Freeze uncooked, and bake still frozen.

Eileen, I am so glad you asked. I am in the same situation as you this year. Usually I take Wednesday off work and spend my day, happily, with an early start on all the crusts, then bake two pumpkin pies while preparing apples for two kinds of apple pie, and move on to pecan, cherry, and any other special requests. But, like you, I will be out of town this year until early afternoon Wednesday.

Thanks LindaC for the quick answer. I know freezing uncooked should work for pumpkin and fruit pies, but how about pecan, coconut cream and others? Have you had failures on any particular kind of pie that eileen or I might be planning to bake?

Also, I've been reading the recent thread on how to best wrap up pies for freezing. Lots of good info there, too.

I love this place!

I would cook pumpkin before freezing and also any custard pies. If it has a runny filling (like custard) that needs to set, then I think cooking first is better. If it appears that it will freeze well before baking, then that is a better option. I know that you can buy unbaked apple pies and bake them, but I don't think you can buy unbaked custard pies, and the way I make pumpkin is more of a custard. For pecan, if the filling is runny, I would bake it first, like I would pretty much any pie that does not have a top crust. If everything is sealed in with a top crust, then freezing before baking would be preferable.

Lars

I agree, Lars, I think fruit pies are fine unbaked, but I don't know about that coconut cream, I'd be afraid it would get watery or weep.

I usually freeze crusts separately from fillings, unbaked, then put the pie together and bake right before, but I know Carol (Readinglady) regularly assembles and freezes unbaked fruit pies and bakes when she wants them.

Annie

I appreciate all your help & quick responses! Thank you

Hi.. I usually lurk, so I hope you don't mind me jumping in. I freeze pies all the time, so I have them ready when I need them. On Thursdays I always bring a treat to work, and if I have a pie in the freezer, I just take it out and bake it before work. I freeze all fruit pies and pecan pies. If you freeze them before baking, and bake them frozen like LindaC says, they won't even taste like they've been frozen. The very cold pastry in the hot oven helps the pastry to become very flakey.

I do freeze most pies unbaked, but I'm thinking of fruit pies. For pecan, as mentioned, I would bake first and the same for pumpkin. I wouldn't even attempt to freeze coconut cream.

The one risk with a pre-baked and frozen pumpkin is that, depending upon the recipe and how thoroughly the custard filling was baked, it might tend to weep upon thawing, softening the pastry. You might consider coating the pastry with egg white or a similar "sealer" to reduce the problem. Or, if you like the flavor, you might sprinkle the crust with crushed gingersnaps (not too many) to absorb any liquid. I would do a dry-run for my pumpkin recipe of choice and see how it handles freezing and thawing.

I have had good luck flash-freezing, wrapping and stacking pie shells and then baking and filling the day of. For pumpkin custard, about 30 minutes of room-temperature thawing then filling and baking as per usual seems to work well.

A pastry shell would hold its shape much better and be flakier if it were frozen and then baked. I did test that with a banana cream pie, warming the crust 30 minutes then pre-baking. For the pre-baking I did fill a roasting bag with pie weights and use that for part of the time. Then I removed it and allowed the crust to finish in the oven. This works perfectly for a "southern-style" crust where the "shrinking violet" syndrome seems always a risk. I have the temps and times if you'd like them.

Carol

Carol,
I have an apple pie unbaked and frozen. Can you give me the temp and time for baking?
Thanks.
Kim

Thanks for the question and the answers. DH, our main pie baker in the family, was hoping to freeze his pies, too.

Sally

For Apple, blueberry or other fruit pies, I bake and then freeze.. and usually have several ready to go at a moments notice... and by the time I get it to where it is going, it is defrosted and ready to serve...

I haven't tried any custard pies like that though..

If you have a frozen fruit pie and like to serve it warm. How do you handle that. Put it into the oven frozen? or thaw first.

and at what temp?

I have wondered about the same thing.....Freezing Pies, so "Googled". Seems we need to read, read, and read some more about the subject! Here are just a couple of web addresses....

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2005/12/freezing_pies.html
http://www.baking911.com/pies_tarts/custard.htm
http://forums.cooking.com/showthread.php?t=5504

Seems like custard pies have a tendency to separate and/or get grainy.