Peach Pie with Lattice Pie Crust
PREP and PRESENTATION NOTES
- This recipe describes how to make a basic pie crust, along with several finishing techniques.
- This crust can be baked and then filled, according to your recipe.
- Your pie recipe may call for a single unbaked pie crust.
- Your recipe may call for adding a top crust, which may be either a solid crust or a lattice crust.
- If your recipe calls for adding filling to a baked crust, cool the crust completely first.
- Cover air-tight in the refrigerator to prevent the pie crust from absorbing odors or flavors.
INGREDIENTS
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 C flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 C butter
- 1/3 C shortening
- 6-8 T cold water
- flour, for hands, table, and rolling pin
DIRECTIONS
Dough
- Add butter and shortening to dry ingredients, cutting in with two butter knives, until crumbly.
- Stir in 5 T water. Stir in 1 T water. If needed, stir in more water, 1 T at a time, until dough forms into a ball.
- Knead gently with floured hands a few times, separating into two lumps. Form two balls.
- Lightly flour the table.
- Place one ball on the floured surface.
- Liberally sprinkle the ball with flour.
- Roll flat with floured rolling pin, starting in the middle, pushing down, and gently pushing outward while rolling. Use more flour as needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking to the dough, and the dough from sticking to the table. Push and roll back and forth and side to side, always starting in the middle and rolling outward to make a circle. Roll to an even thickness, as thin as possible, but thick enough so the dough doesn't break when lifted from the table. Make the circle larger than the pie plate, large enough so that the edges will be extending over the sides of the pie plate.
- Gently fold the pie crust in half over itself, and lift it up off the table, supporting it from the center.
- Place the folded pie crust onto one side of a glass pie plate. Unfold the crust to make a circle covering the entire pie plate. Gently ease the top edges of the crust down and into the sides of the plate.
- Add the filling to the unbaked pie crust, or skip ahead to proceed to the step "Bake Unfilled."
- If no top crust is needed, skip ahead to "Trim."
- Place second ball on floured surface.
- Roll flat, as above.
- If a lattice crust is desired, skip ahead to the step "Lattice Crust."
- Remove pie crust from the table to the pie plate, as above.
- Unfold top crust to cover pie filling and gently press top crust onto bottom crust all around the edges of the pie plate.
- Prick top of pie crust all over with tines of a fork, to make little air holes.
- Skip ahead to the step "Trim."
- Slice into 1/2" wide strips.
- Leaving half an inch of space between strips, weave pie crust strips over filled pie, extending over edges of the pie plate. Join edges of shorter strips to fit where needed, neatly hiding joined edges under overlapping weavings.
- After filling pie and adding a top crust or lattice crust, if desired, use a butter knife to trim away the excess crust, after leaving a little bit of overhang for fluting.
- On each hand, hold the thumb to the forefinger in a pinch. Flute edges by pushing down on the edge of the crust with the two sets of pinched fingers nearly side-by-side, then pushing the two sets of fingers closer together, pinching the dough into a diamond shape between the fingers. Remove the fingers from the crust, turn the pie plate a little, and make another pinched diamond. Continue to make little diamond-shaped pinches of dough all around the edge of the pie plate.
- Continue with the next step in your original recipe that called for a filled pie crust.
- If using a baked pie crust in the recipe, make small holes in the surface of the crust before baking by pricking all over with the tines of a fork.
- Bake about 8 - 10 minutes at 450 degrees F.
- Pie crust will be lightly browned.
- As soon as the pie crust comes out of the oven, push down on any places that have risen into bubbles above the floor of the pie plate, to flatten.
