![]() The fully baked pumpkin pie will look slightly domed and solid around the edges and a bit sunken and soft in the center: not sloshing like liquid, but jiggling like Jell-O. Remember, your pumpkin pie will continue to bake once it's out of the oven, so you have to take it out before it looks done. The easiest and best way to ensure pumpkin pie success is to recognize when your pie is fully baked (but not overbaked) by sight that's where experience comes in. Know what perfectly baked pumpkin pie looks like See the slightly domed edges, and the slightly sunken center area within? Despite the center appearing soft, this pie is fully baked. In the meantime, while you're still in thermometer/learning mode, a strategically placed dollop of whipped cream works wonders on both holes and cracks. So I advise using a thermometer only until you've nailed what a perfectly baked pie looks like. And those holes can actually encourage cracking. The one problem with using a thermometer is that while you potentially prevent unsightly cracks in the pie's surface, you end up with equally unsightly holes or divots. This one's a bit overbaked, though not enough to make it crack I usually shoot for 170☏ in the center. Your goal is pie whose center temperature is at least 160☏. Until you're a seasoned enough pumpkin-pie baker that you can gauge doneness by sight, it helps to use a digital thermometer. Use a thermometer to gauge doneness - but only at first Placing your pies toward the bottom of the oven close to the floor, rather than in the center or up top, will help accomplish both of those goals.Ĥ. You want a fully browned bottom crust, right? Yet you don't want your filling to overcook. Most ovens tell you they're fully preheated well before they actually are, so get yourself an independent oven thermometer (or two, just to be sure), and use it. The best recipe in the world won't work well if your oven is 50° cooler than it should be. Make sure your oven is accurate and fully preheated. Experienced recipe developers make a recipe over and over again before putting it out there in public if your recipe says your pie will be done after 45 minutes, take it out - even though you think it looks underdone. Use a quality recipeįirst, and this is a simple one, find a good pumpkin pie recipe and follow it. There are several precautionary measures you can take to keep pumpkin pie from cracking, all related to not overcooking the filling. What's going on? The eggs continue to cook thanks to the filling's residual heat, and can still "crack" your pumpkin pie - even though it's no longer in the oven. But sometimes you take a beautiful pie out of the oven only to see it crack as it cools. Sometimes you peer into the oven and see that your pie has already cracked. Usually you'll notice cracks around the edge of the pie first, which makes sense the edges cook more quickly than the interior. Those cracks you see in your pie are the result of overcooked eggs, eggs that have tightened up so much, in an uneven way, that they've created fissures in the filling. The eggs are what thickens the filling as they heat up, they coagulate and turn what started out as thick liquid into a creamy, semi-solid filling.Įggs start to coagulate (turn solid) at 160☏ (which is how they thicken the filling) but the longer they cook, the more they tighten up. This pie was just starting to crack around the edges when I took it out of the oven.įirst of all, why does pumpkin pie crack? Because it's been baked too long. You'll need a trusted recipe, an accurate oven thermometer, and experience. How do you know when your pumpkin pie is perfectly baked? Pulling your pie out of the oven within its optimum baking window - fully baked, but not overbaked - will prevent any cracks, and leave you smiling a Cheshire-cat grin of satisfaction. The answer to your cracked pumpkin pie? Timing. Farewell, Grand Canyon-like fissures in the pie's center - or that slash at the edge, a solitary afterthought appearing as the pie cools. ![]() Thankfully, a pristine pumpkin pie, its top smooth as a secluded pond at daybreak, is well within your reach. At this time of year, if you're like many of the bakers who call our Baker's Hotline, how to keep pumpkin pie from cracking is probably right up there near the top of your "GRRRRR" list. Isn't it irritating when you're having a baking problem and, for the life of you, can't figure out what's happening? Sunken yeast bread, dull-crusted brownies, cookies that spread into a puddle.
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