America's Test Kitchen LogoCook's Country LogoCook's Illustrated Logo

Fitting Pie Dough

An imperfect pie dough can be saved with a little last-minute tweaking.

For A Single-Crust Pie

  1. Trim dough, leaving ½-inch overhang.
  1. Roll overhang under to make flush with lip of pan. Crimp edges.

For A Double-Crust Pie

  1. Unroll untrimmed top piece of dough over filled pie, taking care not to stretch it and create thin spots. Trim overhanging edges of both crusts to about ½ inch.
  1. Press edges of top and bottom crusts together well to prevent leaking, then fold edges underneath to make flush with lip of pan. Crimp edges.
  1. Use a sharp knife or biscuit cutter to cut vents in top.

• For drier fruit fillings like apple, cut four 1-inch slits.

• For juicier fillings such as blueberry (which need more ventilation to encourage evaporation), cut more slits. Alternatively, punch wider holes with a biscuit cutter before transferring top crust to pie plate.

This is a members' feature.