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Hi, Aaron,
My pie crust (see earlier post) for my pumpkin pie was prebaked. I used my buttermilk pie crust recipe, with 2 Tbs. sugar, and accidentally used all butter rather than half butter and half Crisco. Except for one little side, there was no shrinkage.
My technique is an amalgamation of several sources. The pie recipe is adapted from the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook but I used 2 1/2 cups pastry flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour. When I add the liquid, after cutting in the butter, I follow Ken Haedrich's instructions and add all the liquid at once. I refrigerate for an hour. In this case, it was longer because, like you, I have others mucking around in my kitchen area. The dough really was too hard when I started to roll it out. I follow the technique in the Cooks Baking Illustrated and in The Dessert Bible, but I roll the dough out onto a wide piece of parchment paper (Reynolds), cover it with a wide piece of saran (cooking store), then roll it out to 1/8th inch, in part because I like crust. It could be rolled thinner, using pastry wands to get the height exact. I then flip the whole thing over and peel off the parchment. I put my hand between the saran and the counter, and pick up the crust and gently fit it over the pie plate, then carefully position it. When I'm satisfied, I peel off the saran, then finish tucking it into the pie plate. I fold over the edges and crimp them so that they rest on the pie rim. I then lightly cover with the saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill for 40 minutes. Usually, I then move it to the freezer for 20 minutes, but his time I put it outside on the cement, where it was below freezing and put a plastic cover over it to ward off inquisitive animals. I left it there for 30 minutes. I preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes at 375F.
Note: I like Emile Henry ceramic pie plates for my pumpkin and apple pies. (I use a metal one for blueberry, cherry, or pecan.)
When I am ready to bake, I put an industrial coffee filter in the pie plate That was a hint from KAF, but instead of selling them, they now sell these fancy liners from England. Coffee filters are cheaper (office store online; restaurant store), and I've discovered can be used for other things, such as draining pumpkin puree. The two Cooks books used double layer aluminum foil. I've also used parchment.
I think that it is silly that the Serious Eats author uses sugar. What a waste. Buy cheap beans and use them over and over and over. I've been using one set for over 25 years. I don't think that I've used enough, hence the one spot of shrinkage, so I'm going to make sure that next time it is full. Don't use ceramic pie weights--they get too hot and melt the butter in the crust. I would think metal pie chains would be equally as bad.
Once the beans are in, the pie plate goes into the middle of the oven to bake at 375F for 21 minutes until the sides are set. Remove pie plate from oven. Carefully lift out the liner with beans. (I move it to a heat-safe plate to cool.) Return the pie plate to the oven. If filling will require 20 minutes or less of baking time, bake 7 minutes more. If it will require more than 20 minutes, bake only 4 minutes more. If filling requires no baking, then bake 15-20 minutes more.
However, I like to go by whether the bottom looks sufficiently cooked to me on time. For my pumpkin pies, and additional 5-6 minutes will do it. (Note: my pumpkin pie filling is hot when I put it into the hot crust.) Once the filling is in, I bake at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F. I check the pie for doneness starting 8 minutes after that. This time it took 10 minutes after I turned down the heat. Next time, I will likely put a pie shield over the crust, because my husband would prefer that it be more lightly baked.
I cannot at the moment remember if I put the pecan pie filling into a hot crust; my husband buried the box with that cookbook, and I don't expect to see it until next summer. It's Bernard Clayton's Pecan Pie recipe form The Complete Book of Pastry: Sweet and Savory.
I hope that some of this information might help you to tweak what you do. I expect that Mike Nolan, who has more experience than I, will also weigh in.
As for turkey roasting--my husband has taken over that, but this year, I actually got the rack moved down lower, and he was amazed that it cooked faster and the top did not dry out. When I roast turkeys, I follow Rick Rogers methods in Thanksgiving 101.
Friday evening, I baked Nelson's Choice Rye Bread--a recipe from KAF on the back of a bag of First Clear Flour (although they have now changed the recipe and its title after complaints that it did not bake well). The recipe is originally from Secrets of a Jewish Baker. Usually it works well for me, although not always, as it is a wetter dough and hard to get just right. However, it is the bread that I dream about with turkey sandwiches. Now that I'm retired, I have time to make it after Thanksgiving.
I decided to try mixing and kneading it in the bread machine--but only after the initial step of letting the mixture of yeast, sugar, and rye flours sit for 20 minutes. I then stirred in the sour cream, put that mixture into the pan of the bread machine, and added the flour. As usual with this recipe, I had to add some additional flour--3 Tbs. (I need to remember to hold back some of the water.), but I did omit 2 Tbs. vital wheat gluten. I do not have it, and I do not intend to buy it again, as I seem to get the same results without it. It was a sticky dough. After a first rise of 50 minutes, I pre-shaped it as a boule, let it rest for 10 minutes, and I shaped it again. I let it rise in an 8-inch cake pan, slashing it after 30 minutes, and letting it rise an additional 7 minutes to recover a bit from the slashing. I was not expecting to get a great rise, but I was wrong, as it was the best rise I've had with this recipe. It is not "pretty, in that it follows the 2-inch high sides of the pan before doming. It also stuck a bit on the sides, but I was able to run a spatula around the circumference, and it came out without any damage. The recipe should work very nicely in my bread bowl--once I find it!
Why did it rise better? I think that the bread machine may have helped knead it more effectively. The only other changes are that I used full-fat sour cream, not low fat, and I did not use vital wheat gluten. I'm looking forward to turkey sandwiches tomorrow.On Wednesday, I baked my version of my Mom's pumpkin pie. As I was making the crust, I realized that I had accidentally used 1 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 half cup Crisco. (I'm glad that I realized that before adding the Crisco!) Once again, the open concept kitchen allows for too much distraction. I forged ahead. After the dough had rested in the refrigerator, I rolled it the usual 1/8-inch thick. I had made a two-crust recipe, so I could do leaf and acorn cut outs around the edge. I decided instead to use more dough for the crust and made sure that I had a thick fold around the perimeter where I would crimp it. I was relieved that the blind-bake was excellent. The pie baked very well. I then rolled out the remaining dough 1/4-inch thick and cut out little turkeys, pumpkins, and acorns, using some of those plastic cutters with the springs that let you make a cookie with a design and then eject it. I baked those at 375F for 16 minutes, until they were lightly brown. I will serve a couple alongside slices of pie.
I used 5 parts pastry flour to 1 part whole wheat pastry flour in my favorite buttermilk pie crust recipe. Maybe the pastry flour helped the all-butter crust hold.For Tuesday dinner, I thawed a boneless chicken breast (yes, from a sale) and cut it in half. I rubbed it with mayonnaise, and dredged them in a mixture of panko, onion powder, garlic powder, chives, pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan. I roasted them at 375F for 30 minutes. To go with it, I sautéed chopped onion, chopped celery, coarsely chopped carrot, and mushrooms in grapeseed oil. I stirred in the leftover rice from last night and added a bit of the leftover broth. I also microwaved some frozen peas.
