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Recommendation for a pie crust shield?

5 years ago

I have been experimenting with baking quiches. Frankly, I don't enjoy making crust and the frozen ones suit me just fine. But with blind baking first, and then baking the quiche, I find that the crusts can get overdone. I have been shielding them with strips of foil, but it's hard to do, especially if I have to fiddle with it in the hot oven when the quiche is halfway cooked. Can anyone recommend a good shield? Are they adjustable for a 9 or 10 inch pie?

Comments (20)

  • 5 years ago

    Fiddle well ahead of your pie. Make a triple foil shield that just rests on top. Before assembly when the pie plate is cold. Ahead of any heat fussing. Way ahead of oven heat. Make it to fit your pie plate.

    Or order a shield that is adjustable available on Amazon. I don't bother, making pies just a couple times a year at holiday times. It sits on top and used a few times. Not my style being disposable but it can be reused a few times.




  • 5 years ago

    Couple of tricks....one is use a tart pan for your crust....then there is not that edge to get over browned. And secondly when you prebake, put a nesting pie pan inside your crust that you are prebaking.

    and thirdly of all place a sprinkle of bread crumbs in the bottom of your crust before pouring in your filling and don't prebake at all.

    And when you are parbaking a crust, you are not cooking it all the way....just setting it up, not browning. only needs about 7 minutes in a 400 oven.

    I never use a shield on my pie crust edge.

    The few times when I have needed a shield, like with a 12 inch pie, or one that has had the filling made ahead and chilled and was cold going into the oven ( thinking of a pumpkin pie one thanksgiving) I have just torn off 2 inch strips of foil and laid them on the edges of the crust...no fiddling just lay the strips on the crust.

  • 5 years ago

    It might be just me, but I've never pre-baked crust for quiche, and they always turn out fine.

  • 5 years ago

    I have a belt style adjustable silicone shield which isn't any better than foil but a lot harder to use. I really like my soft silicone 9"-pie sized shield. It even has cutouts on the edge sides so it can be used with Anchor as well as Pyrex. The softness keeps it from squishing the crust edge and it follows a raised edge--because, after all, it's the fluting that burns, not so much a simple fork edge. I did once try a metal one before the silicone--for the same reasons, foil is better than hard metal. I tried to find one on Amazon to show, but they seem to be all in on the tab style adjustable with overlapping closure. That looks good, but one would have to try it to be sure.

  • 5 years ago

    I have a set of preformed aluminum crust shields that work well. I’ve had them for ages. I just searched and found these which are similar. Pie crust shields

  • 5 years ago

    I normally don't prebake a quiche crust either....but several times i have needed to have all the components of the quiche ready so I could toss it together and pop it into the oven. those times I parbaked the crust, mixed up the eggs and milk, grated the cheese crumbled the bacon and chopped the parsley and green onions the day before.....and I have quiche in the oven faster than I could preheat the oven!

  • 5 years ago

    Pie weights. Just got me a set. Didn't want to keep fussing with beans. Parbaking 5-10 min. helps, IMHO. I have a pie shield but it is of little use to me because it doesn't fit any of my pie pans . . . Also helps to bake pies on low shelf in oven, so heat source closer to bottom of pan.

  • 5 years ago

    I use this adjustable silicon pie shield, and it works fine for me. I use small polished stones/gravel for pie weights. I washed them thoroughly before I started using them, but I still use non-stick aluminum foil over the crust anyway.

  • 5 years ago

    Perhaps your filling is too wet!

    A quiche Lorraine filling is...

    I 00g lardons.....I use less, browned and drained.

    2 whole eggs and 2 yolks

    30 cls creme fraiche

    A grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Not much salt because of the bacon.


  • 5 years ago

    Creme fraiche - interesting. But no cheese?

  • 5 years ago

    I got some of these for the edges of my pies.

    https://www.crateandbarrel.com/adjustable-pie-crust-protectors/s184994

  • 5 years ago

    Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. Have you tried a frittata? Sort of a Quiche without the pie crust.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Jim, what do you call the men who do eat quiche? We would like to know. I am part French and Alsatian, and so you could call me that.

    I do make frittatas more often than I make quiche, but when I do make quiche, I use my own recipe that only vaguely resembles the French recipes, which I really do not like. I especially do not like nutmeg in quiche. I frequently put spinach and mushrooms in my quiche, in addition to bacon and eggs, but no cream of any kind. I tend to substitute a velouté sauce for the cream, which I like better, and it is never soggy. I do add cheese, however, generally Swiss or Gruyère.

  • 5 years ago

    I remember seeing the metal/aluminum adjustable edge covers a dozen years ago and thought, 'brilliant!'. But I make mostly smaller 3-4 egg quiche and now mostly frittata no crust. With pastry crust egg dishes and fruit pies, using my smaller tart pans...the ones with the removable bottom discs, I have extra pastry I make edge decorations or heavy fluted pastry stupid fluting. Not a conformist and wing-it. (we like crust). I always take the extra pastry and make a shape/decoration to use it up. (Ina drives me nuts when she tosses it aside).

    So the edge crust decor is well beyond the 1/2 inch a purchased edge protector will cover. Anywho, thick foil is no different than metal or silicone.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche was a Book about stereotyping......I thought it may be a funny way/saying to introduce frittatas. A way to not have to deal with a pie crust.

    i recommend a fritatta using italian sausage, mushrooms.....bacon is subtle to Italian sausage.

  • 5 years ago

    For a lot of years it was a tradition among our family and friends that the early November U or Iowa home game was the "quiche bowl"...it was held early with kick-off at 11, so for a tailgate we ate quiche. Those were the times when I prepped all the night before and baked that morning about 7 and put the 5 quiche into a well insulated cooler and drove the 90 minutes to the game. Always men and a fair amount of daughter's guy friends and son's friends as well. I always reminded them that real men don't eat quiche....but they assured me that was just a rumor and wolfed down another piece of the one with the bacon

  • 5 years ago

    Lars, I’m sure you mentioned it before, but this time I paid more attention. I like the idea of a veloute sauce instead of milk or cream. Is there any reason that wouldn’t work for a crustless Quiche/frittata type dish?

  • 5 years ago

    I've not made a crustless quiche or a frittata with a velouté sauce, but if it cooled sufficiently, it should work okay. I would not serve it super hot, but warm would be fine, I think.

    I only add eggs mixed with a small amount of water to the frittatas that I make, and the proportion of egg is higher in the frittatas I make than in the quiches.

  • 5 years ago

    I have crust protectors like those crate and barrel ones although they are heavy duty aluminum foil basically,however, I've had them for years and they work great.

  • 5 years ago

    The recipe I posted above is a quiche Lorraine so no cheese. In any other sort of egg based tart, you can use whatever you like, but try a traditional Lorraine. Its so good.

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