Freezing Pies
This week’s question is from Pam Vallance. Pam asks, “I want to make the prizewinning apple pie. If I make it Friday for Saturday dinner, should I freeze it for the one night to keep it fresh, or just store it at room temperature for approximately 36 hours”.
This questions about freezing pies came up a couple of times this month, as well as at a dinner party I was at on Saturday night. So, I thought I would tackle the theme. For Pam, the best thing to do is make and bake the pie on Friday, store it at room temperature or refrigerate. If you refrigerate, take it out of the fridge an hour or two before you serve it. For a really fresh and just baked tasting pie, pop it into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes before you serve it, it will be like you just baked it. This will work even if the pie is a few days old.
As far as freezing pies go, it is fine to freeze but it does affect the texture and quality of the pie so I wouldn’t bother for one day – you will have a superior result by reheating it briefly. It is possible to freeze a fruit pie; the best way is to freeze it unbaked and bake it from frozen – do not defrost or you will have a watery mess! If you bake from frozen you will have to increase the baking time dramatically, a half hour to 45 minutes more than the recipe says, depending on the size of the pie. If you have frozen a baked fruit pie, allow it to defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
You can also freeze a custard pie, but it won’t be the same as a fresh one and you might end up with soggy crust or split custard, but good to eat non-the-less.
Pie crust, however, freezes beautifully. I always make extra when I make pie crust and keep a few pieces in the freezer. It defrosts quickly so it is easy to roll out and fill with fruit whenever you like. You can even freeze pie shells already rolled and ready to go, or blind baked and ready to fill with banana or coconut cream. Or, it’s great to make a quick quiche on a weekend, or fill with leftover stew for a ready made meat pie for another night’s dinner.
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The topic of freezing pies made me think about freezing quiche. I know it muct be doable, as I’ve had store botten, frozen quiche. How can you do it on your own?
Glenna, a quiche is like any custard pie, it’s just not going to be as good as making it fresh, but you can freeze it. Make sure you double wrap it and it’s airtight (you can wrap and stick it in a resealable freezer bag if it’s the right size). Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat at 350 until it’s hot. Store bought frozen goods are different than freezing at home because they are able to flash freeze. Commercial freezers are set at very low temperatures so that food freezes very very quickly, this stops the water molocules from expanding excessively in food which ruptures the cell stucture and leads to foods coming out of the freezer sodden and soggy. We are not able to do this in a home freezer. Having said that, a homemade quiche, frozen or not will always be tastier than a store bought one, especially when you are putting exactly what you like it in!