equipmentpie
I need to prepare and bake two pecan pies to sell, so will need to deliver in disposable aluminum pans.
Is it best to set the disposable pans into heavier, dark pans for best baking results? Will this improve the crisping of the crust, or have no effect?
If you have oven safe noodle bowls (ceramic, not plastic) then line them, as you describe with the foil, but do not remove them from the bowls. Bake your pie in the lined bowls, then remove the finished pies, with their aluminum "pan" intact. Or just make pasties...no pan required.
As you indicate you don't have oven safe bowls and it must be a pie, I decided to experiment, using the double foil idea. I have heavy duty foil. I used a double layer and lined a noodle bowl making sure that there was plenty of foil out past the edge. I then pressed another noodle bowl on top of the two sheets of foil to make sure all is acting as a unit. While the top bowl is still in place, crumple up the excess foil, making a rim. This is what will give you the strength you need. I would then take the top bowl out, and line the now stable foil pie tin with your pie pastry. Fill the pie and if there is a top crust, finish the pie. You can now take the pie out of the noodle bowl and bake it as usual, although I would certainly do it on a baking sheet.
The double foil is much stronger than you'd expect, but the stability comes from the rim you build with the excess foil hanging over the edge.
Here's the finished bowl with the two molding bowls.
The second option is your way to go. Fashion your lattice on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or Silpat that is twice the size that the lattice will be. Use dabs of pancake syrup, maple syrup, fruit syrup or egg white to seal the strips where necessary. To the side, lay out a piece of paper or cardboard and invert your pie plate on it. Draw the outline of your pie plate and cut the paper on that line. Use it as a lightweight template to trim your lattice to size. Egg wash your lattice and bake it until it reaches the color you want it to be. Let it cool so it hardens up, and then fold the excess of the parchment or Silpat mat over the lattice so you can lift it without breaking it. Slide the lattice off the parchment and onto your pie, color side up, and affix with syrup or egg white.
Best Answer
You should bake directly in the disposable pans, without setting them into another pan.
Nesting them into another pie pan could actually create a small air barrier between some parts of the disposable pan and the nesting pan, and therefore create an insulating effect. If the second pan is much darker, and therefore absorbs radiant heat more effectively, you may get splotching or uneven crust development (disposable pans tend to be very shiny, and so reflect infrared heat well).
You may set your pies on top of a sheet tray, if you are worried about overflow making a mess in the oven, or to make it easier to move them in or out of the oven. This also tends to slow bottom crust development.
If you are worried about under-developed bottom crust, pre-heat sheet pan in the oven, and place the pies directly onto it. This will give a head start to bottom crust development.
At the extreme, you could use a pizza or bread stone, but this is quite likely to go too far.