Forming the Dough

This recipe is incredibly simple and only uses four ingredients! To start, you’ll add the flour, salt, and cold cubed butter into a food processor. You can also make this dough with a stand mixer or just by hand. Keep in mind, when making this with your hands, it will take longer.

Once the butter is incorporated into the flour/salt and you have a crumbly texture, gradually add the cold water in increments, allowing it to mix it a little at a time.

When it starts to thicken, take it out of the food processor and place it on a clean & dry counter than you have lightly dusted with flour (the dough will be sticky so that dusting of flour is a must!)

Begin kneading the dough by hand for 1-2 minutes until a soft dough ball forms. Cut that dough ball in quarters (or just in half, depending on how much you made) and form each portion into uniform balls. Wrap each individual dough ball in plastic wrap and place those in the fridge for at least one hour.

Bottom Pie Crust

Once the dough balls have chilled, grab one from the fridge and roll it out to 12″-13″ in diameter. Place that into your deep dish pie pan. The dough should overlap on the edge of the pan!

With that extra dough that has overlapped, you’re going to create a pinched rim around the top edge of the dough. Follow the photo guide below when creating yours:

Should You Par-Bake the Crust?

Some pie recipes require you to par-bake the pie crust before adding the pie filling. This means that you partially bake the pie crust on its own, then add your pie filling, and then bake the pie altogether. If you are making a homemade apple pie, do not par-bake the crust! Simply line your pie dish with your pie crust, fill it with the apple pie filling, place your lattice work on top, and then bake as instructed. The reason you don’t want to par-bake an apple pie crust is because the apple pie filling needs much longer to bake in the oven compared to something like a pumpkin pie. Because the apple pie will be in the oven for a longer time (and has significant weight to it), the pie crust will bake perfectly and it will not puff up while it bakes.

If you are making a pie that has more of a liquid base (pumpkin), a merengue pie (lemon), or a custard pie (banana cream pie), you should par-bake the crust in order to avoid a soggy crust. For this, place the dough in your pie dish, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the crust, and then fill the parchment paper with either dry rice, dry beans, or pie weights. The reason for the parchment paper and pie weights (or dry rice/beans) is to weigh the dough down as it bakes so that it doesn’t puff up.

Once your pie crust is weighed down, bake the crust at 350F until the outer edge of the pie crust is beginning to turn slightly golden brown. At this point, take the pie crust out of the oven, carefully remove the parchment paper and weights (or rice/beans), and then place it back in the oven at 350F until the bottom of the crust is also golden brown (this will take less than 10 minutes depending on your oven so keep an eye on it!). Next, fill the partially baked crust with your filling and then bake the pie altogether. The crust will then finish baking as the whole pie bakes.

Cutting the Lattice Rows & Columns

Now that the base pie crust is finished, we’re ready to make the lattice top! Grab a second dough ball from the fridge and place that on your counter with a light dusting of flour.

I like to start by rolling out the second dough ball exactly as I did for the bottom pie crust (12″-13″ in diameter). However, instead of placing this directly on top of the pie with a few slits in the top, we’re going to make it a bit prettier!

Follow the photo guide below when cutting your rows & columns for the lattice top:

Braided Dough Strips

To add a fun detail and some extra texture to the top of the pie, I like to create braided dough strips. Follow the photo guide below to create yours:

Creating the Rows

To start the lattice pattern, we’re going to place the rows on top of the pie first. If you’re making my apple pie, make sure that you add your pie filling before placing the lattice on top! See the photo guide below if you would like to recreate my pattern:

Yes, I know, the strips aren’t perfectly equal in width. But that’s okay! It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you would like to place your strips onto the pie in a different order, go for it!

Creating the Columns

Now that the rows are placed, we can move on to the columns! To create the columns, you will begin lifting up every other row so that you can place a dough strip underneath them. As you do this, you will notice the weaving pattern begin to form throughout the “over and under” process. See the photo reference below:

The Order of the Columns

If you would like to recreate the same pattern that I made, here is the order of the columns from left to right: 1″ strip, 1/4″ strip, 1″ strip, Braid, 1/4″ strip, 1/4″ strip. Please see the photo below for a better visual:

Baking the Pie

Now that you have the lattice top placed on top of your pie, you’re ready to bake! Just follow the baking instructions for the pie recipe that you’re following or check out my apple pie recipe here.

bankobake

Homemade Pie Crust and Lattice Top

The easiest way to make your pie stand out this Holiday season is with a homemade crust and a pretty lattice top! Though it may seem daunting, trust me, you'll be surprised at how simple it really is!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Servings: 2 pie crusts

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour (351g)
• ½ tsp table salt (3g)
• 1 cup + 3 tbsp unsalted cold cubed butter (268g)
• ⅔ cup cold water (158ml)

Method

 

WARNING: I did my best to explain how to create the lattice top through written instructions, but it is much easier to follow when there is a photo guide to reference. Please see the above blog post for those step-by-step photo guides.

1. **In the recipe video, I doubled my crust recipe in order to get four total dough balls which will make two total pies (one crust for the bottom and one for the lattice top). If you would like to only make two dough balls for just one pie, keep the recipe as is. If you would like to double the recipe in order to make extras, you can refrigerate the extra dough balls for up to 3 days or wrap them in an extra layer of plastic wrap and freeze them for 2-3 months.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and cold cubed butter. Gradually add the cold water in increments until it's incorporated into the dough. Place the dough on a clean counter (you will want to sprinkle extra flour on the counter as the dough ball will be sticky) and knead the dough by hand for 1-2 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, form them into uniform balls, wrap them well with plastic wrap, and refrigerate them for at least 1 hour. If you did not double the crust recipe, you will divide the dough ball in half as opposed to in quarters.
4. After they have chilled, roll out 1 dough ball so that it’s ~12”-13” in diameter (this will be the bottom pie crust). Place that in your greased pie pan and pinch the dough all around the edge (see photo reference in the blog post above)
5. Go ahead and fill your pie crust with your filling if you're making an apple pie. If you're using this recipe for a different kind of pie, please see the above blog post for par-baking instructions.
6. Once your pie is filled, you can start on the lattice top!
7. Take the second chilled dough ball out of the fridge and roll it out to 12”-13” (just like the first one)
8. Using a pizza cutter, cut six 1" strips and eleven 1/4" strips. You may have some extra dough strips from the very edge of the dough circle. I like to toss those to the side since they aren't as clean cut and pretty for the lattice top. However, you are more than welcome to use them if you'd prefer or cut different shapes with them (leaves, hearts, etc.)
9. Now, we're going to create the dough braids:

   To create two dough braids for the lattice top, place three 1/4" strips directly next to one another on a flat surface. Begin very carefully crossing one strip over the next exactly as you would braid hair. Please see the step-by-step photo guide in the blog post above as it's a bit difficult for me to explain in writing!

   Repeat this step one more time using three more 1/4" dough strips so that you are left with two dough braids.
10. Now we're going to create the rows:

    Place one 1" strip on top of your pie starting at the top. I like to leave about 1/2" space between the edge of the pie and this first dough strip.
11. Add one 1/4" strip below the first one, leaving a small gap in between them. Please see photo guide above.
12. Continue adding the dough strips in any order that you would like. If you would like to follow my exact pattern, here is the order of strips for the rows from top to bottom:

    1. 1" strip

    2. 1" strip

    3. 1/4" strip

    4. 1" strip

    5. Braid

    6. 1" strip

    7. 1/4" strip

    Again, see the photo guide above for a better visual.
13. Now we're going to create the columns:

    Now that the rows have been positioned, you're going to partially lift up every other row, starting with the 1" row closest to the bottom. This will allow you to place the columns of dough strips underneath the rows which will create that woven pattern.
14. Now that every other row has been carefully lifted and folded over, start from the left side and place one 1" strip on the pie. Fold the rows back to how they were so that they're laying flat over the first column.
15. Next, lift every other row again, but this time, only lift the ones that you did not lift in the above step. When looking at it from bottom to top, you will lift the first 1/4" row at the very bottom, then the braided row, then the 1/4" row, and the last 1" row at the top.
16. Lay one braided strip on top of the pie and fold the rows back so that they're laying flat again. You will now notice that woven pattern begin to form. Continue lifting every other row, alternating the strips that you lift as you add each column.
17. If you would like to follow the same pattern that I created, here's the order of columns from left to right:

    1. 1" strip

    2. 1/4" strip

    3. 1" strip

    4. Braid

    5. 1/4" strip

    6. 1/4" strip
18. Once your lattice is filled and it looks like the photo reference in the above blog post, gently brush the top with an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp of water). Sprinkle granulated sugar on top and then bake the pie as instructed in the pie recipe that you're following. If you would like to make my apple pie, here is the full recipe!