Also Great: Emile Henry 9
Though its pricier than other models, the Emile Henry 9-Inch Pie Dish is a worthwhile investment for anyone who wants a deep, attractive dish for serving pies. It has ranked among our top picks since we first wrote this guide in 2013, and in all our tests it has consistently browned crusts and cooked fillings more evenly than other ceramic plates. The Emile Henry is safe to transfer from freezer to oven, and its also the only one of our picks thats broiler safe, which is an advantage when you want to brown the top of a meringue pie. Plus, its prettier than a glass plate and available in several colors.
All the pies we baked in the Emile Henry dish came out beautifully. Its blind-baked crusts were well browned on the bottom, whereas other, thicker, heavier ceramic plates turned out paler crusts. Our pumpkin pie set perfectly, and our peach pie emerged golden and crisp from top to bottom. Although pies took a few minutes longer to bake in the Emile Henry dish than in the OXO and Pyrex plates, they were still done within the guidelines of the recipe. Thicker ceramic plates, such as the USA Pan Pie Stone, took as much as 20 minutes longer to bake and still left our pies with a soggy bottom.
Factors You Should Consider Before Buying The Pie Pans Ceramic
As you already know, research is essential before making any purchase. So, there are some factors you should consider before starting your research. This is important so that you can make your entire buying process as hassle-free as possible.
Remember, your time has as much value as your money. So, there are a few things you should determine which will affect your research as well.
There are a few questions you should ask yourself to determine your course of research on the pie pans ceramic:
- Is this pie pans ceramic serving the purpose of purchase? What are your expectations from the product?
- What functions must the pie pans ceramic have? Are there any specific functions that you are seeking in the product?
- Is there a specific budget, or is the budget flexible?
- Will the pie pans ceramic require maintenance and upkeep costs?
- Are you looking to buy the pie pans ceramic online or offline? What will be the best places to purchase the product?
- Where will you seek reliable information on the pie pans ceramic?
Having multiple options from various brands can get confusing, so ask yourself these questions to narrow down your research.
Once you determine your expectations from the pie pans ceramic and your price range, you decide which ones you must research. The research will help you determine the pros and cons. But before that, where will you get the reliable information to conduct your research?
Who Should Get This
If you like to bake pies even just once or twice a year, having a pie plate in your kitchen is worth it. Sure, you have ways to get around using onemaking a slab pie or galette on a baking sheet, for instance, or just using a disposable aluminum tin. But you cant make things like deep-dish fruit pies or towering lemon meringue pies on a baking sheet. And although a disposable tin can bake evenly, its flimsy and small, and it doesnt look so nice on the table. Plus, a good pie plate can come in handy for more than just sweets: If the dish is deep enough, you can use it to make things like frittatas and pot pies. You can also use it for recipes associated with specialty tart or springform pans, such as quiche and cheesecake.
If you have a pie plate you like, one that is durable and has served you well, keep it. But if you cant seem to achieve golden crusts or evenly cooked filling, you may want to upgrade to a better plate. A high-quality pie plate can survive many years of use, so whether youre an experienced baker or an occasional one, a good plate is worth the investment .
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Other Pie Plates I Tested
The USA Pan Aluminized Steel Pie Pan was also a favorite. Pies baked beautifully in this metal plate. It has a ridged bottom meant to facilitate air circulation and add warp resistance and it did a wonderful job browning the bottom crust of the berry pie. The BPA-free silicone coating helped slices slide right out, but scratched after using metal utensils. USA recommends hand washing the pan which could be a turn off for folks whod prefer to use a dishwasher.
OXO makes a solid borosilicate glass pie dish which is thermal shock resistant, meaning that it can go from the freezer to the oven safely, but its 2-inch depth made the crust of the berry pie shrink down into to the pan and I imagine most recipes not specifically written for a deep-dish pie pan would suffer the same fate. The rim was also a bit trickier to hold onto than the Pyrex, which is why this was my second favorite glass dish. However, if you like to take your pies to go, this dish comes with a very handy cover.
The Anchor Hocking 9.5 Deep Dish Pie Plate also proved to be a bit too large to handle the recipes I tested it with, and the crust on the blueberry pie slumped down into the dish which made the slices tricky to remove. However, the two little handles on this glass dish made it easy to move in and out of the oven without disturbing the crust and made me wish the Pyrex had that little feature as well.
How Do You Measure A Pie Pan
To get the correct diameter measurement of a pie pan, you’ll want to measure across the center of the pan from the inside rim to the opposite inside rim. Do not include the thickness of the lip of the pan, handles, or any other decorative elements. To find out if your pie dish is standard or deep-dish, measure from the top of the rim to the crease of the pan at the bottom.
The Spruce Eats / Jenny Kellerhals
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Why Trust Simply Recipes
Karen Resta is a New York-based writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. A former executive chef who started out as a pastry chef, she now travels the globe writing about and photographing the best authentic food and pastries. She admittedly likes cake better than pie but believes pie is more challenging to make. Karen is passionate about finding quality kitchen tools within your given budget and that knowing how to use them makes all the difference. She curated this list with that in mind.
This article was tested and updated by Lizzy Briskin, a chef, food writer, and recipe developer who loves trying her favorite recipes in different pie pans for comparison.
How Do I Use A Fluted Pie Pan
Prepare the pastry as you would with a regular pie pan, but be sure youve allowed an inch extra larger than the diameter of the pie pan when you cut the round. Fold the extra dough over all around, and then pinch the dough along the edges between your fingertips to follow the pattern of the fluted surface. If the dough becomes difficult to work with, refrigerate the pie until the dough is well-chilled.
Simply Recipes / Lizzy Briskin
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Making Sense Of Pie Pan Sizes
Can you identify the most common pie pan called for in recipes in the picture?
I had a chat recently with Kate McDermott, author of the highly celebrated and best-selling cookbook, Art of the Pie, about the bewildering variation in pie pans or pie plates. Kate said Why dont you write a blog about it? So I did. And here it is.
What you see in the photo is all the 9 pie plates I own, accumulated over decades of baking. They range in size from 8 inches to 10 inches in diameterthats the measurement across the opening at the top of the pie plate. By far, the most commonly called for pie plate is the 9-inch size, preferably made of ovenproof glass .
In the bottom left sits a 9 1/2 inch deep-dish rimless pie plate and to its right is an actual 10-inch pie plate with a 10-inch opening. Resting on top of the rimless deep-dish pie plate is its sister, a 9 1/2 inch rimmed deep-dish plate. So which would you use if a recipe called for a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan? Its a roll of the dice, and it shouldnt be. Youll have to base your choice on the quantity of the pie filling and if the recipe said to make a fluted edge. No rim to the pan, then no fluted edge. A high fluted edge can often compensate for an undersized pie plate.
Why do I have a glass 10-inch pie plate? I bought it many years ago to bake a crème brûlée recipe that said to use an 11-inch pie plate! Go figure.
Happy Baking!
Our Pick: Oxo Good Grips Glass 9 Pie Plate With Lid
*At the time of publishing, the price was $13.
The OXO Good Grips Glass 9 Pie Plate With Lid conducts heat very well, and in our tests it baked some of the most evenly browned crusts. At 2 inches deep, its one of the few glass dishes we found that qualify as deep-dish plates. It fits thick fruit pies better than shallower glass plates but isnt so deep that custard pies look skimpy. The rim is wider than most, which makes shaping a pretty crust easy, while the clear glass lets you see when your pie is done. And unlike with some other glass plates, you can transfer this one directly from freezer to oven since its made of borosilicate glass.
Among the 19 pie plates weve tested over the years, the OXO dish produced some of the most evenly browned crusts. In every test crusts baked up golden from edge to edge, with no pale spots as we saw on the bottoms and sides of pies baked in other plates. The pumpkin pie we baked in the OXO plate set into a smooth custard with a few small crinkles around the edges, while the peach pie emerged jammy and juicy with a neatly crimped edge and a crisp, golden-brown crust on top and bottom. Both pies cut neatly and didnt stick to the pan.
This pie plate comes with OXOs Better Guarantee, meaning OXO will replace it if it breaks under normal use due to any defects, and weve always found OXOs customer service to be very good. Well also continue to long-term test this plate to see how it performs over time.
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How Do You Take A Pie Out Of The Pan
A pie is typically served in the pan that it is baked in. For serving, a slice of pie is cut with a sharp knife and a pie server is inserted under the crust to lift the piece out to serve. If you want to remove the entire pie from the pan, the pie should be completely chilled or frozen first. A chilled or frozen pie is easier to handle and less likely to break. Once thoroughly chilled, use a knife or pie server to loosen the pie from the pan and either lift the pie out or carefully invert the pie to remove it. If you’re planning on removing the pie from the pan in advance, a disposable aluminum pie pan is the easiest to cut through and remove your pie with the least amount of damage.
The Spruce Eats / Jenny Kellerhals
Can You Use A Pie Pan To Bake A Cake
Yes, you can use a pie pan to bake a cake, but you should be aware that pie pans typically have angled sides and cake pans have straight sides. Because of this difference, if you’re making a layered cake, the edges of the cake will be harder to frost. The cakes can be trimmed to get rid of the angled edges but may still be difficult to frost. Generally, cake pans should be used for baking cakes, but in a pinch, a pie pan will do if you aren’t interested in how good the final product looks.
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Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Nonstick Pie Dish
The Best Pie Plate, According to Cooks Illustrated and EpicuriousThe testers at Cooks Illustrated didnt like glass as much as Wirecutter because it struggled with release issues when it came time to serve. Instead, they picked this metal dish, which is extremely thin so it heats quickly and evenly. They said it baked crusts perfectly without ever over-browning. They also liked its super simple lip, which meant they could do their own crust-crimping. And did note that the metal surface can cut or scratch when youre slicing up the pie, but that this was not a huge issue.
Testers at Epicurious came to the same conclusion as Cooks Illustrated. Their tests involved making a blueberry pie and a Key lime pie in each pan. This pan did the best in both tests, but did especially well with the berry pie, producing the most even results and crisp crust of all. They noted that the slices came out incredibly easily. They also noted the scratching issue but said the scratches didnt seem to have any negative effect on the utility of the dish. Note: Williams Sonoma recommends using wooden or silicone tools when serving.
How To Choose Between A Glass Ceramic Or Metal Plate
After testing pie plates made from glass, glazed ceramic, aluminum, and steel, we dont think one material is definitively better than the others. Each one comes with different pros and cons:
Clear glass pie plates conduct heat gently and evenly, and they offer the unique advantage of allowing you to see whether the bottom of your pie is fully cooked and browned. Theyre usually inexpensive, and while theyre not the most beautiful option you can get, theyre not bad looking, either. The big downside of glass is that it breaks.
Glazed ceramic pie plates look a bit nicer than plain glass dishes and distribute heat gently and evenly. But ceramic plates vary more in thickness and density than glass plates, and in our tests some ceramic dishes took longer to fully bake a pie in most cases the difference was only a few minutes, but one ½-inch-thick stoneware plate took a full 20 minutes longer than any glass plate to bake. We recommend avoiding anything that thick and heavy.
Like glass plates, ceramic dishes can break if you drop them, and they may crack when subjected to extreme temperature changes. But unlike glass dishes, some ceramic plates we tested were safe to go under the broiler, useful for browning meringue on top of a pie.
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