There is nothing quite like baking your own homemade pie for a special occasion. Whether sweet or savory, serving up a homemade pie is a must during the holiday season, and serving up pie has never been easier when you turn your regular pie into a slab pie. Slab pies can serve up to 12 people with one pie – (much easier than carrying in separate pies!)
Slab pies allow for additional lattice options that can range from being intricate to simple, but always guaranteed to be stunning! Try making a slab pie for your next event with a splash of decadent and irresistible Nielsen-Massey® Pure Vanilla Extract flavor in the filling, and you’re sure to be the talk of the dinner table.
How To Turn a Regular Pie into a Slab Pie:
One and a half the amount of crust you’d need for a 9-inch round standard-size pie to fill a 13”x9.5” baking tray.
To prep for a slab pie, either use store bought crust or feel free to make your own; on a lightly floured surface, unroll and stack crusts on top of the other. Roll to 17×12-inch rectangle (or 18×12-inch, if you have a slightly deeper sheet pan or want a little more wiggle room for fluting the edges). Fit the bottom crust into an ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan, pressing into corners. For a single-crust slab pie: fold extra crust even with edges of pan. For a lattice-topped pie: cut pie crust into 1/2-inch-wide strips with pastry cutter or knife. Place half of the strips across pan diagonally. Weave remaining strips with first strips to form lattice. Trim edges of strips even with edge of bottom crust. Pinch edges of crust together to seal, tucking under pastry crust, if necessary. Flute or crimp edges.
To ensure the bottom crusts of some of the more liquid-based/custard-based filled pies the bottom crust must be par-baked or pre-baked until just browned and set. When baking a slab pie with a liquid or custard filling, it is best to par-bake the pie crust at a high temperature for 6 to 7 minutes before adding the filling.
General rule is to make 1 ½ times the amount of filling you’d need for a standard 9-inch rounded pie to fill a 15x10x1-inch slab pie, some ingredients will need to be rounded up or down depending on the original standard pie recipe amounts – use your best judgement. To avoid overflowing and dreaded additional oven clean up, make sure to not overfill your pie crusts.
Take the minimum original bake time from your standard pie recipe and reduce it by 10 minutes—that’s when you should first start to check your slab pie for doneness. Continue to check your pie every 5 minutes until it appears to be fully baked. For best results, rely heavily on visual cues. The filling should be fully set for a fully baked custard pie; for a fully baked fruit pie, the fruit should be tender and the crust deep golden brown.
Let cool completely and serve!
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