The Zen of Pie Thickeners

The bane of all pie bakers is soupy pie. When you cut into it, the filling runs into the pan and the pie deflates. It is a bigger problem with some fruits than others, especially apple, berry, peach, plum, and other stone fruits. So experienced bakers use some sort of a thickener to make it nice and firm. The amount of thickener depends on the liquid constant and the amount of pectin, a natural thickener in the fruit. Apples have more natural pectin than berries.

Flour: Not recommended

Many older home bakers use all purpose flour. Flour can make the filling cloudy, and can have a starchy taste. It is not recommended.

Cornstarch: Better

Corn starch is better, but it can break down and become watery under the heat of baking.

For a 9" apple pie, try 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch. More for juicier fruits such as berries and stone fruit.

Instant Tapioca: Better still

A lot of bakers recommend a starch from a root such as arrowroot or tapioca. Among those, tapioca seems to be the fave because it has great absorbing power, it is practically invisible, adds gloss, is clean tasting, and it doesn't break down in acidic fillings, when frozen, or under high heat as some of the other thickeners do.

Tapioca can be stored indefinitely in a cool dry place. It is made from cassava or manioc root, and it is available in four forms and sizes:

Large beads, pearl tapioca beads, tapioca balls, or fisheye tapioca are BB sized pellets, and they are used to make tapioca pudding or "bubble" drinks now gaining in popularity in Asian restaurants. They don't dissolve entirely and make squishy, gelatinous balls. Don't use these in a pie.

Regular tapioca, small bead tapioca, or small pearl tapioca, are also used in pudding, but are too large and don't dissolve completely, so they're not recommended for thickening pie filling.

Instant tapioca is also called quick tapioca, quick cooking tapioca, tapioca granules, and instant pearl tapioca. Minute® Tapioca is the brand name for instant tapioca owned by Kraft. Instant tapioca is granulated and this is the stuff used for thickening pie fillings, stews, gravies, and soups. Because it doesn't dissolve completely and it can leave small gelatinous blobs some bakers pulverize it in a spice grinder, coffee mill, or mortar and pestle. This form takes a little time to "bloom" and do its magic, so it needs to be added to the filling at least an hour before baking.

Tapioca flour, tapioca starch, cassava flour is a powder that some bakers prefer to instant tapioca for pies.

For a 9" apple pie, try 2 tablespoons of instant tapioca. More for juicier fruits such as berries and stone fruit.

ClearJel

Many commercial bakers use a product called Instant ClearJel, a modified food starch known to remain clear and keep its thickening power under both hot and cold conditions. It c an even be used to thicken fresh berry pies that are not baked. The package says to use slightly less than flour, and slightly less than double the amount of corn starch or tapioca.

For a 9" apple pie, try 2 tablespoons of Instant ClearJel. More for juicier fruits such as berries and stone fruit.

This page was revised 7/17/2010