Copyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips Sarah Phillips, Inc. All rights reserved.
Custard fillings use the whole egg as the thickening agent and, milk as the liquid ingredient. A custard pie is when the filling, an uncooked custard, is poured into an unbaked pie shell and both are baked together. However, you can make a custard pie by precooking the filling and the pie crust separately, and then finishing the baking in the oven. (Foolproof Silky Custard Pie)
SARAH SAYS: Often confused with a cream pie, that type starts with a fully baked crust with a stove-top ooked filling poured into it. The pie is then chilled until the filling sets.
| Consistency | Smooth Firm, yet tender |
| Color | Uniform Yellow |
| Flavor | Mild, sweet egg flavor |
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Weeping and soggy crusts - A common problem with baked custard pies is that their bottoms get soggy caused by their fillings "weeping".
Baked too long
Baked filling not cooked enough before moving to baked crust
Sogginess is usually caused by the pie being overbaked and/or when stored, especially in the refrigerator.
SARAH SAYS: To prevent this, I recommend that custard pie fillings be made with the addition of 1 to 3 tablespoons starch, such as flour or cornstarch making it less sensitive to overbaking. Besides thickening, starch helps to prevent eggs from curdling and the pie from cracking—certainly a helpful contribution to make to a custard. Starch also causes the heat to be transmitted more evenly throughout the custard; this helps to take care of the overbaked outer ring and an underbaked center when making a custard pie.
In addition, to prevent the pie crust from getting soggy from its fillings, I start my custard pies with a partially prebaked crust that is moisture proofed right from the oven before filling. This makes it less prone to absorb liquid from the filling and turning soggy. Too thin
Underbaked, too much sugar
Tough
Baked too long, too much egg in proportion to other ingredients
Porous
Baked too long
Filling broken
Poor technique in transferring custard to crust
Flecks of yellow and white
Not adequately mixed
