Sharon, because pumpkin pies often bake for a very long time in order to make the filling set, most pumpkin pie recipes don't call for blind baking the crust. You'll only want to do this if the recipe specifically calls for it. Also, we recommend making sure you're using the right amount of flour — if you're scooping your measuring cups right into the bag of flour, you'll be using too much which makes a hard, dense, heavy crust. Be sure you're either fluffing and sprinkling the flour gently into the measuring cups before leveling off with a knife, or measure it by weight using a scale. Last tip: try pressing the crust thinner next time (you can bake any excess crust on a sheet pan sprinkled with cinnamon sugar). This will give it more of a flaky, delicate texture. Happy baking! Kye@KAF

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