Make-ahead freezer blueberry pie

August 29, 2013 11:24 AM

So I got this great recipe from Cooks Illustrated's Cooks Country for a make-ahead blueberry pie. I have previously frozen fruit pie fillings (in a foil lined pie plate) without the pastry (remove from pie plate once frozen and stack in freezer); but this recipe has you freeze the whole assembled unbaked pie--pastry and all, for popping in the oven still frozen when you are ready to serve it. Only after putting in the freezer did I start to think about the glass pie plate I made it in--I am SURE it will crack if I put it right in the oven from the freezer, but recipe specifically says not to defrost before baking or you will have a soggy crust. Help! what should I do?

Please don't suggest I start over--I used 6 cups of fresh Blueberries bought straight from a blueberry farm in Michigan and I made the crust from scratch!

posted by Lylo to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

I'd put it in the oven before I started pre-heating and preheat with the dish in there to hopefully bring it up to temperature more slowly.

Alternately, is it solid enough/unstuck enough to lift it out of the dish now and transfer the whole thing to an aluminum pie plate?
posted by brainmouse at 11:28 AM on August 29, 2013 [6 favorites]

I would float the pie in a pan of cold icy water and try gradually bring the glass to room temperature by having cold or lukewarm water flow in... Like what you do when you are defrosting chicken.

Or you could put the pie in the cold oven and let the oven preheat to its lowest setting and then to the baking temp.
posted by spunweb at 11:28 AM on August 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you are SURE the glass will crack*, then I would scrape out the frozen filling, defrost both separately, and bake like a normal pie.

* I really don't think it will - temperature differentials within the glass are what causes it to crack, not between the glass and the outside world. If you're really concerned, you could either put it in during the pre-heat cycle, or put it on a big thermal mass like a room-temp pizza stone.
posted by muddgirl at 11:29 AM on August 29, 2013

It has a bottom crust, right? When I did exactly the same thing without thinking, I successfully popped that solidly-frozen pie right out of the Pyrex dish so I could put it in a metal pie pan and bake it frozen.
posted by Elsa at 11:47 AM on August 29, 2013 [4 favorites]

See previously (if a pyrex dish).
posted by melissasaurus at 11:52 AM on August 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've done this with Pyrex pie plates many, many times. Not to say that it couldn't crack, as there are many stories on the internet of Pyrex explosions, but it's never happened to me. Ideas that involve bringing it up to temp slowly will totally defeat the purpose of freezing it first. It makes an EXCELLENT crisp bottom crust if you pop it into a hot oven. If you're concerned, try popping it out frozen and transferring to a metal pan. But glass makes the crispest crust.
posted by HotToddy at 11:52 AM on August 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This is an excerpt from a comment (original source: Pyrex website) in response to a 2008 AskMetafilter regarding putting frozen lasagna in a hot oven:

Oven Must be Preheated Before Inserting Glassware. DO NOT insert glassware into oven for cooking or reheating until the oven has been preheated to the desired temperature.
posted by she's not there at 11:54 AM on August 29, 2013

Response by poster: Elsa--I just unwrapped the frozen pie and it absolutely did not want to "pop" out of the glass dish. How did you do that (without ruining the fluting, damaging the crust?) BTW, I did not grease the pan (pie pastry seems greasy enough). Also, I see my metal pie pan is not as "deep dish" as the one it is currently in. but if I could get it out, I would be glad to go buy an appropriate sized metal dish. what is your trick of popping it out?

Melissasaurus--thanks for that link! interesting discussion for sure, but frustratingly non-conclusive, no consensus, darn it!

BTW, sorry all, I just realized, the pie is not in pyrex, the glass dish is made by Anchor Hocking. Does that make a difference?
posted by Lylo at 12:25 PM on August 29, 2013

Best answer: Lylo, it's possible that I just got lucky, or that I happened to have the right tool.

Here's what I did: I took the pie straight from the freezer and slid a very thin metal spatula (not offset, but long and narrow like that --- the shape of a large tongue-depressor) between the crust and the pie pan to loosen it. When it seemed loose, I put one hand on top of the pie, inverted it pan and all, and gently pulled up on the pan to see if it was loose. It was and I was able to remove the pie intact from the pan.

I was able to loosen it very quickly, but if I'd had to work on it more than a minute or so, I would have put it back in the freezer to set up. A solidly frozen pie is a lot easier to work with (and a lot more resistant to damage) than a mostly-frozen pie.
posted by Elsa at 12:35 PM on August 29, 2013

If you're looking to buy a spatula like I described, a quick search suggests it's actually a frosting spatula. I find it endlessly useful in the kitchen, and practically irreplaceable for easing tricky things out of high-edged pans.
posted by Elsa at 12:39 PM on August 29, 2013

Best answer: Anchor Hocking is, AFAIK, made from the same kind of glass as Pyrex.

Here is a chowhound thread on a very similar topic. According to Pyrex you should preheat your oven, but the glass should NOT shatter when going from a freezer to the oven.
posted by muddgirl at 12:40 PM on August 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I am SURE it will crack if I put it right in the oven from the freezer

I think you should be much less sure of that.
posted by jon1270 at 12:58 PM on August 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks Elsa, and everyone else. I just actually reached one of the experts at America's Test Kitchen (phone number 617-232-1000). She assured me it would be ok. She looked up the recipe's link to another C.I article on "making the perfect freezer pie crust" (paraphrased) and the article pictures this being done in a glass pie dish. She also stated glass is the preferred pie plate for America's test Kitchen and said it would have been referred to as a "pie pan" if metal was being recommended. So I am going to try one more time to remove the frozen pie the way Elsa did and if that doesn't work, I am going to try baking the frozen pie directly in a pre-heated oven and hope for the best. I promise to follow up and let you know how it comes out. Wish me luck!!!!!!!
posted by Lylo at 1:04 PM on August 29, 2013 [2 favorites]

In case it helps bolster your confidence: on reflection spurred by the previous freezer-to-oven AskMe linked above, I realized that the handful of times I've seen a glass or Pyrex or ceramic dish split or shatter, it's typically been from down-shock (rapid cooling of a hot dish: pouring hot water into a hotter dish; putting a hot lid in a damp sink; setting a hot-from-the-oven dish onto a cold damp dishcloth) rather than up-shock (rapid heating of a cold dish).

I don't even know if I had to rescue my frozen-in-the-dish pie; I just know it worked out.
posted by Elsa at 1:14 PM on August 29, 2013

Response by poster: Well, the time came to give it a try. I put it right in the Pre-heated oven straight from the freezer. I did remove the oven rack while Pre-heating and put it back seconds before placing the pie on it. NO problems! Dish did not crack or shatter as I had feared. Pie was awesome. Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to go for it and who sent helpful links or other ideas.
posted by Lylo at 6:44 AM on September 16, 2013