How To: Shape a Double Piecrust
What You Need
Follow These Seven Easy Steps
After you’ve rolled the piece of dough that will become your top crust, lift it gently from the top with both hands and bring
it toward you, folding it in half to form a half-moon shape.
Tip: Flour your fingertips so the dough doesn’t stick to them.
Mound whatever fruit you’re using onto the bottom crust in the pie plate. Use a pastry brush to brush the rim of the crust
with water. This will help seal the top and bottom crusts together.
Tip: Make sure to pile enough filling into your pie plate to accommodate the shrinkage that will occur as the pie bakes and the
fruit cooks down.
Lift the half-moon of dough with two hands and position it over one half of your pie. Lower it gently so that it covers half the pie. Unfold it so it covers the whole pie evenly.
Use scissors or kitchen sheers to remove the excess dough that hangs over the lip of the pie plate, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Tuck a 1/4-inch of the 1/2-inch border underneath itself, all the way around the pie, to form a thicker 1/4-inch border. Crimp
the edges of the crust, creating a decorative pattern by pressing your thumb into the outside edge of the dough while pressing
back gently with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand from inside the rim. Rotate the pie plate as you go until the
pattern goes all the way around the pie.
Tip: To make a different design along the border of the pie crust, press the tines of a fork into the dough at regular intervals.
Dip the pastry brush in the egg and brush it all over the top crust. Top with a sprinkling of granulated sugar, which will caramelize, adding flavor and color and helping the pie crust become crispy.
Using the tip of a sharp knife, make three cuts into the top of the pie crust toward the center of the pie, to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes.
