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A pie with a soggy bottom is a tragedy, which is why opting for the very best pie pan is crucial. Nothing can ruin your day like putting tons of effort into a pie baking project only to find out that the bottom of your slice is pale, soft, or mushy instead of golden brown and delicious.The best pie pans
A well-baked pie should slide right out of the pan, whole. This might sound a little unorthodox—downright dangerous—if you’ve never tried it before, but if you baked your pie perfectly, the bottom crust should be evenly browned enough for you to achieve this feat, and the best pie pans can help you get there.
Individual bakers usually have a preference between metal, glass, and ceramic pie pans, and indeed, each comes with its own plusses and minuses. Read on for our top picks in different categories, and for more on how we tested and which pans didn’t work out, scroll further down.
The best deep-dish pie pan: Made In Pie Dish
A pie dish with a depth of more than 1½ inches is known as a deep-dish pan. (Both the winning plate and the runner-up were 9 inches wide and 1½ and 1¼ inches tall, respectively.) Though not formally billed as deep-dish, the Made In porcelain dish is 2 inches deep and has a 1½-quart capacity, meaning it can handle larger recipes with no trouble. When we tested the apple pie in this plate, it didn’t seem overwhelmingly full when unbaked (unlike both the winner and runner-up), the crust sat well on the lip of the dish, and the pie settled very nicely into the pan when baked. We also found that, while it was tall enough to fit larger crusted pies, the tapered dish meant the smaller graham cracker crust for the Key lime pie fit nicely in the smaller base.
The slices of both apple and Key lime pies came out cleanly from the dish and stayed crisp—that’s one benefit, we think, of thinner, naturally nonstick porcelain ceramic plates over stoneware. At $49, it is certainly more expensive than the other winning dishes, but if you’re a big fan of towering fruit pies and quiche, it’s worth the investment.
Made In Pie Dish
Which makes for the best ceramic pie pan, stoneware or porcelain?
Most ceramic pie dishes are made from either stoneware or porcelain. Unlike earthenware (most often used for planters), which is a porous ceramic, both stoneware and porcelain are durable clay types that handle heat, cold, and water better. Porcelain, though, is fired at the highest kiln temperature, which means these pieces can be thinner than most other ceramics (you’ll often see this as the material of high-end dining or drinking vessels).
In our original test, we baked a double-crust berry pie in each pie pan. Based on their performance in this initial test, we then chose our top five pans and baked a Key lime pie with a pat-in-the-pan graham cracker crust to see how each pan would handle a custard. In our 2022 test, we baked both an apple and custard pie in the pans that won previously as well as each of the newcomers. To keep things as uniform as possible, for the apple pies we followed this guide to make the perfect double-crust pie with our favorite pie dough recipe. We noted how easy it was to fit the crust in each pie pan as well as how well the crust laid over each pan’s lip. We added the fruit filling to the unbaked crust, which helped us gauge just how well the pie plates conducted heat in order to avoid those dreaded soggy bottoms. For the custard pie test (again, we used Key lime) we wanted to see how the plates handled press-in crusts and baked custards—would they bake evenly and sturdily and set well when the pie plates were transferred to the refrigerator?
We baked each pie on top of an aluminum half-sheet pan to catch any possible spills and baked each in the same oven with the rack in the same position. We also rotated all the pieces at the same intervals during the bake time.
Finally, we wanted to see how easily it was to get the pie plates clean.. After the first batch of pies, we rinsed out any lingering solids, then put each through the dishwasher—technically, all were labeled dishwasher-safe (a few with a note that handwashing was recommended). For the second batch of pies, we hand-washed each to see if there was a difference in how clean each plate got.
@BoldFace asked: “Which type of pie plate do you prefer: glass, metal or clay?”
What are the different types of pie pans?
Pie pans come in ceramic, glass, metal, steel, cast iron, and porcelain. Each material has its pros and cons. Ceramic pans are well-insulated, hold the heat, and the pies bake and brown evenly. A glass pan lets you monitor the crust while baking so you don’t overbake or underbake it.
Which Pan is best for pies?
Bottoms up. Of the three pies, the metal pan had the most even browning across the entire bottom crust. From the outer edge to the very center, the crust was golden brown and thoroughly baked. If I had my choice of pans, I’d go with an aluminum one like this.
Should I use a glass or metal pie pan?
A glass pan lets you monitor the crust while baking so you don’t overbake or underbake it. Metal pie pans are inexpensive and conduct heat very well but that can lead to a brown crust well before the filling is done. The heavier a metal pan, the less likely it is prone to warping.
Are ceramic pie pans better than glass or metal?
That said, there are more variables to consider when weighing ceramic pie pans vs. glass or metal. Typically made of porcelain or stoneware, ceramic heats up more slowly than glass or metal, but it retains that heat quite well.