Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Peach-Raspberry Crostata





This recipe came from Sarah Foster's Casual Cooking. I own all three of the Foster's Market cookbooks and they're all fantastic. The recipes are always fresh and easy to execute.

This crostata dough was particularly good. Adding egg yolk and milk made the dough a little more tender than a pure short crust, but it still was really really crispy. The filling had a hint of ginger and cinnamon, and enough cornstarch to keep the crostata from becoming too liquidy.

Peach Raspberry Crostatas
For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 T sugar
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk
3-4 T ice water or milk (i used milk.)

For the filling:
2 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/3 cup sugar plus extra for sprinkling
3 T cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
4 T unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces (I omitted this.)
1 large egg
1-2 T milk

To make the crust, stir the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the butter and blend it in with the flour using a pastry blender or two knives in a crisscrossing motion until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk the egg yolk and 3 T of milk together in a small bowl and add it to the flour mixture. Stir until the dough just comes together and starts to form a ball, adding the remaining milk if necessary. Dust your hands lightly with flour and press the dough together to form a fat, round disk. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or cover with parchment and set aside.

To make the filling, combine the peaches, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a large bowl and stir gently to mix.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it into 8 equal size pieces. Lightly flour the work surface and roll each piece into a 6 inch round. Place the rounds onto prepared baking sheets.

Scoop the filling and juices into the center of each round, dividing it evenly and leaving a 1 inch border around the edges. Place a piece of butter on top of the fruit, if you like. Folkd the dough over the fruit all the way around to form an edge.

Whisk the egg and milk together to make an egg wash. (I usually strain this to avoid ugly lumpy bits of egg.) Brush the edges of each tart and sprinkle with sugar. Put the tarts in the fridge and chill for about 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 375. Bake the tarts for 40-45 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the crusts are golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Cool the tarts slightly and serve warm. (I like a little dollop of vanilla ice cream on top :))

5 comments:

Jerry said...

Oh my heavens. An individual pie basically. Heaven!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hi, Lisa,

I've just found you through Tastespotting and this recipe won my heart - I'm a huge peach fan!
These crostatas look so delicious!

Anonymous said...

I've never baked anything before, and this morning I decided to try this recipe... it ended up being DELICIOUS. I was so proud of myself, and grateful to have found this blog!

My only concern... when we cut it into 8 pieces, they were too small to make the crostata, and didn't fold over. If it was cut into 4 pieces, we would have been able to use all of the filling, and it would have worked better. But, still, seriously... A+. Thanks!

Elvee

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

Hi Elvee,

I'm glad you liked these!
I don't think i've had too much trouble with lack of crust- I think i've had leftover filling on occasion though. I'll keep your comments in mind when I next make crostata.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just found your blog while searching for peach-raspberry things. I made these and they're awesome (for dessert or breakfast)! It's a good thing I tried them before looking at the rest of your recipes and photos, because I would have been way too intimidated to try. I had a little bit of extra filling, even with slightly less than 2 lbs. of peaches, but I made it fit, damn it! Thanks!