The classic homemade dessert par excellence: the crostata. With master pastry chef Iginio Massari, we discover all the secrets to making the crostata with apricot jam, with its soft and delicate shortcrust pastry, delicious filling, and irresistible scent of goodness and genuineness. The secret to a perfect crostata is letting the pastry rest: take all the time you need, as the master suggests, prepare it the night before to fill and bake it the next day. Whether it’s orange marmalade, hazelnut cream, ricotta, apples, or fresh apricots, it will be even better if it’s beautiful too!
Apricot crostata
Ingredients for a 21 cm mold
Flour 00250g
Butter (soft, but still plastic) 150g
Powdered sugar 100g
Egg yolks (about 5) 80g
Acacia honey 20g
Lemon zest ½
Vanilla pod ½
Fine salt 1g
Apricot jam crostata Calories
Difficulty: Easy Preparation: 45 min Cooking: 45 min Servings: 8 Cost: Low Note more resting times (1 night)
Apricot crostata preparation
First, prepare the shortcrust pastry. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the soft but still plastic butter. Add 1 powdered sugar, the seeds you have taken from the vanilla pod, and the grated zest of the lemon.
Turn the machine on at low speed and add 4 tablespoons acacia honey in. In a separate small bowl, pour 5 egg yolks and 1 gram of salt, stir to dissolve the salt.
Add everything into the stand mixer, and when you have obtained a uniform buttery mixture, turn off the machine and incorporate the sifted flour twice, stirring always at low speed. You must work the dough as little as possible: it should be soft but not sticky.
At this point, lightly flour the surface and transfer the shortcrust pastry, using the marisa. Add a little more flour on top, and without kneading it, compact it to form a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight. In this way, the pastry will stabilize, and it will be much easier to work. You can then move on to the composition of the crostata. Pour the jam into a bowl, add the lemon zest, and mix with a marisa or spoon.
Take the shortcrust pastry from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and place it on a lightly floured surface. Add a little more flour to the shortcrust pastry, then roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3.5 mm. The thickness must be uniform; passing the dough between your fingers, you will notice if there are thicker parts. Cut the pastry using a 21 cm ring.
Place the ring on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, transfer the pastry disc inside it and prick the base with a fork. Pour the jam into the center of the shortcrust pastry disc and spread it with the back of a spoon, leaving about 1 cm from the edge. Cut strips from the remaining shortcrust pastry. Creating a diamond pattern is important because during baking, the jam will not burn, and the crostata will cook perfectly.
Add a little more flour on top of the shortcrust pastry and give it another roll; the thickness should be slightly lower than the disc. Cut the strips using a rolling pin and a smooth wheel, positioning them on the crostata in one direction first and then the other, creating diamonds, removing the excess lightly with a press.
With the remaining shortcrust pastry, create a stick with a diameter of 2 cm and put it all around the circumference of the crostata, lightly pressing with your fingertips. Using the handle of a spoon, press all around the border
You will join the two parts of the pastry and at the same time create a decoration. Bake the crostata in a static oven at 165° C for 45 minutes on the bottom rack. When it is well golden, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool before removing the ring. Once completely cooled, you can serve your crostata.
Storage
The crostata can be stored for about 2 weeks under a glass bell at room temperature. Alternatively, it can be frozen for about 2 months. The raw dough can also be frozen for about