How to Cross Strips Back & Forth in Dough

Nostalgic lattice-top pies entice fans with glimpses of filling.

Making pie from scratch requires a bit of time and patience, but the taste and smell of a freshly baked crust makes it worthwhile. Cutting slits in the top or adorning a pie with dough cut-outs adds a festive, decorative touch, but weaving the crust gives a pie old-fashioned appeal. Weaving strips of dough in a basket pattern, known as a lattice top, can be done a few different ways -- no fancy tools required. Does this Spark an idea?

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Pizza cutting wheel or chef's knife
Cutting board
Top pie crust
Flour

Instructions

- 1
  
  Dust the cutting board with flour to prevent the dough from sticking and place the rolled-out top pie crust on it.
- 2
  
  Cut the dough with the pizza cutting wheel or chef's knife into 3/4-inch-wide ribbons.
- 3
  
  Lay the longest ribbon of dough across the center of the pie.
- 4
  
  Place two or three additional strips, depending on the size of your pie plate, across the pie on both sides of the center strip, about an inch apart.
- 5
  
  Fold every other strip of dough back onto itself, about halfway.
- 6
  
  Insert a new strip of dough in the center of the pie, perpendicular to the flat ribbons.
- 7
  
  Drop the folded strips back over the inserted strip of dough.
- 8
  
  Fold the alternate strips back and add another new strip of dough, again folding the strips back down on top of the newly inserted strip.
- 9
  
  Continue adding strips until you reach the edge of the pie, then turn the pie plate 180 degrees and repeat the process, from the center out, on the other side.
- 10
  
  Trim off the excess dough and crimp the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts.