Crostata Recipe Giada

CROSTATA WITH RASPBERRY JAM

Steps:

• Mix the flour, sugar, and lemon peel, in a food processor. Add the butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add salt. Pulse in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist clumps form. Gather the dough into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to an 11-inch round. Transfer the dough onto a heavy baking sheet that has been lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Stir the lemon juice into the preserve and spread the preserves on top of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the dough border over the filling to form an 8-inch round, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks in the dough.
• Bake the crostata until the crust is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool. Sprinkle with the almonds and dust with the powdered sugar, if you wish. Slide a metal spatula under the crust to free the crostata from the baking sheet and serve.

CHERRY CROSTATA

Steps:

• Prepare crostata dough: Sift 2 1/2 cups flour.
• Place flour, butter (minus 1 tablespoon), sugar, salt, and lemon zest in food processor.
• Pulse until mixture is moistened and crumbly.
• Add egg yolks and pulse until mixture just begins to form a ball of dough. (Crust can be mixed by hand if you do not have a food processor).
• Remove dough and flatten into a disk.
• Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Unwrap dough and place it on a floured work surface.
• I have a little better luck rolling out the dough if I let it come back to room temperature a bit.
• Roll out crust into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
• Transfer circle to a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Using a fork, prick holes in the crust about 5 or 6 times.
• In saucepan over low heat, warm cherry (or strawberry) jam with remaining 1 tbsp butter.
• Spread warm jam in a thin layer over the crust, leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches around the edges for a border.
• Spread fresh cherries over the jam.
• Fold the outer edges of the dough over the fruit, leaving about a 6-8 inch circle of the cherries showing in the middle.
• I turned the halved cherries that were visible in the middle skin side up to make the crostata look a bit more uniform.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Let cool.
• Dust with powdered sugar if desired, and serve.

APRICOT CROSTATA

Steps:

• Mix together apricots, white sugar, and rum in a bowl. Cover and let macerate in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a 12-inch square of parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
• Place flour, cold butter, dark brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and ginger into a food processor. Blend in short bursts until butter is in pea-sized lumps.
• Whisk together buttermilk and egg in a bowl; pour into butter-flour mixture and continue to blend until it forms a soft dough. Form dough into a smooth ball, using additional flour as needed.
• Pat dough ball into a thick circle onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Drain apricots, reserving juice in a bowl. Spread apricots evenly on top of dough circle; draw edges of dough up over fruit.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crostata is baked through, golden on top, and fruit is soft, about 45 minutes.
• While crostata is baking, pour reserved apricot juice and orange juice into a saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer; cook syrup until it has reduced by 2/3.
• Remove crostata from the oven. Brush syrup on top. Let cool slightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

APRICOT CROSTATA

Steps:

• Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
• Reduce speed to low and mix in flour, salt, and lemon zest until mixture just forms a dough.
• Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger than the other.
• Flatten each ball into a 5-inch disk, then wrap each in wax paper and chill 30 minutes.
• Stir together preserves, lemon juice, and extract in a small bowl.
• Roll out thicker piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) between 2 sheets of wax paper into an 11-inch round.
• Remove top sheet of paper and invert dough into a 9- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom.
• Peel off paper and fit dough into pan, trimming side to 1/4 inch below top of rim.
• Chill shell.
• Roll out remaining dough in same manner and remove top sheet of paper, then cut dough into 10 (1-inch-wide) strips.
• Slide strips on wax paper onto a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Spread apricot filling in tart shell and arrange 5 strips across filling (about 1 inch apart), trimming excess dough at ends of strips.
• Arrange remaining 5 strips on top (about 1 inch apart) to form a lattice (do not weave), trimming ends.
• Press ends onto edge of tart shell and bake crostata in middle of oven until golden, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Cool completely in pan on a rack.