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Apricot Jam Crostata

Difficulty: easy

Method: 40

Cooking: 40

Difficulty: easy

Method: 40

Cooking: 40

Rest: 30

Difficulty: easy

Method: 40

Cooking: 40

Difficulty: easy

Method: 40

Cooking: 40

Rest: 30

I have seen my grandmother prepare apricot crostata a hundred times (if not a thousand) and I think it was precisely this repetition of gestures that transformed them into a precious ritual.

My grandmother’s apricot crostata was special for two reasons. The first is that the shortcrust pastry was lightly flavoured with lemon, and the aroma that spread while the oven was on signalled much joy to come!

The second reason is that she made the apricot jam herself. In the early days, when I was a child, she made it with fruit from her tree in the countryside. Then that house was unfortunately sold and with it the plants that my grandfather had planted many years earlier.

My grandmother claimed that no apricot she bought had the same flavour, but over time she made her peace with it. She found a trusted stall at the market which, though more expensive than the others by her own admission, satisfied her quality requirements. She only bought apricots there, and whenever I saw that big bag full of fruit I knew the jam and crostata weren’t far behind!

Flour, butter, sugar, egg, and that grated lemon zest: these ingredients initiated that splendid ritual of flour-dusted hugs and little greedy “thefts”. I couldn’t resist the goodness of raw shortcrust pastry, so much so that when my grandmother put it in the fridge to let it rest, she forbade me to go into the kitchen!

Then came the rolling pin, indicating “the moment in which you must stay silent, because the shortcrust pastry needs to focus when it is rolled out”, so I stood aside to watch with the same delight.

But once it was laid it out, I knew my time had come: I would run to the pantry so I could finally open the jar of jam, plunge the spoon in, and cover the pastry!

And of course, a few spoonfuls of jam would end up in the mouth of yours truly!

Method

  1. 01 /

    Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, grated lemon zest) in a bowl and mix.

  2. 02 /

    Add soft butter in small pieces and work everything quickly with your fingertips. Once the mixture is sandy, create a well in the centre and add egg and egg yolk.

  3. 03 /

    Knead until dough is soft and not sticky. Shape mixture into a ball and wrap in cling film. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

  4. 04 /

    Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator and set aside a third of it, rolling out the remainder with a rolling pin to form a disc about 3 mm thick. Thoroughly grease a baking sheet and cover it with the shortcrust pastry, making sure it reaches the edges.

  5. 05 /

    Eliminate the excess pastry, adding it to the dough set aside earlier. Prick the base with a fork and spread evenly with jam.

  6. 06 /

    Lay out remaining shortcrust pastry on the work surface and cut into strips. Place in a crossing pattern atop jam to create the classic crostata design and decorate edges as you please.

  7. 07 /

    Bake crostata in the oven at 170 °C for about 40 minutes. Check that the surface is golden before removing from the oven. Let cool before serving.

The joy of crostata lies in the flakiness of the shortcrust pastry; to get this consistency you have to be careful to work the dough quickly and as little as possible.

The choice of jam is up to you—you can replace the apricot with your preferred fruit.

Ingredients for 10 people

300 g tipo 00 flour

150 g sugar

100 g butter

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Zest of 1 lemon

1 jar of apricot jam (or another flavour)

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