Pie is one of those desserts we come back to again and again, relishing its buttery, flaky crust and its sweet and varied fillings ranging from strawberry to lemon meringue to coconut custard. Wonderful as a dessert or delightful with a cup of strong morning coffee, pie is a great option to pick up from your local bakery. But it can be even more fun to tackle the challenge of making a homemade pie.

Making a delectable pie at home gets easier with practice, but for novice bakers, pie-baking mistakes abound, from overworking the dough to forgetting to blind bake. Also, let's not forget using the wrong type of pan. According to Martha Stewart, choosing a pan that's too big or too deep can negatively affect your pie-baking endeavor. It's also essential to pay attention to what material your pie pan is made of. Specific pie pans get the best results.

According to Martha Stewart, pie pans are usually made of three materials — metal, ceramic, and glass. In most cases, baking your pie in a glass pan is your best bet. The outlet states that glass pie plates check off many boxes, calling them "an insurance policy" for foolproof pies. They're inexpensive, lightweight, and heat up slowly but evenly in the oven. As a result, they tend to turn out evenly cooked pie crusts, even though the pie might need to spend a few more minutes baking. Another benefit of glass pie plates is their transparency, a major advantage over other types of pie plates as you can easily check the crust's doneness while baking. The outlet also notes that you should expend the effort to look for borosilicate glass, which is much sturdier than tempered glass and less prone to shattering with temperature changes.

The good news is both metal and ceramic pie plates are also options, with metal edging out ceramic due to its low cost and its excellent conduction of heat. According to Serious Eats' Stella Parks, even disposable aluminum pie pans perform well, which is an excellent tip to file away for your next potluck or barbecue.