The traditional way to make a double-crust fruit pie, such as cherry or apple, is to assemble the raw dough and the raw fruit into a pie and bake it.

My problem with this method is that I like a super-filled pie. After an hour in the oven, the top crust has shrunk down with the fruit, and there is usually spillover of juices onto the crust—especially when I do a lattice pie. The pie tastes delicious, but I don’t like the way it looks, and it is not domed the way I would like it to be.

I thought of another idea: I could pre-bake the bottom and top crusts separately, and cook the filling on the stovetop. Then, when the bottom crust is baked, I would fill the pie with the stovetop filling, and cap it off with a baked top crust.

Rose uses the stovetop method for some of her single crust pies in “Pie & Pastry Bible,” but I’d like try it with two-crust pies.

Is there a place where I can buy a form for a top crust? Has anybody used this method on traditional two-crust pies?

Any advice? Reactions?

Christine, this is the exact technique that Shirley Corriher uses for her apple pie in Cookwise, p121.  She recommends the technique for a deep filling, and calls for an 8 or 9 inch metal bowl, inverted, to bake the top crust.  I think the trick must be finding a bowl whose shape and size you are pleased with.  Shirley uses a solid top crust, I would think that with a lattice, there might need to be an extra circle of dough at the border/edge to give enough strength to be able to move the crust onto the pie.  If you try it, report back!

Julie, thank you so much for this information. I own a copy of “Cookwise,” and I feel like a dummy that I have not taken the time to look at this actual recipe. Truthfully, I didn’t know it was in there—I’ve always been too busy looking at the savory recipes!  But now I am going really study p. 121.

Good memory Julie.  I knew I remembered reading something along these lines somewhere, but I couldn’t remember where.