Cherry Pie

In addition to the dressing, I also made a Cherry pie for Thanksgiving.
The crust was pretty easy. I used my favorite The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and found a recipe for Double-Crust Pie Dough. I don't have a food processor that I can use for baking (mine has been tainted with salsa) so I opted to use the hand-mixing method.

Double-Crust Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

8 Tbsp shortening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, frozen in stick form until very firm

6-8 Tbsp ice water

Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the chilled shortening and press into the flour using a fork. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the flour mixture then cut the mixture together with a pastry cutter or 2 butter knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle 6 Tbsp of ice water over the mixture and stir and press the dough together with a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add additional water a Tbsp at a time until it does come together if it doesn't the first time around.

Divide the dough in half and press into 4 inch rounds. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill about 1 hour. 

Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out on a floured surface.

For the lattice top, roll dough out into a 10x13" rectangle and trim the edges with a pizza cutter. Using a pizza cutter and ruler, cut the dough into 1 1/4 inch wide strips that are 13 inches long. Transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and freeze them for about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, line the pie plate with the first rolled out dough and brush with beaten egg white. The dump in 2 cans of cherry pie filing. (Frankly, the stuff is yummy and it would cost considerably more for me to make it from scratch than to use the stuff that is so good I could eat it out of the can.) 

Using the frozen strips of dough lay four parallel strips about 1 inch apart across the top of the pie filling. Weave the remaining strips, one at a time over and under the first four strips. Lift gently so they don't break. 

After strips thaw and soften for a few minutes, trim the over-hanging edges of dough to 1/2 inch with a pair of kitchen sheers or a knife. Tuck the edge under and crimp. Brush the top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the pie on a line baking sheet (just in case it bubbles over) and bake according to the directions on the can of pie filling. I covered the edges with foil to prevent burning and removed the foil in the last few minutes to they could brown.