How Do You Prevent Soggy Pastry Bases?
• Make the pastry in a cool, clean environment free of wet surfaces. Dry everything before rolling your pastry, and be careful to keep your hands, implements, and surfaces cool at all times. Consider chilling pastry for at least an hour prior to working with it; this helps it to dry out and makes it easier to handle quickly. • Allow all fillings to cool before adding. Hot and even warm fillings will create steam and moisture that will have nowhere to go but into the pastry. The pastry will reward you with sogginess. Only add cold fillings when making filled pastries. • Remove excess moisture. There is nowhere for filling to go inside pastry except into the pastry. Excess moisture in a filling will create soggy pastry. Drain moist fillings, or prefer fillings that do not present a moisture challenge. • Use slits for pies. Pies and pastries with dense fruit or moist veggie fillings will benefit from slits to let out the steam escape during cooking. • Aim to place your pastry or pie in th
