Stupid question about baking things like mince pies/pies with tops

[soupfiend]

So Im not good at baking and am gathering a list of things to bake from excellent suggestions here once I get myself together

Next on my list to learn about is making things like mince pies or apple pies using shop pastry

My query is this, I think Im going to blind bake the bases, then fill them after, then put the tops on, but if I blind bake them when I put the top on which is raw pastry, how does that get stuck on to the cooked edges and while cooking them again, wont the edges get burned?

I wanted to blind bake the bases to avoid soggy bottom shame.

Hi! I’m no expert and I expect someone will come along soon with more sage advice than me, but…. I baked a rather lovely pie at the weekend, and I’d always been perplexed by the blind bake/dont blind bake thing.
Mine was an open pie, without a lid. I blind baked the case, to avoid soggy bottom. Then, when I put the filling in, I covered the pastry edge with tin foil to avoid it burning. Never done it before but it worked a treat.
if you are doing pies with lids, then I guess the upper layer would protect the bottom pastry edge from burning, a bit. If not, you could try the tin foil thing - bit fiddly but it worked well.

With small pies you are unlikely to get soggy bottoms. Make sure the pastry is nice and thin, cook them all together.

Alternatively. Make the lids loose on the top so they can be taken off after baking and brandy butter/rum dip applied inside...😛

Yes I did wonder about making some sort of foil ring to go round them but it did seem a bit of faff for the number you would normally do, I'll be cutting up circles of foil for ages!

Then I looked up a frangipane topping which might negate the need for the pasytry top

For small pies like mince pies etc there is no need to blind bake the base. Just put the pastry in the tin, mince meat then the pastry top on (I use a slightly bigger cutter for the top bit). Or you could cut out a shape of a star etc for the top or my personal favourite - once cooled I put icing (icing sugar and water) on top instead of pastry 😊

As cerialkiller said. And a 'must' for any pie is to cook in metal, preferably on a metal baking sheet. The pie dishes you get made of ceramic (usually with fluted edge and attractive illustrations) will get a soggy bottom. Don't bother with blind baking (especially small) for anything with a lid. I blind bake for lemon meringue pie as although it goes in oven again to cook the meringue it isn't at a v high temperature which you need for pastry.

You don't usually blind bake the base if it's a pie. Blind bake quiches and open pastries.

Edit: I'm actually cooking a pie at the minute, no blind baking!

For mince pies I cut stars, Christmas Trees, and bells - and use according to which filling I've used (I usually doctor a standard jar rather than make from scratch). Bells = brandy, Christmas Trees = normal, Stars = spicy cranberry, stars with a tiny star cut out = amaretto.

This reminds me - I found a jar of mincemeat at the back of one of my cupboards the other week - it is a year out of date. Any likelihood it will still be ok to use?

@nomorehocuspocus if it’s never been opened it’s probably fine - might be a little dry but a splash of apple or orange juice or some grated apple stirred in would perk it up.

No need to blind bake mince pies.

If you're baking something with a wet filling like an egg custard or a quiche, the pastry won't have a chance to cook through and become crisp. In those situations, a blind bake is what you need.

For pies and tarts without wet fillings there's absolutely no need, the pastry will cook quite happily.

Or brandy

Yes I have ordered a metal tin

I agree that small pies don't need blind baking.