"A. L. Shaw" > wrote in message
...
> A little off of subject, however, does anyone know how to prevent the
> crust from rising off of the fruit when baked?

As was mentioned, the gap forms when the fruit cooks and settles. IF the
crust has set, it remains where it was when the pie was assembled, leaving a
space. The only sure way of preventing this is to cook the filling first.
This is especially helpful with apple pie.