I love making lattice-top crusts on pies; it's not very hard and it definitely makes a good impression! The last time I did this (Thanksgiving) I took step-by-step pictures; hopefully this will help if you've even wanted to do this but been unsure how.
Start by rolling out your pie crust; it doesn't have to be pretty.
I prefer to cut mine with my fluted pastry wheel (seen right off to the side in this shot below). You can just as easily use a paring knife. If you're a perfectionist, use a ruler to make nice straight lines... this wasn't a particularly pretty batch for me. The reason I didn't just cut straight lines all the way across my crust is because I rolled this out quite a bit bigger than the diameter of my pie, so I knew I wouldn't need such long strips.
I start with shorter pieces and lay one on top and one on the side, like this (this was a creamy pear pie... most of the time your covered pies won't be so liquidy!)
Time to start weaving! Add another slightly-longer strip across the top, below the first one, and another one next to the side one.
Each time you add a new piece, look to see where it's supposed to go under or over each perpendicular strip... taking turns every other one. So, this new piece I'm laying here needs to go OVER the bottom horizontal piece, but UNDER the one above it.
So, no big deal; I just lifted that horizontal piece up with my other hand, and held it up while putting the vertical piece in place. Then, lay it gently back down.
Here, I've lifted up a vertical piece in order to lay the bottom horizontal one underneath it.
And right after that, the horizontal piece is in place and ready for the vertical piece to be replaced across it.
Voila!
Just keep going like that until the whole pie is covered! Horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical. Now, for this pie I chose to lay the pieces pretty close together. For a nice red berry pie I like to have some of the pretty color showing through, so I would leave more space between the lattice strips. With this creamy pear pie being so liquidy, I didn't want all that liquid to have much chance to escape.
Once the pie is covered, trim around the outside of the pie plate with a paring knife, leaving about 3/4" hanging over. Going around the circumference of the pie, roll & tuck in the crust inward so that the edges are sealed shut and so that it looks nice and even. You can even make a pretty edge if you want, but I think with a fancy lattice top it doesn't need pretty edges.
I prefer to cut mine with my fluted pastry wheel (seen right off to the side in this shot below). You can just as easily use a paring knife. If you're a perfectionist, use a ruler to make nice straight lines... this wasn't a particularly pretty batch for me. The reason I didn't just cut straight lines all the way across my crust is because I rolled this out quite a bit bigger than the diameter of my pie, so I knew I wouldn't need such long strips.
I start with shorter pieces and lay one on top and one on the side, like this (this was a creamy pear pie... most of the time your covered pies won't be so liquidy!)
Time to start weaving! Add another slightly-longer strip across the top, below the first one, and another one next to the side one.
Each time you add a new piece, look to see where it's supposed to go under or over each perpendicular strip... taking turns every other one. So, this new piece I'm laying here needs to go OVER the bottom horizontal piece, but UNDER the one above it.
So, no big deal; I just lifted that horizontal piece up with my other hand, and held it up while putting the vertical piece in place. Then, lay it gently back down.
Here, I've lifted up a vertical piece in order to lay the bottom horizontal one underneath it.
And right after that, the horizontal piece is in place and ready for the vertical piece to be replaced across it.
Voila!
Just keep going like that until the whole pie is covered! Horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical. Now, for this pie I chose to lay the pieces pretty close together. For a nice red berry pie I like to have some of the pretty color showing through, so I would leave more space between the lattice strips. With this creamy pear pie being so liquidy, I didn't want all that liquid to have much chance to escape.
Once the pie is covered, trim around the outside of the pie plate with a paring knife, leaving about 3/4" hanging over. Going around the circumference of the pie, roll & tuck in the crust inward so that the edges are sealed shut and so that it looks nice and even. You can even make a pretty edge if you want, but I think with a fancy lattice top it doesn't need pretty edges.For this pie I brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon & sugar before baking it.
And look how nice it turns out.
Here's an apple-blackberry pie I made a few months ago, using the same type of crust. You can see the lattice better on this one since I spaced out the strips better. This pie was brushed with butter and sprinkled with plain sugar before baking.
So there you go; happy pie-making!
And look how nice it turns out.
Here's an apple-blackberry pie I made a few months ago, using the same type of crust. You can see the lattice better on this one since I spaced out the strips better. This pie was brushed with butter and sprinkled with plain sugar before baking.
So there you go; happy pie-making!
2 comments:
You are so good at pies. And cakes. And well, just about everything. :)
Sara, you have definitely mastered the technique. Way to go, good job! You make it look very easy and I know your pies have to be delicious!
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