About Pie Dishes – Which Is The Best Quiche Dish, Pie Dish, Tart Dish?

By Clare

Culinary science Expertise Foodie knowledge Industry Kitchen and dining Kitchen equipment Recipes Type Watching the dosh

“Promises and pie crusts are made to be broken.”

^{-Jonathan Swift}

Metal, enamel, glass or ceramic? Glass wins hands down! …. but I’m still going to use my ceramic dishes if I’m serving the quiche at the table…

If you have a metal pie dish with holes, see the note below the table.

metal and enamel	glass	ceramic
Don’t break BUT sometimes they’re a bit flimsy and need additional support. If they have an enamel coating it can break and chip more easily – however, they are relatively cheap so, aside from the hassle, that’s not necessarily a disaster.	Break and chip even more easily.	Can heat unevenly so bits of crust cook more than others.
If they are coated in enamel – hand-dipped and double-coated as the Lakeland ones are- they will have better evenness of cooking and browning.Falcon Enamelware make beautiful traditional pie dishes. These retain heat well, and distribute heat well. The bottom of the pastry will continue to cook for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven, which is especially good if you are not baking blind.	Although metal conducts heat better than glass, glass is clear, so radiant energy can pass through. This helps the crust bake better – an advantage over both metal and ceramic dishes, and even better if you are not baking blind.retain heat well, and distribute heat well.	The bottom of the pastry will continue to cook for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven, which is good if you are not baking blind.
Acidic, fruit filling can react with aluminium and result in a ‘tinny’ taste.	No reaction with food.	No reaction with food.
Not transparent, you are flying by the seat of your pants.	Are transparent, so you can see the colour of the pastry.	Not transparent, you are flying by the seat of your pants.
Pastry clings better to the less slippery surface	Slipperier than metal so the pastry may be more likely to shrink and collapse… the solution is to add a pinch of baking powder to the pasty. Why? It helps the crust expand into the pie dish.	Slipperier than metal so the pastry may be more likely to shrink and collapse… the solution is to add a pinch of baking powder to the pasty. Why? It helps the crust expand into the pie dish.
Not very good to look at BUT you can, obviously, get loose-bottomed tins which enable you to turn the quiche out if you want to. The enamel dishes have a lovely traditional look to them.	They tend to look a bit utilitarian! At least they make them so they are stain resistant now.	Often very decorative and attractive

For a post on baking blind, follow this link.

For a post about using pie birds, follow this link.

For a post about how pies have developed over time, follow this link.

Note on metal pie dishes (and other bakeware) with holes

I recently got super excited in a kitchen shop (not wholly unusual) because I found a new kind of metal pie dish with holes in. The manufacturers maintain that the holes allow the moisture to escape resulting in crisper pastry. I bought two (a quiche and a deep pie pan) and I have tried both and I have to admit that I have not noticed any particular improvement. I’m still sticking with glass.