Lattice Corn Pie Food

CLASSIC SOUR CHERRY PIE WITH LATTICE CRUST

Steps:

• For crust:
• Whisk flour, sugar, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until small pea-size clumps form. Add 5 tablespoons ice water; mix lightly with fork until dough holds together when small pieces are pressed between fingertips, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough together; divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into ball, then flatten into disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out.
• For filling:
• Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Whisk 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Stir in cherries, lemon juice, and vanilla; set aside.
• Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Using large knife or pastry wheel with fluted edge, cut ten 3/4-inch-wide strips from dough round. Transfer filling to dough-lined dish, mounding slightly in center. Dot with butter. Arrange dough strips atop filling, forming lattice; trim dough strip overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold bottom crust up over ends of strips and crimp edges to seal. Brush lattice crust (not edges) with milk. Sprinkle lattice with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
• Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake pie until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, covering edges with foil collar if browning too quickly, about 1 hour longer. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely. Cut into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream.

LATTICE CORN PIE

Steps:

• Place potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 6-8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside. , In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, corn, sugar and salt; cover and process until blended., Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom pastry; trim pastry even with edge of plate. Spoon potatoes into crust; top with corn mixture (crust will be full). Roll out remaining pastry; make a lattice crust. Seal and flute edges. , Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

AUTUMN APPLE AND PEAR LATTICE PIE

Steps:

• Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours (overnight).
• Combine 1 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Add apples and pears and toss to coat well.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Position 2 racks in lower third of oven. Put a sheet of foil just a few inches larger than pie plate on bottom rack to catch drips.
• Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 12-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on a lightly floured work surface with a floured rolling pin. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry and trim overhang to 1/2 inch with kitchen shears or a paring knife. Roll out remaining dough in same manner and cut into 10 strips (3/4 to 1 inch wide) for a lattice.
• Mound apple and pear filling into crust. Brush crust rim with some of egg wash. Dot filling with butter. Lay 5 strips of dough parallel across pie, about 1 inch apart, letting excess hang over rim. Lay remaining strips diagonally across pie in opposite direction. Press ends firmly to rim of pie, trimming excess dough. Crimp edges with your fingers or fork tines. Brush with remaining egg wash. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar.
• Bake pie in lower third of oven for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake until juices in center of pie are bubbling, about 45 minutes more. (Loosely cover pie with a sheet of foil if browning too quickly.) Transfer pie to a wire rack and cool 2 hours.

HOW TO MAKE A LATTICE PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Make sure to start with a chilled pie crust. It should have at least 30 minutes in the fridge before rolling it out. Let it sit at room temperature for a couple minutes to soften before rolling. For tons of details on how to make the best pie crust and roll it out successfully, check out my post for How to Make Flaky Pie Crust.
• Roll out your first pie crust into about a 13 inch circle and lay it in an ungreased 9 inch pie plate. with the edges hanging over the edge. Stick your pie pan in the fridge or freezer if there is any time lag before the next step.
• Fill 'er up. Fill your crust with COLD pie filling, mounding it in the middle. Your lattice is going to be so much easier to form if your filling is cold or frozen. (Room temperature filling at the very least.) A lattice is basically impossible to do with warm pie filling, because it will melt the butter in your crust and make it fall apart. Place your filled pie in the fridge or freezer if there is any time lag before the next step.
• Dust a work space with flour. I highly recommend rolling out the lattice on a pastry cloth or on parchment paper. That way it is easy to transfer the whole thing to the fridge or freezer if it gets warm and soft.
• Roll out your second pie crust into a circle that is about 10 inches across. You want this one to be rolled out thicker than the first one. First of all, you don't need to worry about making it big enough to go up the sides of the pie plate (it's just laying flat across the top) and second, thick strips are much easier to maneuver in a lattice situation than thin wimpy strips. Keep em sturdy; don't roll out too thin.
• Cut into strips. Use a pizza cutter that you've rolled in flour to slice the pie dough into even strips. You can make the strips as wide or as thin as you want; if you are a beginner, you might want to make thick strips to simplify your life. I made my strips about 1 and 1/4 inches wide.
• Remember, if at ANY point your pie dough starts to get soft, stick the whole thing back in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes. I lift up my entire pastry cloth and transfer the whole thing to the freezer.
• Weave your lattice. Take every other strip of pie dough and lay it across your pie with a little space in between each one. See photos. Peel back every other strip that is on your pie, all the way to the edge.
• Lay an edge piece of dough perpendicular to the others, tucked up right against the edge. See photos! Replace the peeled back strips of dough to lay flat on top of the pie.
• Take the strips that are underneath, and peel them back. Lay down your next strip of dough. Replace the peeled back strips.
• Continue until the pie is completely weaved. I know this is hard to understand without a visual, so be sure to check the photos in the post! Remember, if at ANY point your pie dough becomes soft, toss all of it in the fridge or freezer. If you have a strip that tears, use a tiny bit of ice water to patch it with your fingers.
• Fold up the edges. You can trim any super long pieces of lattice that are hanging over the edge if you like, but I usually just leave them and incorporate them into the crust. For lattice pies, I like to fold the edges up and over onto themselves. It might look cracked and wimpy. That's ok. Pretend it is play dough and just mold it back into a smooth edge.
• Crimp the edge. Use your fingers to crimp the edge of your pie crust. I like to use 3 fingers (many people use their knuckles) to make a curved edge. See photos!
• Refrigerate or freeze the whole pie to make sure that the pie dough goes into the oven completely cold. That's what makes for a flaky crust!
• Don't forget to brush the top of your pie with egg or milk (or a mixture of both, my favorite) and sprinkle with granulated or raw sugar before putting it in the oven. This will make your pie nice and brown.
• Halfway through your bake time, add a tin foil pie shield on the edges of your pie to protect the edges from burning. See my flaky pie crust post for all the details.

BLUEBERRY LATTICE-TOP PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Prepare pie crust according to package.
• Roll out 2/3 of the crust large enought o line the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie pan.
• Reserve 1/4 cup of the blueberries for garnish; sprinkle remaining berries with lemon juice.
• Mix remaining ingredients, toss berries gently with dry mixture.
• Turn into patry shell, heaping slightly in the center.
• Roll out remaining pie crust and cut into 10 half-inch wide strips.
• Arrange strips in a lattice desigh over pie filling; crimp or flute edges.
• Bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 30 minutes or until crust is light golden brown;cool.
• Garnish between lattices with reserved blueberries.