Yesterday, I made a cherry pie for my friend’s dinner party.
This is the first time that I made a lattice cover for a pie. It worked beautifully, and it was surprisingly easy.
I have to thank Stella Parks for her article, Decorative Crust 101, on Serious Eats that walked through step-by-step how to construct a lattice pie.
Tips For Lattice Pie
How I got the dough to stop sticking
Even after dusting the rolling pin, I found that rolling out the pie dough was difficult. I kept tearing it because the dough wasn’t cold enough. I had handled it too much.
But when the crust is too cold, it becomes brittle and breaks more easily.
My solution was to roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap.
This allowed me to peel one sheet of plastic wrap, then flip it over and peel the other side. Once I did that, I could easily cut the dough into strips and left it off the plastic wrap without any problems.
How I got the pie to keep its structure
Stella’s tip to refrigerate the pie before baking helped with keeping the pie’s structure. In fact, I popped it into the freezer, and it worked great.
How to avoid burning the pie
Shield it way before you think you need to.
I mildly burned the crust edges and was sad that it ruined the crust. I wish I had shielded it with foil following Stella’s advice far before I thought I would need to. I can always leave the pie longer in the oven to allow the crust to become golden brown. But once it’s burnt, it’s too late to fix.
Next time you make a pie, check out Stella Parks’ article for pro tips on constructing the lattice. You won’t be sorry you did.
