Stretch-Lattice Top Crust

 

Shortly before the pandemic, my current location ordered a 30 lb case of frozen blueberries.  Soon after, the ingredient was removed from the menu.  I've been making little personal coffee cakes occasionally for whoever is working that day, but there's still at least 20 lbs left.

I decided to bring some home and make a blueberry-rhubarb pie with the last jar of last year's rhubarb pie filling.  My original intent was to top it with twisted strips or a lattice, but there was more pie crust for the top than I had anticipated, and it felt like a shame to re-roll that much again later.  So I decided to do this design.

Yes, there is a tool that will make this design.  You can find it at any craft shop with a cake decorating section.  But unless you're making several of these in one go, it doesn't save that much time and is an unnecessary expense.  You can be precise if you want with a ruler, but I just eyeballed it.

1.  Roll out your top crust, or use one out of a box.  Nothing wrong with that.

2.  With a sharp, thin knife, start making slits about one inch long.  Skip an inch, make another, all the way down a line.

3.  Move half an inch over, parallel to the first line, and slit where you skipped before, leaving whole where the first slits were.

4.  Move over half an inch, and slice parallel to the first row's slits.  Continue this alternating pattern all the way across the dough.

5. To make it easier to move, roll the top crust over a rolling pin.  This will also separate the lattice sections.  Slowly unroll it over the filled bottom crust.  Pinch the rim sealed as you would for any other top crust and trim off the excess.

6. Brush top with egg wash or milk as desired, and sprinkle with sanding sugar if you wish.  Bake at 375º (or recipe indications) until golden and filling is cooked.  Cool and serve.

Difficulty rating  :)