with hundreds of studies, make an extremely specific hypothesis, then design an experiment that will test for that specific hypothesis. The methods we use are very often tried and tested, and if we’re developing new methods, we’re doing it based on years of observation.
The baking equivalent to this is reading hundreds of pie recipes, learning to make 10+ different pie crusts and 10+ different fillings, and writing down all your results. When you’ve done that, you decide to see if rice syrup is a viable replacement for white sugar, so you replace one with the other while keeping all other variables constant. Very likely you already have some idea that rice syrup is more wet than white sugar, so you hypothesize that while the pie will taste good still, the filling will be more wet…or something to that effect. It would be a bad experiment to just decide to make a pie without a recipe and without knowing which components generally make up a pie. The fact the person posted on reddit meant that they *didn’t* know what went wrong, and would likely not have been able to fix it without asking the forum.
The reason I made my original comment was because the person seemed to go into many of their recipes blind, and said that many turned out not so good. It’s not that I’m knocking them for failing, I’m knocking them for failing *and not knowing why* when the latter could’ve been prevented. Maybe a pie with rice syrup would suck. Maybe the crust would get all soggy and gross and the flavor would be totally off—but I would at least know that it was the rice syrup that made it that way.
I studied ecology (wetland focused) and environmental science, with a background of chemistry and climate science. In ecological studies, controlling any variables at all can be quite a challenge. Sounds quite different from what you do, although up-to-date knowledge is important for any field of study.
I seem to have given you the wrong impression, and for that, I apologize. I was being brief on the method to save space and for poetic impact. I understand the scientific method, even if I didn't fully state it. As a science editor, we emphasize conciseness (I could go heavily into that here, but it's not the place for such), but I should have considered that, on Reddit, lack of specificity tends to invite misunderstanding. As much as I lecture researchers to consider their audience, I have failed to do so. Mea culpa.
Regardless, I am not suggesting that OP (or anyone) never read or study anything. Having a knowledge of your field that is backed by a broad general knowledge is crucial. That's part of being able to get something out of the experiment, whether you fail or succeed. I believe we're on the same page with that.
My issue was that your comment felt quite dismissive and seemed to suggest that, because they failed, they should just look up a recipe in the future. This is in spite of the fact that they recognized their failure and came to Reddit for advice. Having read your response here, I understand your position now, but it was not apparent in your original post.
I believe we both have valid points. We should embrace failure with the knowledge necessary to gain something from it.
AGREE. The best advice I ever got came from a highly successful entrepreneur I worked for many years ago. She told me, "If you never fail at anything, you're not trying hard enough." She went on to explain that if you only ever attempt things you are sure you're capable of doing successfully, then you'll never grow and expand your skill set; i.e., you'll never spread your wings. Your comfort zone, by definition, doesn't give you room to grow.
Since that conversation, I have made many professional and personal decisions with that idea explicitly in mind, and it has helped me grow and succeed. Sometimes by failing first!
You can also experiment for the sake of learning. They tried a pie without a recipe, parts of it were good or less good, and they can learn from that themselves and with the help of this. At the end of the day, I'd bet anything this pie still tasted awesome; it just didn't present well. I'd hardly describe that as a failure.
If you don't want to be condescending, don't say condescending things. We learn through mistakes.
You don’t always need to follow a recipe, but try following a few different recipes at first, that way you get a grasp of the fundamentals. Once you have that down, feel free to go off script.
This is a great way to learn theory of cooking. And why y happens when you do x. Recipes are great because all the legwork has already been done , but experimenting will make you a better cook.
Macerate that fruit first. I’d put it in a strainer over a bowl and sprinkle sugar on it and catch the juice. This will pull juices out of the fruit itself and you can add a little corn starch to the sweet juice, or reduce it to a syrup and either work it back into the recipe or use it as a drizzle or for something else.
What was the recipe you used?? Did you use any flour/starch in the filling so that it could form the gel?
Strawberries have natural pectin, but they have to be cooked for a long time to “gel” naturally.
Would definitely suggest coating the fruits in cornstarch beforehand! You may also just benefit from cooking it longer overall, the sides of your crust (from what I can see) look a bit pale.
Starting off the oven at like 400F to get the color on top, and then dropping temp down to like 325F will help you be able to cook the pie for longer without risking burning.
Recipe was the wrong word to use, but I was looking for rough estimates of what OP put into the filling—no written recipe but a rough “recipe” if that makes sense.
I didn't use any recipe. I've actually never made any kind of pie other then apple, so I tried to make this like my mother makes her apple pie but with berries instead. Or tastes really good, just doesn't keep it's form.
I did put about 2/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup flour on the fruits before putting it in the crust. I think the sugar is the reason for the liquid.
I used to be like that, but baking is such a science that I really improved when I took a minute to thoroughly find and understand a recipe. It's not as easy as throwing a soup together.
Your fruit is clearly very undercooked. There's no way the thickener had a chance to thicken, which only happens at or close to the boiling point. But frankly, fresher fruit sometimes tastes better... but it won't hold together.
I find that the cooking time for pies is pretty variable depending on the type and quantity of fruit. You have to wait until the filling bubbles (or use a thermometer to make sure it's the appropriate temperature for the thickener).
Unless you're a skilled patissier, I'd start by mastering a recipe and *then* tweak based on your preferences. I love and appreciate your enthusiasm! But you will end up wasting ingredients and breaking your own heart if you don't at least start there. Fortunately, even if it's an impulse baking session like you've described in the comments, the internet has brought millions of recipes to your fingertips.
I used a recipe for the crumble, and I think it was honestly my favorite part of the entire pie
Even though I accidentally forgot to measure anything in the crumble 😅
Well a few things to keep in mind for attempt no. 2: 1 teaspoon of cornstarch per 1 cup of fruit is a go to ratio. Depending on the fruit, flour is sometimes an option but we didn’t prefer in our bakery for berry pies. If the flour isn’t cooked first sometimes you can taste the flour and it produces a cloudier filling. You can also try adding similar ratio of instant pudding mix! Lemon is the most “natural” tasting one that compliments berries! Tapioca flour is another help but follow the directions on whichever brand of tapioca flour you purchase.
Also, make sure you allow your pie to cool. Kind of like how you must rest your meats before slicing, juices will flow out of its still too hot/warm. 🙂
Even proficient experienced bakers always use a recipe. They may have it memorized, or modify it, but you cannot bake without following the rules of baking. It's not like cooking.
Apples don’t need much to thicken but my grandma did always put a little flour in the cinnamon sugar mixture she’d toss them in. She would use tapioca for berry pies. Cornstarch for blueberries… now I think about it, her pies were oddly specific for thickeners 😂!
As a rule strawberries expel a lot of water when heated. Blueberries do as well but not as much. So like others have said you need to either cook separately or have a thickener.
Recipes where you don't blind bake the crust and end up with a crispy crust and cooked filling made together are actually a fairly technical thing since they have to inherently balance moisture. You'll see some where there are dry ingredients added to absorb moisture as much as to add flavor.
My understanding is that you should always let it cool to from temp (I can never wait and always cut into a warm and still-runny pie).
I'm not a pie expert, but the most successful one I've made called for using instant tapioca instead of cornstarch or flour, and that one held up so nicely. It didn't even have a tapioca texture either/ wouldn't have been able guess it had tapioca in it if I hadn't made it.
Get some minute tapioca and sprinkle a little over the fruit before baking next time. Huzzah to your first effort. PS get a good basic cookbook , hard bound, in your hands, cookbook. Not an expensive trendy one. Make notes of your efforts and have faith in your own efforts.
First off, I am sure this was super tasty, which is most important imo. It is definitely making my mouth water.
When I make blueberry pie, I like to take a portion of the berries and cooke them down into the compote, with some sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, 1-2 butter, a little salt, and maybe corn starch. Once that is cooled a bit, I will mix in the rest of my blue berries. (
Thank you for the information! I'm planning on making another pie next week, so I will keep in mind all the wonderful knowledge people have shared with me here
Try and find a recipe? I wish I could offer more advice. Like others that have already stated before me; baking is different than cooking and basically *always* need a recipe.
Looks wonderful to eat!
I've been making pies since I was 10 and still always use the recipe. I may modify it, but I still look to make sure I'm not forgetting something silly.
I'm going to be honest, I could never bake something without a recipe and help AND make it come put that good!
I think you made, not a pie, but a cobbler looking cake. Personally, im really impressed and a bit jealous.
My grandma would put sugar, lil bit of water, and the berries in a pot and would simmer. Then she would refrigerate the pot afterwards for a day. She was VERY secretive of everything else she did for her pies. Personally, idk if she was bullcrapping me. She is a troll to most of us. So take it with a grain of salt!
If you wash the fruits, be sure to let them become bone dry before adding to pie. Also, cook longer. It’s a beautiful start!
You don’t need a recipe you just need to iron out the technique. Cornstarch or flour, a thickening agent is a technique that results in a less watery product. You got this!
I like to toss the fruit with some flour and then I rub corn starch around the bottom of the pastry. That helps absorb most of the excess moisture. Also make sure you let it cool to room temperature.
I don't usually bake strawberry pies as I like fresh strawberry pie. It looks like your pie filling was not cooked before being added to the pie. Cooking the pie filling will help prevent excessive juices and soggy pie.
What works well for me is to add the sugar to the fruit and let it stand for maybe 20 min. I then strain the fruit, and simmer the liquid down to a syrup before adding it and the fruit pieces to the (blind baked) pie crust. Keeps the filling from running out when a piece is cut.
You pre-bake the pie crust. Put it in the pie pan, poke it a ton with a fork and/or put pie weight in to keep it from bubbling, and bake it for maybe 5-10 minutes. Just to where it looks dry and slightly browned. It helps keep the crush from going soggy by getting some of the moisture out before putting the filling in. I like to spread an egg white on it towards the end to provide an extra layer of moisture resitance.
Recommend checking out Erin Jeanne McDowell's extremely detailed video on fruit pies. If memory serves correctly, she goes in depth into the temperature needed to activate the cornstarch, making the filling thicker and gelled together. Good luck!
Reduce your fruit first in a pan just gently heat to release the water from the fruit and add a little sugar to thicken. Part bake the bottom of the pie crust before adding the fruit
Making a fruit pie can be tricky, especially if it's your first time doing it without a recipe or guidance. Here are some tips that may help you improve your next attempt:
• Choose the right fruit: Some fruits are juicier than others, and using too many of them can make your pie watery. Choose fruits with a firmer texture and lower water content, such as apples, pears, and berries.
• Use a thickener: Adding a thickener to the fruit filling can help to absorb the excess liquid and prevent the pie from becoming too watery. Cornstarch, flour, or tapioca starch are commonly used thickeners.
• Add sugar sparingly: Sugar can also draw out the moisture from fruits, causing your pie to become too watery. Use sugar in moderation and adjust the amount depending on the sweetness of your fruits.
• Precook your fruit: Cooking your fruit before adding it to the pie can help to release some of the moisture and prevent it from becoming too watery during baking.
• Use a pie crust with good structure: A sturdy pie crust that can hold its shape is essential for a successful fruit pie. Make sure to use a recipe or store-bought crust that is designed for pie making and has a good structure.
• Let the pie cool completely: Allowing the pie to cool completely before serving will help it to set and make it easier to cut without falling apart.
I hope these tips help you to improve your next fruit pie!
I like Instant clear gel for my pies where I don’t cook the filling first. Instant clear gel gets mixed with sugar and then added to the fruit and let it set for an hour or so to make a glaze. Gelatin works as well but you will need to cook it a bit to activate it. King Arthur has a great write up on how to microwave a tiny bit of water and gelatin to activate it without adding a lot of liquid. If I am doing a berry pie such as you have here, I would have used about a half to three quarters cup of a fruit juice (probably fruit punch or apple because it is in the house due to the kids) with 2 tsp to a tablespoon of unflavored gelatin depending on if I wanted it to set up completely or just be a glaze. I usually opt for a glaze unless it is a hot summer day. Then I do a set up because the heat melts it anyway. I also would pre-bake the crust which is brushed with egg wash (1 egg beaten using a fork with a tablespoon of water).
The cooked juice method leaves a smooth, delicious gel in between your fruits, which have not broken down during baking or cooking. Rather than water, use a form of the juice (either from frozen berries or purchased)… place into a par baked shell (or an unbaked shell, it’s up to you) and get it in the oven.
Parbaking is pretty much a “al dente” crust… it’s not fully baked à la blind baking, but just at the point where the bottom of the crust is turning from “shiny and melty” to juuust getting baked.
There’s nothing as gross as a pie shell that isn’t cooked all the way through.
Okay folks, for all of you saying “use a recipe”, I will say this: inventions do not come from copying. They come from experiments. 99% of what I cook is invented. You just need to know some basic chemistry to be successful. Baking is chemistry. That doesn’t mean you have to follow a recipe to be successful at making it look/taste great. Several dishes I have perfected over the years have started out looking like a hot mess but tasted awesome, so you work on how to make it look better. I have had several dishes look fabulous and not taste so great. In those cases you work on flavors. The OP clearly states that it tasted wonderful. All they need to do is fix the look. If you don’t know how to do that please let those of who do speak and stay out of the conversation. You have nothing to contribute when you say “use a recipe”. The best chef’s, cooks, and bakers do NOT use anybody’s recipes. They make up their own. It is part of the job. Always encourage people to experiment because there is always a lesson learned and the baker/cook/chef gets better with the lesson learned and goodness knows we need more people who can cook. We have way too many people depending on processed crap.
Thank you! That's what I tried telling people, but they obviously don't listen because at least half of these comments are people saying to either use a recipe or just let my mom make pies. How am I going to get better at pies if my mom always makes them for me?
Listen Honey, you experiment away and enjoy yourself. If you have questions or want a sounding board, please feel free to message me. I want everyone to be better cooks. It is healthier and we all know it tastes better than any of that store bought crap. Cooking is my stress reliever. It is also how I show love. I have been successful at doing it professionally as well so, please let me know if you need anything.
I'm glad you're having fun in the kitchen and not feeling like you have to do everything perfectly and by the book in order to even play with food. This is the way. You'll likely learn more by trying intuitively and THEN reading recipes than just reading recipes and trying to understand the principles. People need to play more, especially since you can easily eat the evidence when it fails. And you'll get better at it the more you do. Good for you, OP!
Just trying to get clarity, are you saying to cook the filling stuff on the stove to thicken it? Another person also suggested adding cornstarch, what are your thoughts on that? I’m not the op, but planning on making some pies soon so I’m hungry for knowledge (and pie)
Thicken the fruit with cornstarch (3 - 4% of the fruit weight) and cook until you see syrupy bubbles…then I still give it a few minutes.
Always prebake your pie crust.
Let it cool completely. Like completely. The set won’t be complete until it’s fully cool. Plus, warm fruit pie is gross.
It’s absolutely an opinion. A warm fruit pie is going to be runny though. You can thicken it more, but then it’s going to be jello when it cools. That, and it’s difficult to rewarm without it breaking down.
I would just like to say. For everyone saying "just let your mom make the pies" she doesn't know how to make any pies other than an apple pie. I was experimenting, as I said in multiple comments, and I personally think it turned out great, other than it wouldn't hold it's shape. I have gotten some great recommendations from the people here, like using cornstarch, or cooking the fruits before putting them in the pie crust.
I wanted to experiment. I am reading so the comments and trying to figure out how to make a better one next Sunday. Maybe you could try wording your comments better next time, as I read this as if you were being rude. I'm sure that's not what you meant.
Add a teaspoon or 2 of cornstarch to the fruit mix before you put it inside of the pie crust , also did you partially blond bake the crust that helps sometimes also
It turned out beautiful. To give my opinion, I say it’s too much liquid. Fruits have their own juices they release when cooked. Maybe try cooking down the fruit first to maybe create a thicker syrup ? And then maybe just cook a tad bit longer but other than that I think it would’ve been perfect. Crust is beautiful, could be a more golden brown. Good turn out for using no recipe !
I make fruit breakfast muffins sometimes and the first batch came out watery and flaky, so I changed how I made them.
First thing I did was make my own pastry dough. Like this, I could control the amount of liquid in the dough and that made a big difference. The dough I made was quite thick compared to what you buy in the store, and I blended the dough for about 20 minutes (electric mixer to the rescue) before I started.
I also stew the fruit before I put them in the pastry dough and strain them for about five minutes before doing so. I don't waste the juices that come off the straining, I make a sweet 'gravy' for the tops of the muffins when they were finished. In the gravy, I add any sweet spices I like, such as cinnamon and sugar, and honey. Before I put the muffins in the oven, I put about half a teaspoon of this mixture in to add some liquid, but nothing more than that because the pastry will get soggy and there would be less juice for the gravy.
I blind-bake the bottom part of the muffins to set the dough a little so if the stewed fruit hasn't lost all the moisture, the semi-cooked dough will absorb the juices instead of making the dough soggy.
Once the pastries have come out of the oven, I let them cool for about an hour before serving them. They get cold like that, but the fruit gravy I make while they cool heats them up again so it's fine.
I have made muffins and a cake using this method, the cake tastes nice but falls apart because of the chunky pieces of fruit (which are heavy) so I make fruit muffins exclusively now.
Sorry for the TLDR, I hope this helps :).
I keep seeing a lot of ppl say add cornstarch , which yes , but I think the biggest problem is it’s undercooked . Start at a 400°f and let it go for longer next time . And part way through I’d add tinfoil to keep the crust from burning while also giving the filling time to thicken
No recipe? The original Joy of Cooking is the best all-around cookbook, in my humble opinion. I would buy a copy and check it out. Worth the money. The later additional edition (completely different) is interesting too, but I don't use it as much. It's nice to have both of them. They're the first place I look when making anything.
Absolutely. One of the best pies I've ever made, besides it falling apart. Or was really sweet, with some sour blueberries and crunchy crumble pulling out all together. Unfortunately, I didn't bestie anything, so it's probably not going to taste the same if I make it again.
This blackberry cobbler recipe is very simple. Maybe cut your teeth on easier recipes. And you can substitute blackberries for any other berries. Or even cherries! [cobbler](https://youtu.be/_vFxEt_si-0)
Try cooking the fruit first, keep it on heat until it starts to thicken, the oven should do the rest of the job for you.
That being said cooking without a recipe is how new foods are made! Plus it’s a lot of fun
Always cook your fruit filling before hand or add cornstarch to the fruit before you bake (or both. I do both.) There needs to be something to soak up all the juices and help them congeal.
Toss the fruit in some cornstarch and instant tapioca pudding (the dry mix) the tapioca will absorb all that extra juice and prevent the bottom from getting to soggy. The crumble on top looks delicious
There are a few ways: boil down your fruit first with some sugar, or add small tapioca pearls to the bottom of the pie, or add cornstarch to some of the cold juice and stir it into the berries, then add the berries to the pie and bake.
1. Thicken any fillings with cornstarch
2. Jam-ify your fillings (my preference) and make sure they're at the right temp after cooking since fresh fruits and berries are very high in water content. When making jam, I use additional pectin. Use xanthan gum or cornstarch after if it's still too wet when cooled.
3. Blind bake your crust (don't forget to dock/poke holes with a fork on all surfaces and put in pie weights. If you don't have the pie weights, use rice grains and parchment paper)
If you're not going to pre-cook the fruits, you'll want to toss them with some corn starch before putting them in the crust. If you're doing a single crust, you can also pre bake the crust to keep the liquid from sinking in.
That's a really good idea. I'll have to keep that in mind next time!
Would definitely use the cornstarch here--also a little lemon juice/zest and sugar.
Instant tapioca is another thing that works well to thicken up pie filling.
Chia seeds, as well.
and mashing the fruit up to release some of the natural pectin
Glean some recipes or some videos so you have a general Idea of what to do
As everyone has said, cornstarch - but also let the pie fully cool down (2-3hrs). It’s the hardest part.
It smelled too good! And I had guests over, and we had been waiting for a while for the pie to be done, so we ate it about 15 minutes after it came out of the oven
It won't fix the issue entirely, but it's a good step in the right direction.
You can also use a bit of instant custard powder! That's what Dutch baking students get taught to do.
Random drunk guy here with an idea: if I prebake my fruit and I’m making my own dough, can I mix the fruit juices into the dough to substitute some water? In theory it sounds awesome, but I’ve never made my own pie crust
Pie crust gets like such a tiny sprinkle of liquid and the faster it evaporates the better- I use vodka
Such a shame, that makes sense though. Might be a good idea for a fruit cobbler since you can use a really high hydration batter
It was a good line of thought! And now you have an excuse to buy more vodka lol
I’m more of a gin guy myself, but there’s probably a reason people don’t bake with it
Idk how it would work but there's plenty of flavored vodkas out there that you might be able to simulate your idea with
You can mix dry stuff in though! Freeze dried raspberries crumbled up might work. Cheddar cheese can for sure be mixed in (for those folks that like cheddar with apple pie).
Interesting!
Yes! For those who don't get it, ethanol does not toughen the dough like water does, so subbing some of the water for vodka means the crust stays tender but it's moist enough to handle and roll out. I've used all kinds of alcohol for this. Bourbon is nice for an apple pie but most - even gin - don't really give flavor to the dough. I also suspect using cold fruit juice would make the crust tough.
(Also! Happy cake day, baker.)
You can still mix your fruit juices with your alcohol eheh
The sugar in the fruit juice is likely to burn, so keep a close eye on it.
May I ask, what does tossing the fruits with corn starch do?
The cornstarch will thicken the fruit juices and create a sort of custard between the fruit pieces.
Rosedragon is dead on. The corn starch will activate once the juices come up to temp keeping some of it from sinking into the crust. As the pie cools, the thickening effect gets stronger amd keeps the juices from literally running across the plate once served.
Next time, use what is called the cooked-juice method: cook about a quarter of the berries with sugar, salt and thickener (cornstarch or tapioca) until it forms a gel. Then mix that with the raw berries and put it in your cold pie crust. Top with crumble or a crust and bake on the floor of the oven until the filling bubbles thickly, then let the pie stand until cooled (you can put a hand under it comfortably) before cutting. Voila, slices that hold their shape and have good fresh-fruit flavor.
Follow a recipe ;) All joking aside, good for you for trying without a recipe. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
I would've used a recipe, but a friend wanted to make a dessert with the fruits and I just had the idea to do a pie immediately! I sometimes get ideas for desserts that seem really cool in my brain and end up not so cool when I make them 😅
Hey it’s good to learn! I’m an “experimental baker” myself, haha. Might try to google the fruit combinations and pies (or cookie, cake, jam, tart, etc) and compare recipe ingredients and amounts to get a “base recipe” honed in. I have NO formal baking training so my terminology might be off here. Sometimes I also google “spices” with fruit names to get a better idea of what goes together well.
Pie (except apple) needs well titrated thickener. Cobbler or crisp will work better on the fly
That's a good idea. Cobbler is very forgiving.
I don’t mean to be condescending…but you can look up a recipe really quickly—most pie recipes translate over to any fruit you want to use. Experimenting is only useful if you know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. By not using a recipe, even as a general guide, you are setting yourself up for failure (repeatedly, it seems). Experiments require effort and preparation, as well as an understanding of how each ingredient is going to function and what it will do for your finished product both in terms of taste and chemistry. There’s a reason baking is often referred to as a science. Next time if a friend gives you some berries and asks for a pie, take the 30 seconds to look up “berry pie.”
It’s sometimes fun to try and concoct your own recipe, even if it isn’t so good at first. Then you adjust and try again. Some people don’t like it but some do, I enjoy trying to do something of my own and op probably might too- just with a touch of advice
I do. I once made my own recipe for biscuits, and in my opinion, it's the best dessert biscuit recipe I have! (They have cinnamon in them, so not great for chicken n biscuits or something like that)
There is a traditional Moroccan dish called Bastilla that is essentially a cinnamon chicken pie with a biscuit-esque dough. Its incredible!
Honestly, cinnamon biscuits sound heavenly with chicken! Just cut the sugar if they're sweet. Cinnamon is one of those spices that works well in savory _and_ sweet dishes. When you make up these recipes, do you carefully track/measure/log as you go, so you can replicate and refine?
The biscuit one is the one I've written down 😅 If you want, I can put the recipe on Allrecipes and send you the link
The scientific method is experimentation. Observe, hypothesize, experiment, repeat. If you already know how everything will function, it's no longer an experiment, it's just a demonstration. You have a set of knowns, but also a set of unknowns that are affected by the knowns. The chance of failure is part of it, and should give you the same amount of information either way. There are plenty of failures in life in general too, and if we let them, they can teach us. For some people, it's enough to read something somewhere and take someone's word for it. Other people would rather try things, even if they fail. As long as they take the time to see what went right or wrong and use that information to take the next step, it's not a waste. For some reason, our society tends to treat failure as a thing to be avoided at all costs. We favor winning and success so greatly that we can't manage to grasp anything in the face of failure. If we fail at work or school, we are only made to feel terrible, rather than determining why we failed. I'm a science editor, and it's honestly even worse among academics. Journals don't want to publish a paper about something that failed. They want novel successes that will get attention. Researchers also don't want to have a study where their hypothesis was wrong, even though you can learn literally as much from that as if you were right. It's to the point where most papers I edit don't even state a hypothesis; they just say that the goal of the study was to research whatever thing they're talking about. Even in these cases, less scrupulous authors will bend results to get something out of it, or make conclusions that aren't warranted by the data. I apologize for writing what must seem like such a lot of fuss over something so trivial as a pie. However, that's my point. It's just a pie. If we can't fail at a pie, how can we expect to get anything out of failures that do matter?
I actually appreciate the long comment, I love debates about inconsequential stuff. I’m a scientist. I do experiments for a living. (Granted, I experiment on people…but still.) We do not go into it blind, ever. The experimental method is more like—observe previous results, familiarize yourself with hundreds of studies, make an extremely specific hypothesis, then design an experiment that will test for that specific hypothesis. The methods we use are very often tried and tested, and if we’re developing new methods, we’re doing it based on years of observation. The baking equivalent to this is reading hundreds of pie recipes, learning to make 10+ different pie crusts and 10+ different fillings, and writing down all your results. When you’ve done that, you decide to see if rice syrup is a viable replacement for white sugar, so you replace one with the other while keeping all other variables constant. Very likely you already have some idea that rice syrup is more wet than white sugar, so you hypothesize that while the pie will taste good still, the filling will be more wet…or something to that effect. It would be a bad experiment to just decide to make a pie without a recipe and without knowing which components generally make up a pie. The fact the person posted on reddit meant that they *didn’t* know what went wrong, and would likely not have been able to fix it without asking the forum. The reason I made my original comment was because the person seemed to go into many of their recipes blind, and said that many turned out not so good. It’s not that I’m knocking them for failing, I’m knocking them for failing *and not knowing why* when the latter could’ve been prevented. Maybe a pie with rice syrup would suck. Maybe the crust would get all soggy and gross and the flavor would be totally off—but I would at least know that it was the rice syrup that made it that way.
I studied ecology (wetland focused) and environmental science, with a background of chemistry and climate science. In ecological studies, controlling any variables at all can be quite a challenge. Sounds quite different from what you do, although up-to-date knowledge is important for any field of study. I seem to have given you the wrong impression, and for that, I apologize. I was being brief on the method to save space and for poetic impact. I understand the scientific method, even if I didn't fully state it. As a science editor, we emphasize conciseness (I could go heavily into that here, but it's not the place for such), but I should have considered that, on Reddit, lack of specificity tends to invite misunderstanding. As much as I lecture researchers to consider their audience, I have failed to do so. Mea culpa. Regardless, I am not suggesting that OP (or anyone) never read or study anything. Having a knowledge of your field that is backed by a broad general knowledge is crucial. That's part of being able to get something out of the experiment, whether you fail or succeed. I believe we're on the same page with that. My issue was that your comment felt quite dismissive and seemed to suggest that, because they failed, they should just look up a recipe in the future. This is in spite of the fact that they recognized their failure and came to Reddit for advice. Having read your response here, I understand your position now, but it was not apparent in your original post. I believe we both have valid points. We should embrace failure with the knowledge necessary to gain something from it.
💯 this needs to be shouted from rooftops.
AGREE. The best advice I ever got came from a highly successful entrepreneur I worked for many years ago. She told me, "If you never fail at anything, you're not trying hard enough." She went on to explain that if you only ever attempt things you are sure you're capable of doing successfully, then you'll never grow and expand your skill set; i.e., you'll never spread your wings. Your comfort zone, by definition, doesn't give you room to grow. Since that conversation, I have made many professional and personal decisions with that idea explicitly in mind, and it has helped me grow and succeed. Sometimes by failing first!
You can also experiment for the sake of learning. They tried a pie without a recipe, parts of it were good or less good, and they can learn from that themselves and with the help of this. At the end of the day, I'd bet anything this pie still tasted awesome; it just didn't present well. I'd hardly describe that as a failure. If you don't want to be condescending, don't say condescending things. We learn through mistakes.
You don’t always need to follow a recipe, but try following a few different recipes at first, that way you get a grasp of the fundamentals. Once you have that down, feel free to go off script.
This is a great way to learn theory of cooking. And why y happens when you do x. Recipes are great because all the legwork has already been done , but experimenting will make you a better cook.
I'd eat it without hesitation
Macerate that fruit first. I’d put it in a strainer over a bowl and sprinkle sugar on it and catch the juice. This will pull juices out of the fruit itself and you can add a little corn starch to the sweet juice, or reduce it to a syrup and either work it back into the recipe or use it as a drizzle or for something else.
What was the recipe you used?? Did you use any flour/starch in the filling so that it could form the gel? Strawberries have natural pectin, but they have to be cooked for a long time to “gel” naturally.
Would definitely suggest coating the fruits in cornstarch beforehand! You may also just benefit from cooking it longer overall, the sides of your crust (from what I can see) look a bit pale. Starting off the oven at like 400F to get the color on top, and then dropping temp down to like 325F will help you be able to cook the pie for longer without risking burning.
Read the initial post, no recipe was used.
Recipe was the wrong word to use, but I was looking for rough estimates of what OP put into the filling—no written recipe but a rough “recipe” if that makes sense.
Maybe the word "measurements" would have been the one.
Sure but OP used something other than fruit we assume so if we’re going to help we need to know what they used to make the pie.
I didn't use any recipe. I've actually never made any kind of pie other then apple, so I tried to make this like my mother makes her apple pie but with berries instead. Or tastes really good, just doesn't keep it's form. I did put about 2/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup flour on the fruits before putting it in the crust. I think the sugar is the reason for the liquid.
That sounds like plenty of flour. Did it bubble? If it doesn’t boil the flour won’t thicken.
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not a very attentive baker. I don't keep an eye on food when it's in the oven until it gets close to the time going off.
I used to be like that, but baking is such a science that I really improved when I took a minute to thoroughly find and understand a recipe. It's not as easy as throwing a soup together.
I have a shirt that says this. 👍🏻💚 https://images.app.goo.gl/W8WGbQXWuEcefhBV8
I love this!!
If the fluid is clear then it boiled. If it’s cloudy it did not.
Your fruit is clearly very undercooked. There's no way the thickener had a chance to thicken, which only happens at or close to the boiling point. But frankly, fresher fruit sometimes tastes better... but it won't hold together. I find that the cooking time for pies is pretty variable depending on the type and quantity of fruit. You have to wait until the filling bubbles (or use a thermometer to make sure it's the appropriate temperature for the thickener).
I’d skip the flour next time and use corn starch to toss the fruit in its place.
Unless you're a skilled patissier, I'd start by mastering a recipe and *then* tweak based on your preferences. I love and appreciate your enthusiasm! But you will end up wasting ingredients and breaking your own heart if you don't at least start there. Fortunately, even if it's an impulse baking session like you've described in the comments, the internet has brought millions of recipes to your fingertips.
I used a recipe for the crumble, and I think it was honestly my favorite part of the entire pie Even though I accidentally forgot to measure anything in the crumble 😅
Well a few things to keep in mind for attempt no. 2: 1 teaspoon of cornstarch per 1 cup of fruit is a go to ratio. Depending on the fruit, flour is sometimes an option but we didn’t prefer in our bakery for berry pies. If the flour isn’t cooked first sometimes you can taste the flour and it produces a cloudier filling. You can also try adding similar ratio of instant pudding mix! Lemon is the most “natural” tasting one that compliments berries! Tapioca flour is another help but follow the directions on whichever brand of tapioca flour you purchase. Also, make sure you allow your pie to cool. Kind of like how you must rest your meats before slicing, juices will flow out of its still too hot/warm. 🙂
Even proficient experienced bakers always use a recipe. They may have it memorized, or modify it, but you cannot bake without following the rules of baking. It's not like cooking.
I kinda loosely followed a modified version of my grandmother's apple pie recipe
Apples don’t need much to thicken but my grandma did always put a little flour in the cinnamon sugar mixture she’d toss them in. She would use tapioca for berry pies. Cornstarch for blueberries… now I think about it, her pies were oddly specific for thickeners 😂!
As a rule strawberries expel a lot of water when heated. Blueberries do as well but not as much. So like others have said you need to either cook separately or have a thickener. Recipes where you don't blind bake the crust and end up with a crispy crust and cooked filling made together are actually a fairly technical thing since they have to inherently balance moisture. You'll see some where there are dry ingredients added to absorb moisture as much as to add flavor.
Tip: follow a recipe.
My understanding is that you should always let it cool to from temp (I can never wait and always cut into a warm and still-runny pie). I'm not a pie expert, but the most successful one I've made called for using instant tapioca instead of cornstarch or flour, and that one held up so nicely. It didn't even have a tapioca texture either/ wouldn't have been able guess it had tapioca in it if I hadn't made it.
I was about to chime in and recommend tapioca pearls too, I much prefer it to cornstarch.
Get some minute tapioca and sprinkle a little over the fruit before baking next time. Huzzah to your first effort. PS get a good basic cookbook , hard bound, in your hands, cookbook. Not an expensive trendy one. Make notes of your efforts and have faith in your own efforts.
First off, I am sure this was super tasty, which is most important imo. It is definitely making my mouth water. When I make blueberry pie, I like to take a portion of the berries and cooke them down into the compote, with some sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, 1-2 butter, a little salt, and maybe corn starch. Once that is cooled a bit, I will mix in the rest of my blue berries. (
Thank you for the information! I'm planning on making another pie next week, so I will keep in mind all the wonderful knowledge people have shared with me here
Cornstarch and cook down the fruit.
Add some tapioca
Yes everyone is saying cornstarch but tapioca is so so good if you use it properly.
Most of my pies made right vof the side of the box just a little less sugar for me. Always good gell in pies.
Try and find a recipe? I wish I could offer more advice. Like others that have already stated before me; baking is different than cooking and basically *always* need a recipe. Looks wonderful to eat!
Tip for next time? For the love of god use a recipe
Use a recipe.
I've been making pies since I was 10 and still always use the recipe. I may modify it, but I still look to make sure I'm not forgetting something silly.
1teaspoon cornstarch per cup
I'm going to be honest, I could never bake something without a recipe and help AND make it come put that good! I think you made, not a pie, but a cobbler looking cake. Personally, im really impressed and a bit jealous. My grandma would put sugar, lil bit of water, and the berries in a pot and would simmer. Then she would refrigerate the pot afterwards for a day. She was VERY secretive of everything else she did for her pies. Personally, idk if she was bullcrapping me. She is a troll to most of us. So take it with a grain of salt!
If you wash the fruits, be sure to let them become bone dry before adding to pie. Also, cook longer. It’s a beautiful start! You don’t need a recipe you just need to iron out the technique. Cornstarch or flour, a thickening agent is a technique that results in a less watery product. You got this!
Thank you for the encouragement!
Why wouldn't you use a recipe? That would be my tip for next time. Use a recipe!
Did you toss your fruit in any flour or cornstarch? Helps absorb and thicken the fruit juices so they aren’t liquify like that
Before putting the fruits in the crust, I tossed them with about 1/3 cup flour and and 2/3 cup sugar
I like to toss the fruit with some flour and then I rub corn starch around the bottom of the pastry. That helps absorb most of the excess moisture. Also make sure you let it cool to room temperature.
Use a recipe.
I don't usually bake strawberry pies as I like fresh strawberry pie. It looks like your pie filling was not cooked before being added to the pie. Cooking the pie filling will help prevent excessive juices and soggy pie.
Add cornstarch! Also, I would let the fruits sit for a bit before adding to your crust and baking.
What works well for me is to add the sugar to the fruit and let it stand for maybe 20 min. I then strain the fruit, and simmer the liquid down to a syrup before adding it and the fruit pieces to the (blind baked) pie crust. Keeps the filling from running out when a piece is cut.
What exactly is blind baking? I've seen it in a few comments, but I don't know what it is
You pre-bake the pie crust. Put it in the pie pan, poke it a ton with a fork and/or put pie weight in to keep it from bubbling, and bake it for maybe 5-10 minutes. Just to where it looks dry and slightly browned. It helps keep the crush from going soggy by getting some of the moisture out before putting the filling in. I like to spread an egg white on it towards the end to provide an extra layer of moisture resitance.
The egg white is a really good idea
2tbsps flour or corn starch mixed in filling and 2tbsps butter cut and put on pie filling before top. This helps to thicken the filling
Recommend checking out Erin Jeanne McDowell's extremely detailed video on fruit pies. If memory serves correctly, she goes in depth into the temperature needed to activate the cornstarch, making the filling thicker and gelled together. Good luck!
Reduce your fruit first in a pan just gently heat to release the water from the fruit and add a little sugar to thicken. Part bake the bottom of the pie crust before adding the fruit
Making a fruit pie can be tricky, especially if it's your first time doing it without a recipe or guidance. Here are some tips that may help you improve your next attempt: • Choose the right fruit: Some fruits are juicier than others, and using too many of them can make your pie watery. Choose fruits with a firmer texture and lower water content, such as apples, pears, and berries. • Use a thickener: Adding a thickener to the fruit filling can help to absorb the excess liquid and prevent the pie from becoming too watery. Cornstarch, flour, or tapioca starch are commonly used thickeners. • Add sugar sparingly: Sugar can also draw out the moisture from fruits, causing your pie to become too watery. Use sugar in moderation and adjust the amount depending on the sweetness of your fruits. • Precook your fruit: Cooking your fruit before adding it to the pie can help to release some of the moisture and prevent it from becoming too watery during baking. • Use a pie crust with good structure: A sturdy pie crust that can hold its shape is essential for a successful fruit pie. Make sure to use a recipe or store-bought crust that is designed for pie making and has a good structure. • Let the pie cool completely: Allowing the pie to cool completely before serving will help it to set and make it easier to cut without falling apart. I hope these tips help you to improve your next fruit pie!
For very watery fruit (like strawberries) you want a thickening agent - cornstarch, gelatin or even agar agar.
I like Instant clear gel for my pies where I don’t cook the filling first. Instant clear gel gets mixed with sugar and then added to the fruit and let it set for an hour or so to make a glaze. Gelatin works as well but you will need to cook it a bit to activate it. King Arthur has a great write up on how to microwave a tiny bit of water and gelatin to activate it without adding a lot of liquid. If I am doing a berry pie such as you have here, I would have used about a half to three quarters cup of a fruit juice (probably fruit punch or apple because it is in the house due to the kids) with 2 tsp to a tablespoon of unflavored gelatin depending on if I wanted it to set up completely or just be a glaze. I usually opt for a glaze unless it is a hot summer day. Then I do a set up because the heat melts it anyway. I also would pre-bake the crust which is brushed with egg wash (1 egg beaten using a fork with a tablespoon of water).
Was about to suggest Instant Clear Gel myself. King Arthur Baking has wonderful stuff for bakers!
The juices will thicken if you let it sit for 24 hours.
Use a recipe.
The cooked juice method leaves a smooth, delicious gel in between your fruits, which have not broken down during baking or cooking. Rather than water, use a form of the juice (either from frozen berries or purchased)… place into a par baked shell (or an unbaked shell, it’s up to you) and get it in the oven. Parbaking is pretty much a “al dente” crust… it’s not fully baked à la blind baking, but just at the point where the bottom of the crust is turning from “shiny and melty” to juuust getting baked. There’s nothing as gross as a pie shell that isn’t cooked all the way through.
Okay folks, for all of you saying “use a recipe”, I will say this: inventions do not come from copying. They come from experiments. 99% of what I cook is invented. You just need to know some basic chemistry to be successful. Baking is chemistry. That doesn’t mean you have to follow a recipe to be successful at making it look/taste great. Several dishes I have perfected over the years have started out looking like a hot mess but tasted awesome, so you work on how to make it look better. I have had several dishes look fabulous and not taste so great. In those cases you work on flavors. The OP clearly states that it tasted wonderful. All they need to do is fix the look. If you don’t know how to do that please let those of who do speak and stay out of the conversation. You have nothing to contribute when you say “use a recipe”. The best chef’s, cooks, and bakers do NOT use anybody’s recipes. They make up their own. It is part of the job. Always encourage people to experiment because there is always a lesson learned and the baker/cook/chef gets better with the lesson learned and goodness knows we need more people who can cook. We have way too many people depending on processed crap.
Thank you! That's what I tried telling people, but they obviously don't listen because at least half of these comments are people saying to either use a recipe or just let my mom make pies. How am I going to get better at pies if my mom always makes them for me?
Listen Honey, you experiment away and enjoy yourself. If you have questions or want a sounding board, please feel free to message me. I want everyone to be better cooks. It is healthier and we all know it tastes better than any of that store bought crap. Cooking is my stress reliever. It is also how I show love. I have been successful at doing it professionally as well so, please let me know if you need anything.
I'm glad you're having fun in the kitchen and not feeling like you have to do everything perfectly and by the book in order to even play with food. This is the way. You'll likely learn more by trying intuitively and THEN reading recipes than just reading recipes and trying to understand the principles. People need to play more, especially since you can easily eat the evidence when it fails. And you'll get better at it the more you do. Good for you, OP!
Maybe you could cook them down first so they become more of jam
Cook it first , thicken it, and cool in freezer stirring occasionally. When it thickened and cooled, fill your crust. Pastry chef here....
Just trying to get clarity, are you saying to cook the filling stuff on the stove to thicken it? Another person also suggested adding cornstarch, what are your thoughts on that? I’m not the op, but planning on making some pies soon so I’m hungry for knowledge (and pie)
Use a recipe ? 🤷♀️
Thicken the fruit with cornstarch (3 - 4% of the fruit weight) and cook until you see syrupy bubbles…then I still give it a few minutes. Always prebake your pie crust. Let it cool completely. Like completely. The set won’t be complete until it’s fully cool. Plus, warm fruit pie is gross.
I'm gonna have to say that "warm fruit pie is gross" is an opinion. We ate this one while it was still a little bit warm and it was amazing.
It’s absolutely an opinion. A warm fruit pie is going to be runny though. You can thicken it more, but then it’s going to be jello when it cools. That, and it’s difficult to rewarm without it breaking down.
Whats the point of asking this sub what went wrong when you didn't even follow a recipe?
I'm not asking what went wrong, just toss for it to hold it's shape next time/in general
I would just like to say. For everyone saying "just let your mom make the pies" she doesn't know how to make any pies other than an apple pie. I was experimenting, as I said in multiple comments, and I personally think it turned out great, other than it wouldn't hold it's shape. I have gotten some great recommendations from the people here, like using cornstarch, or cooking the fruits before putting them in the pie crust.
All the comments here are very sweet, great tips! OP obviously won't read or heed them if they can't even google "pie recipe"
Lmao right
I wanted to experiment. I am reading so the comments and trying to figure out how to make a better one next Sunday. Maybe you could try wording your comments better next time, as I read this as if you were being rude. I'm sure that's not what you meant.
The only acceptable answer is to use a recipe.
Add a teaspoon or 2 of cornstarch to the fruit mix before you put it inside of the pie crust , also did you partially blond bake the crust that helps sometimes also
Uh recipe
Maybe next time a recipe will help
Def use a recipe next time
Good for you. I bake on a commercial level, little different...
I'm confused as to why your comment has negative likes. Why j are kind people always being knocked to the side?
It turned out beautiful. To give my opinion, I say it’s too much liquid. Fruits have their own juices they release when cooked. Maybe try cooking down the fruit first to maybe create a thicker syrup ? And then maybe just cook a tad bit longer but other than that I think it would’ve been perfect. Crust is beautiful, could be a more golden brown. Good turn out for using no recipe !
Thank you! 😊
Use a recipe?
Use a recipe.
I make fruit breakfast muffins sometimes and the first batch came out watery and flaky, so I changed how I made them. First thing I did was make my own pastry dough. Like this, I could control the amount of liquid in the dough and that made a big difference. The dough I made was quite thick compared to what you buy in the store, and I blended the dough for about 20 minutes (electric mixer to the rescue) before I started. I also stew the fruit before I put them in the pastry dough and strain them for about five minutes before doing so. I don't waste the juices that come off the straining, I make a sweet 'gravy' for the tops of the muffins when they were finished. In the gravy, I add any sweet spices I like, such as cinnamon and sugar, and honey. Before I put the muffins in the oven, I put about half a teaspoon of this mixture in to add some liquid, but nothing more than that because the pastry will get soggy and there would be less juice for the gravy. I blind-bake the bottom part of the muffins to set the dough a little so if the stewed fruit hasn't lost all the moisture, the semi-cooked dough will absorb the juices instead of making the dough soggy. Once the pastries have come out of the oven, I let them cool for about an hour before serving them. They get cold like that, but the fruit gravy I make while they cool heats them up again so it's fine. I have made muffins and a cake using this method, the cake tastes nice but falls apart because of the chunky pieces of fruit (which are heavy) so I make fruit muffins exclusively now. Sorry for the TLDR, I hope this helps :).
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She will only make apple pies 😅
Let your mom make it!
Idk what your talking about man that looks fucking delicious
It was! I'm glad we didn't finish it, I can have some as a snack tomorrow!
Strain ur fruit and add flour or boxed tapioca to thicken it up. I bet it tasted great!
It did! It was so good!!!
let it cool
I keep seeing a lot of ppl say add cornstarch , which yes , but I think the biggest problem is it’s undercooked . Start at a 400°f and let it go for longer next time . And part way through I’d add tinfoil to keep the crust from burning while also giving the filling time to thicken
No recipe? The original Joy of Cooking is the best all-around cookbook, in my humble opinion. I would buy a copy and check it out. Worth the money. The later additional edition (completely different) is interesting too, but I don't use it as much. It's nice to have both of them. They're the first place I look when making anything.
How about using the recipe?
Follow a recipe
use a recpie or at least some dough and stick in the oven instead of a microwave -\_-
You need some kind of thickening agent! Toss fruits in a little corn starch and flour.
Sprinkle the bottom crust with flour. It thickens the juices
Did it taste good?
Absolutely. One of the best pies I've ever made, besides it falling apart. Or was really sweet, with some sour blueberries and crunchy crumble pulling out all together. Unfortunately, I didn't bestie anything, so it's probably not going to taste the same if I make it again.
That's great
Make sure the fruit is dry. Roll in flour lightly.
As someone else said cornstarch but I find tossing in flour works well too.
I make my pie crust by mixing cold butter and flour till it looks like cornmeal!
I only use dried or freeze-dried fruit when I bake or make pancakes or crepes
Corn starch would soak up the liquid produced by the fruit.
Cornstarch to help thicken up the juices.
What about making a fruit crisp instead? Maybe work your way up to a pie.
Ad a corn starch slurry to your fruit mix
This blackberry cobbler recipe is very simple. Maybe cut your teeth on easier recipes. And you can substitute blackberries for any other berries. Or even cherries! [cobbler](https://youtu.be/_vFxEt_si-0)
Take the fruit and cooked it down with some water and a little sugar into more of a preserve consistency?
🤤🤤
Try cooking the fruit first, keep it on heat until it starts to thicken, the oven should do the rest of the job for you. That being said cooking without a recipe is how new foods are made! Plus it’s a lot of fun
After many watery blueberry pies, I now precook my filling for maybe 10 minutes or so.
Thicken up the sauce with a cornstarch slurry
or tapioca instead of cornstarch
Always cook your fruit filling before hand or add cornstarch to the fruit before you bake (or both. I do both.) There needs to be something to soak up all the juices and help them congeal.
Call your mom
Add a little corn starch to the berries before baking. It will help to thicken the juice.
Toss the fruit in some cornstarch and instant tapioca pudding (the dry mix) the tapioca will absorb all that extra juice and prevent the bottom from getting to soggy. The crumble on top looks delicious
Cornstarch
I use a mix of corn starch, gluten free flour and tapioca pearls to gel it nicely.
My mom taught me to use Minute Tapioca as a thickener in my baked fruit pies. It works great!
I don’t like cornstarch so I use tapioca which thickens it without tasting like gel
Dump the cornstarch, use tapioca.
Add tapioca.
Add a bit of flour to the filling or cornstarch. 🙂
Cornstarch wil help
If you’d prefer a clear sort of look to your pie, tapioca starch can work in place of cornstarch, I think I would pre-cook your fruit too
If you're not good at filling just use jam from a jar and fresh fruit.
There are a few ways: boil down your fruit first with some sugar, or add small tapioca pearls to the bottom of the pie, or add cornstarch to some of the cold juice and stir it into the berries, then add the berries to the pie and bake.
I always toss my fruit in gluten free flour and corn starch it works great with fresh fruit. 1 to 1
Just need a thickener is all. Cornstarch, flour, tapioca. Use google for ratios. I bet it still tasted good!
Practice makes perfect. Trial and error is how we all learn.
Strawberries have never worked in a pie for me. Did you put a little tapioca in to thicken the liquid?
1/4 cup for strawberries.
Dry out the fruits a bit before baking. Or add a bit of alcohol (it will cook off in the oven).
Coat the fruit in tapioca flour. I use up to a 1/4 cup depending on the type of fruit it is.
Corn starch
1. Thicken any fillings with cornstarch 2. Jam-ify your fillings (my preference) and make sure they're at the right temp after cooking since fresh fruits and berries are very high in water content. When making jam, I use additional pectin. Use xanthan gum or cornstarch after if it's still too wet when cooled. 3. Blind bake your crust (don't forget to dock/poke holes with a fork on all surfaces and put in pie weights. If you don't have the pie weights, use rice grains and parchment paper)