Sunday, December 5, 2010

Crostata


Here begins my second Daring Kitchen challenge, and my first official Daring Bakers challenge. Crostata!  Also, I’m posting late… My bad.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Personally and honestly, I was not real thrilled to see this challenge. To me, it was just a pie crust with jam on top. Boring. So I decided to jazz it up a little. After a ton of internet research, and a roommate’s request for something with made with pears, I settled on a combo of the recipe for pasta frolla and a recipe for a pear-almond tart. I was excited. I never eat pears, and I almost never eat almonds, but I thought the combination would have good flavor. I was surprisingly correct. It has a very sophisticated flavor; something I could serve to the in-laws (someday).

The following is the recipe for pasta frolla (the crust) as taken from the DB challenge. Additionally, I have provided an approximation of the recipe I used to make the filling, based on a recipe by Dorie G. that I found on another blog. My comments and opinions are differentiated in blue. 

It's important to note that traditional crostatas are baked in a tart pan, and I don't have one. I meant to use a pie plate, but I accidentally left mine at home over Thanksgiving. So I shaped mine like a galette, and I've seen some crostata made in this form as well.

Pasta Frolla
¾ C powdered sugar
1 ¾ C all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 stick butter (unsalted, duh)
½ tsp vanilla
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

Mix all the dry ingredients; cut in butter to small pieces (basically, make a pie crust). Beat the whole egg, yolk, and vanilla together. Combine with the dry ingredients and butter; mix until a ball forms (mine didn’t form a ball because it seemed that the dry: wet ratio was off, so I added some cold water. This caused the powdered sugar to dissolve and get sticky so after that I had to work quickly). Shape into a flat disk and wrap in plastic with direct contact. Refrigerate overnight, or for a few days if you’re lazy like I am.

Ground Almond Filling

1 medium packet of sliced almonds
6 TB butter, melted
½ C granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

Grind almonds in a food processor until they’re as fine as they’re going to get. Pour in butter, and grind more until they’re as fine and close to smooth as possible. Stir in remaining ingredients.
I think next time I’ll use an almond paste or marzipan, about 2/3 to ¾ C. I would have liked if the almond filling was smoother and creamier, which was basically impossible to achieve with my little food processor.

Put it all together

4 ripe pears, cored and sliced thin (I used Bartletts, and I have no idea what a ripe pear looks like so that was less of a concern for me)

Roll out pasta frolla on a flour-dusted surface (I rolled mine into a circle, but the shape matters very little). Move to flat baking sheet. Spread the almond filling onto the frolla dough, leaving about a 2 inch border. Arrange pear slices on top of filling (I did mine in a rose pattern). Fold the edge of the dough back over the pears (this is why the shape doesn't really matter). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-60 minutes (I was on the phone, and I have no idea how long mine was in there).

That’s it! I did it, and it was fun.

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