Crostata

Pasta frolla handled cold and as little as possible, under a lattice of jam.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 200 g cold butter, diced
• 150 g caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 400 g thick jam, such as sour cherry or apricot

Method

1. Rub the cold butter into the flour, sugar, salt and zest until it looks like coarse crumbs, then bind with the eggs.
2. BRING IT TOGETHER AND STOP. Frolla is short pastry and the enemy is gluten: ten more seconds of kneading gives a case that is hard rather than sandy, and there is no fixing it later.
3. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it, and chill 1 hour.
4. Roll two thirds to 4 mm and line a tin, pressing it in rather than stretching it.
5. USE A THICK JAM, and spread it no more than 8 mm deep. A runny jam boils over the lattice and welds the tart to the tin; too much of even a thick one does the same.
6. Cut the remaining pastry into strips and lay them over in a lattice, pressing the ends into the rim. A lattice, not a lid — the lid version is a torta della nonna.
7. Bake at 180C for 35 minutes until the pastry is pale gold. Cool completely in the tin before moving it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes