…..The crostata is perhaps the oldest Italian dessert. A popular tradition traces the origin of this Italian pie to the ancient Romans. This is the first kind of baked dessert that, as little girl, I learned to make from my mother. It evokes memories of many happy hours spent with her in the kitchen preparing delicious food. This Italian version of an American pie can be prepared by using different ingredients such as jam, fresh fruit, ricotta cheese, chocolate (kids love a Crostata di Nutella) and pudding. It can satisfy a wide variety of palates! In Italy, it is not only eaten as a dessert, but often for breakfast too, with a hot cup of espresso or capuccino, or with tea in the afternoon.
CROSTATA CON CONFETTURA (JAM PIE)
Preparation time: 1 h Baking time: 40 min. Servings: 6-8
INGREDIENTS
300 g flour (245 g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour and 55 g (⅓ cup) potato starch)
5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
130 g (½ cup + 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
grated zest of half lemon
350 g (1 cup) jam (fig, plum, strawberry, raspberry, peach and etc..)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 170°C (350 °F)
To make crostata you first need to prepare the “pasta frolla”:
- Cream the butter
- Combine all the ingredients, handling them as little as possible
- Wrap the dough (the pasta frolla) in wax paper and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Once the dough has rested, on a lightly floured board roll (or gently pat the pastry dough in the pan) ⅔ of the pastry dough to 4 mm (a little less than ¼ in) thickness, to line the bottom and sides of 24 cm (10 in) springform pan.
The edge should have a slightly thicker layer of pastry than the bottom, about 5 mm (¼ in). Prick the pastry bottom with the tines of a fork (four or five times is sufficient), then spread with the jam on the pasta frolla. Roll the remaining pastry on a lightly floured board (3 mm), then with a sharp knife or pastry cutter cut it in strips (5 mm) wide and make a lattice top on the layer of jam. There might be some leftover pastry.
Bake the crostata until golden, about 35 minutes. Unmold the pie as soon as it is ready and let it cool on a rack. If left in the pan it will turn irremediably soggy. It is great freshly baked but it definitely improves after a day if kept in a closed container.
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Note: Usually the crostata crust is quite hard. I prefer a tender, fluffy crust. My recipe calls for starch, baking powder (a leavening agent) and creaming the butter; all contribute to making the dough lighter. A note on the jam: select a jam that is relatively low in sugar, or prepare your own. For example the crostata in the picture has fig jam on top (see the recipe in the fig jam post). Jams that contain a higher percentage of sugar tend to be negatively affected by the baking temperatures, turning sticky and ruining the final result. -Paola
Passion and Cooking 