Daring Bakers November 2010: Crostata

I'm baaaaaack!

Did you miss me??

Did you have a happy Thanksgiving??

Ours was a whirlwind.

Saturday: 12 hour drive to Alabama
Tuesday: 8 hour drive to Kentucky
Friday: 8 hour drive to Alabama
Sunday: 12 hour drive home

Phew!

But we did have a delicious Thanksgiving buffet in a restaurant in Kentucky. Then made our own Thanksgiving meal on Friday when we got back to my dad's house.

It was a blast but I'm glad to be home.

Before I left I conquered the crostata (kind of) with the Daring Bakers.

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.


I actually had to attempt the crostata twice.


The first time was just horrendous. 


I tried to get all creative and make a dessert for a friend who was coming for dinner. I decided I would try to combine the two types of crostata recipes given to us by making a raspberry and crema crostata. But it did NOT turn out well. 


I decided not to let that beat me and to try again. 


The second time was definitely much more successful than the first. 


I don't know what I did wrong with the first one. It may have been the fact that I cooked it in an oven with rosemary. I was in a crazy hurry. I realized to late that I have an 11 inch tart pan instead of the called for 9 inch pan. Or it could have been the fact that I don't like raspberry. Maybe it was a combination of all of these factors.


But one this is for certain, both times the pasta frolla (tart crust) was delicious. 


If you choose to make one of these tarts I highly recommend the pasta frolla. You can get creative and choose your own fillings. If you would like some inspiration and or ideas for fillings, check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll.


Ready to learn how to (and not to) make this crostata? Let's go:

For the pasta frolla, grab your ingredients: unbleached all purpose flour, salt, an egg, an egg yolk, superfine (or baker's) sugar, lemon zest and butter.

These ingredients are only for the crust. You may also want to decide on what kind of filling you would like to use. I ended up using two 18 ounce jars of apricot preserves in my 11 inch tart pan. If using the larger tart pan, the pasta frolla recipe is enough to cover that pan with strips on top.

Dice the butter. After cutting it, I put it in the freezer for a few minutes while I got my flour mixture ready.

In a shallow bowl, or clean work surface, whisk together your flour, salt and sugar until combined.

Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, rub or cut the butter into the flour mixture...

Until the mixture becomes crumbly.

Form a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Pour the lightly beaten egg and egg yolk into the center of the well.

This is when you should reserve a tablespoon of the egg mixture for an egg wash later. I totally forgot this part and had to use another egg later.

Add the lemon zest into the well with the egg.

Using a fork, then your fingers, work the dry ingredients from the sides into the wet ingredients in the center until a dough forms.

Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours or up to overnight.

Once the dough is thoroughly chilled, it's time to fill it.

This is how mine turned out the first time, with a layer of raspberry preserves on the bottom and the crema on the top.

Oh it was bad. I did something horribly wrong with this. It wasn't even pretty. Oh well. It was time to move on and try again. 

This time I decided to enlist the help of my sous chef. If anyone could help me conquer this crostata...it would be her!

Start all over with the pasta frolla. Once it is thoroughly chilled, roll it out and press it into the tart pan cutting off the edges.

Once in the pan, poke the bottom of the crust with a fork to poke holes in it.

Pour in your filling. Which for me, the second time, was simple apricot preserves.

Roll out the dough into strips and lay 6 strips overlapping one another, 3 going one way, 3 going the other way. Trim off any edges. Brush the egg was over the exposed dough.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Every oven is different and it may take longer than 25 minutes to brown. Just keep checking it until it is a nice golden brown color.

Allow to cool in the pan. If you have a removable bottomed pan, push the tart up through the pan. Cut a slice (as you can see mine was kind of runny, but no less tasty), serve and enjoy!!

Apricot Crostata
Retrieved from The Daring Kitchen

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar or a scant 3/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• grated zest of half a lemon
• 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
• 1 3/4 cups (21 oz) of jam or fruit preserves, whatever flavor you like (for filling)

Directions:

1. Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
3. Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
4. Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
5. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6. Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
8. Heat the oven to 375ºF.
9. Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
10. To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
11. Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
12. If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
13. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch thick.
14. If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
15. Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
16. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
17. Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
18. Spread the jam or fruit preserves evenly over the bottom of the crostata.
19. Use the prepared strips or rolls of dough to make a lattice over the surface, or decorate with the cut shapes. (Note: You can use dough scraps to make cookies: see the Additional Information section for some pointers)
20. Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid.
21. Put the tart in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
22. After 25 minutes, check the tart and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue. (Note: Every oven is different.)
23. When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.

Rustic Tomato Tart

I have a confession to make.

Okay....breathe...you can do this...

Here goes....

I love garlic.

There! I said it! And you heard me!

I.

Love.

Garlic.

I can't help myself. I don't care how many dates I may have ruined in the past. And anyway, I done caught my man so I can eat as much garlic as I want to and there's nothing he can do about it. He has to love me anyway.

Phew. I feel so much better that I got that off my chest.

You are probably wondering where all this came from. And if you aren't? I'm going to tell you anyway.

See...I've been trying to play catch up in my Google Reader. I have been so busy this past week that I just didn't have time to read anything. I barely eked out the posts for this blog, let alone my other one.

And let me tell you, when way behind on your friend's posts, it may not be a good idea to add more blogs to your already too long list. But sometimes, I run across a great new find and I have to stick around!

That's what has happened with Baking and Creating with Avril. This blog is new to me and I'm so glad I found it. Especially since I read her recent post about this dish I'm about to share with you. I literally ran out that day to get the finishing ingredients so I could make this meal that very night.

All I needed was the cheese so I'm telling you now...you probably already have most of the ingredients for this dish in your kitchen. It was easy and SO delicious.

I made this on a night that The Hubble had class because his usual response for things like this is "where's the meat??" However, I forgot that the meat was missing from this meal...it was THAT good.

I enjoyed this meal on my own with a glass of merlot and it was heaven.

However, as I said...I love garlic, so I often change the "salt and pepper" to "garlic salt and pepper." Why am I mentioning this now? Because I realized my obsession was a problem when I was making this dish. I realized that almost every time a recipe calls for "salt and pepper" I will change it to "garlic salt and pepper." See what I'm saying? It's a problem. And not everyone may share this love with me...but I don't care. It's GEWD!

Okay. Enough talking. Let's get cooking.

First, we start by making the crust. Grab some flour, salt, butter (cold) and an egg. I actually used salted butter for this but you can do either. I did not find it too salty either. And no...I did not change this one to garlic salt...silly!

Take a pastry cutter (or two knives) and work the butter and flour together until it resembles a cornmeal type substance.

At this point you are supposed to take a separate bowl and dump in the egg and water, beat it lightly, make a well in the flour and butter mixture, then gently work it all together. Unfortunately, I didn't do that. I cracked the egg into the flour mix then dumped in the water. THEN I read the directions and realized my mistake. So I took the pastry cutter and kind of blended the egg and water in the center of the flour...it was salvaged.

See??? You mix the egg into the flour then I ended up kneading a bit with my hands to make a ball of dough.

I then rolled the ball into a 14 inch "circle" onto a piece of parchment paper. When the dough was rolled out I transferred the whole thing (parchment and all) onto a baking sheet.

Now for the innards! You will need 2-3 large tomatoes (I used 2 1/2), some olive oil, mozzarella cheese (the good kind), stone ground and dijon mustards (sorry the dijon isn't in the picture), some basil (or other herbs of your choosing), pepper and...you guessed it! Garlic salt!

For this part I was planning on just using the stone ground mustard but I found out I didn't have enough. So I made a mix of dijon and stone ground mustard. Spread the mustard onto the unbaked tart shell.

Now slice the tomato and pile it up in the center of the shell.

At this point I decided I wanted to add a little balsamic vinegar because it's SO good with basil and tomato.

So you drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes.

Then sprinkle on some garlic salt, pepper and basil.

Slice up the cheese and place it on top of the tomatoes.

Add a bit more garlic salt, pepper and basil.

Fold up the edges of the crust over the sides of the tomatoes and cheese. At this point I considered using an egg wash because I was worried about the crust. But, I followed the directions and just left it like this.

Toss it in the oven for 30 minutes. The crust becomes golden brown and the cheese gets all gooey, brown and bubbly. Oh my!

Let it cool for a bit, then slice it with a pizza cutter. Serve and enjoy!

Please, please, please go out and get the stuff to make this tonight. I promise you will hear the angels sing upon your first bite and you will find yourself exclaiming "who needs meat!!!". I know I did! Yum!

Linked with:




Rustic Tomato Tart
Slightly adapted from Baking and Creating with Avril

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons chilled butter, cut into cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2-3 Tablespoons cold water

For the Filling:

• 3 Tablespoons stone ground or dijon mustard (use a mix of both if desired)
• 2-3 large fresh tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 8 ounces good quality mozzarella cheese
• garlic salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

For crust:

1. Mix salt and flour in medium bowl. With pastry cutter (or using two knives) cut in chilled butter until mixture has a cornmeal consistency.
2. In separate bowl, lightly beat egg; add 2 Tablespoons water.
3. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour egg mixture in the well; mix until well incorporated and a non-sticky dough forms. (During this process, if dough is still too dry, add third Tablespoon of water).
4. Knead dough into a ball, transfer to parchment paper; roll out into a 14 inch circle. Transfer parchment paper and dough to a baking sheet.

For Filling:

1. Spread mustard over the unbaked crust until well covered.
2. Slice tomato and arrange in center of crust circle.
3. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper and basil.
4. Top with sliced mozzarella; sprinkle with a bit more garlic salt, pepper and basil.
5. Bring edges of crust up over the edges of tomato and cheese.
6. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until crust is golden brown and cheese is brown and bubbly.
7. Allow to cool about 10 minutes, slice with pizza cutter.
8. Serve and enjoy!