How to Fit and Crimp a Pie Crust ?

The first essential step to make the perfect pie? Adjustment and crimping of your crust. To do like an expert, follow our brief step-by-step guide to transfer the rolled dough to a pie plate, adapt it to your specific dish, cut the excess dough, and fold and crimp the crust for final flourishing. The trick, of course, lies in the method - four simple but precise steps that, through baking thousands of pies, our test kitchen staff tested and wandered to a science.

The instructions here are for setting up the pastry and setting the crust for a simple crust pie like you would use for a pecan pie or a coconut cream pie, rather than a double crust pie like the pie with typical apples. Single-crust pies are more likely to have decorative crusts simply because there is no pastry "roof" on the filling

The favorite dough of our editors for a pie crust is the shortcrust pastry from the test kitchen. Bread dough is the French term for short pastry, the soft, flaky pastry used for sweet and savory crusts for everything from pies to pies to quiches. Use this recipe or your favorite crust recipe (we hope it's a Martha Stewart recipe!). Give the pie dough time to defrost if frozen or to return to room temperature if it has been refrigerated in the refrigerator, then roll it on a lightly floured work surface. For a nine inch pie plate, aim for a 13 inch round, about 1/8 inch thick.

Once you have mastered this essential technique, you will be ready to move on to more sophisticated designs for your crust. When this happens, check out our guide to creative crusting techniques and take your pies to the next level with braided crusts, cut shapes, lattice tops, etc.

How to Fit and Crimp a Pie Crust ?

Transfer to pie plate

After rolling the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick, loosely wrap it around a floured rolling pin, then carefully roll it out onto a 9-inch pie plate.

Implement

Gently push the dough into the bottom and sides of the pie pan, taking care not to stretch the dough.

Cut the dough

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, cut the dough to a 1-inch overhang.

Fold and crimp

Tuck the overhang under itself to create a rim; press to seal. Crimp the edge with your thumb and index finger or press with the tines of a fork.

This article adapted from this site