It helps if you chill the crust after it is in the pie plate but before baking. This solidifies the fat in the pastry which helps to reduce shrinkage during baking. I also prick the bottom crust with a fork lightly - this also seems to help and the tiny openings all seem to grow together again during baking so no leakage from a soft or cream filling. And I tend to leave the foil and beans (or stones or rice) in place for the full baking time. The crust seems to brown adequately with this process.

If that is a homemade pie crust, try use a lower gluten flour .(pastry flour, cake flour)

dcarch

I also don't remove the beans/beads while it's baking, fork the bottom, and I blind bake at 425° F. I'm aiming for golden, however, rather than browned. I don't know if that's the difference. I've never had the shrinkage, but it's blind luck, I think, more than expertise. :)

I wish Grainlady were here. The flour makes a difference during mixing/rolling, as does resting the dough adequately, and not over-handling it to begin with, but is gluten really the culprit when it shrinks at the end of baking? My instinct is to think it's moisture loss, but I don't know...

Are you using a tart pan (vertical sides)? Or a sloped sided pie plate? Something in between? Do you think gravity might be a factor?

What recipe do you use?
All pastry shrinks in baking but not excessivly. I suspect your recipe.

Saw Ina Garten making a tart crust. She said it was important to always roll the crust a bit larger than the pan. Cut off the excess when it is positioned, because any dough that is pulled to fit will shrink. I never have success with crust and stopped trying, so cannot say if this is correct. Sounds right.

I use Nathan's recipe which several members here use. Annie uses it. It makes enough for 6 pie crusts. I keep it in the freezer so that I always have some on hand when lightning strikes and I want to make a pie.

The shrinkage doesn't happen as often when I make a regular pie, just the blind crusts. I'll leave the pie weights the whole time next time and see if that makes the difference. The crust was pricked with a fork.

Mine has shrunk one out of a few hundred and i have no idea why. I do not even blind bake but i do roll out into my tart shell, homemade crust by DH...and it sits in the freezer until i am ready...hot oven on a steel sheet pan.

Oven issues i think. Maybe. Hot pre-heated oven, very cold near frozen crust.

ha! for the first time, gluten-free has the edge. lol!

Check this article about tips for blind-baking and reasons for shrinkage.

Thanks, PM, that was a helpful link. I think I will switch to baking low and slow, but I will continue using pie weights - I use pea gravel, intended for landscaping, but I have washed it thoroughly. Another tip that the link did not mention is to use no-stick aluminum foil - it works much better than regular aluminum. I never use parchment in pie shells, for the reasons she mentioned.

Gluten free has the edge? Is that the egg crust? I made the Martha Stewart version and the friend I made it for loved it. She said she preferred it to the regular wheat pastry she can no longer have, but it's a disgusting mess to make. ;)

Great article. I won't be going low and slow--I've tried it but it doesn't work well for me. Great info there, though.

I wish GF was the answer. My crust shrinks quite a bit - a few times it hasn't. I will have to pay attention to see if it was the xanthum gum that helps - I tend to forget it because I think I know the recipe by heart but I don't. My MIL also went GF and I forwarded her the recipe I found and she also liked it better than her old recipe. I am pretty sure I said this before but I don't have a fine palate and don't notice much difference. I am happy to have a recipe that isn't gritty, is all.

I bet it has to do with temperature too. I don't remember this happening when I made regular flour crusts. I always chilled before cooking.

What Islay said. And try not to stretch the dough as you ease it into the pan. Dock the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork, or tip of a knife, and chill in the fridge (about 1 hour) before baking.

I forgot to add, you can skip the pie weights altogether, if you have two pie pans of equal size. Place the rolled dough into one pan, dock it, lay a piece of parchment, or foil, over the dough. Place the second pan over that, and blind bake.

Sol

Great link. But Plllog says she's tried it low and slow and it doesn't work. I'll bake it somewhere between 350 and 420 then as my recipe states. And I won't remove the foil and stones and keep baking. Jeesh, this is a pain. All this for coconut cream pie. It's still good, even though the shell is smaller. :-)

I meant that low and slow doesn't work for me, reaction to the Serious Eats article. The crust doesn't come out "right", and it does at 425° F, so I just stick to that and haven't worked out why's and wherefores, but that's a wheat, butter, water, salt pastry.

Jasdip, if you were talking about an egg dough crust, that could be entirely different--I don't know Nathan, but I just had a memory of you talking about liking an egg dough crust some time back. That would make me think even more that the shrinkage is a moisture issue. I've only made that GF one, and only once. It was for a quiche, and I remember what it looked like after I blind baked it, but I don't remember if I did it as usual or if I had some other tip in mind at the time.

Thinking further... Since it works fine with filling, I still think the issue is that it's getting too dry. That would be a vote for a lower temperature... You didn't say the temperature you were using within the range. If it's been 420° F, maybe try 375° F...

It's been maybe 5 years since I have blind baked a crust. Sometimes it slumps....sometimes it doesnt'....the best results have happened when I have nested 2 pie plates together to bake.
But I have no issues with a tart crust baked blind.
Think about it.....how is a baked crust different from a raw one? Brown.....and the moisture has evaporated and made the crust crisp and firm.
My guess is a crust with more fat and less water will work better for blind baking than one with more water.