The lattice

A lattice replaces a solid top crust with strips of dough and leaves the filling partly exposed. Gisslen recommends it for colorful fruit such as cherry or blueberry. Because steam escapes through the openings, King Arthur found that a lattice or open-faced pie needs less thickener than a double-crust pie, where steam is trapped under the top crust.

The two standard procedures differ in dimensions and method. Gisslen rolls fresh dough, never scraps, 1/8 inch thick and cuts strips about 3/8 inch wide. He egg-washes the strips and rim, lays one set of strips about an inch apart, and lays a second set across them at 45 degrees for diamonds or 90 degrees for a checkerboard. He mentions interweaving as an alternative but calls it usually too time-consuming for a bakeshop and generally done only in home kitchens, and warns that juice clinging to woven strips should be wiped away before it mars the baked crust.

King Arthur’s home method weaves. It cuts strips 1/2 to 1 inch wide, lays every other strip across the pie, then folds back alternate strips to slip each crosswise strip beneath them, repeating until the pie is covered. It advises keeping the dough very cold, returning pie and strips to the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes when the dough turns greasy, and making 1 1/2 times the dough so that miscut strips can be replaced. The edges are then trimmed, crimped and brushed with egg wash.

The lattice is also judged on its own. The North Carolina State Fair’s decorated pie crust division, which does not taste its entries, offers a Lattice Design class for any variation of interwoven crust, filled with a dyed puffed-rice mixture in place of fruit.