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Lattice topped apple pie on a purple striped towel with cut apples from overhead.

How to Make a Lattice Pie Crust

By Tammy Spencer
A lattice pie crust is made by weaving strips of pie dough over and under each other to create the classic basket weave pattern. It looks fancy, but the technique is surprisingly simple once you get the alternating pattern down. Follow my step-by-step photos to learn how to weave a classic lattice top, then change the strip width and spacing to create your own look!
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time15 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 125kcal

Special Equipment

Ingredients

For the crust

  • 1 recipe (1 recipe) double pie crust, homemade or store bought, see Recipe Notes

For the topping

  • 2 tablespoons (30 grams) milk, or egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)
  • 2 tablespoons (24 grams) coarse sugar

Instructions

  • Prepare your double pie crust. Ease the bottom layer into your pie pan and fill as your recipe requires.
  • Roll out the dough for your top crust to about a 12-inch circle, less than ¼-inch thick. That will be about the height of two quarters.
  • Using the straight or fluted sides of a pastry wheel, pizza cutter, or a sharp knife, cut the dough into ½- to 1-inch-wide strips. You'll need about 10 to 12 strips for a standard 9-inch pie. Wider strips create a bolder lattice, while narrower strips give you a more delicate basket weave.
  • Starting with the longest strips, lay every other strip across the pie, placing the longest strips in the center and shorter ones toward the edges. Space them evenly, leaving some filling visible between the strips.
  • Turn back every other strip of dough a little more than halfway, then take the longest strip left of the ones you cut out and lay it crosswise across the top of the strips not turned back.
  • Straighten out the turned-back strips and turn back strips you didn't touch the first time. Lay the next smallest strip of rolled out dough next to the first crosswise strip at your desired spacing. Straighten those turned-back strips.
  • Repeat alternating turning back the parallel strips to finish the current side, then turn the pie around and repeat the process for the other side.
  • Press the ends of the strips into the bottom pie crust, then fold the edge under itself and press down. Smooth around the edges for a neater appearance, then crimp the pie crust with a fork or your method of crimping. You can cut shapes with any leftover crust dough to decorate the top of the lattice.
  • To create a shiny glaze on the finished crust, brush the lattice and edges with 2 tablespoons milk or an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water). If you made decorations, place them on top of the lattice and glaze them as well. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons coarse sugar all over the top of the pie for a nice crunch, then place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up the crust while the oven finishes heating.
  • Proceed with baking your pie as your recipe instructs. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

While you can use any pie crust recipe you'd like, I recommend my flaky all-butter pie crust using a double crust 12 : 8 : 4 recipe ratio of flour, fat, and water, by weight. That will make enough for the two crusts needed here.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 125kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 216mg | Potassium: 58mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 33IU | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg