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Doesn’t it look AMAZING???

Let me tell you… it tasted even better than it looked.

A big shout out to one of our cookery students who excelled himself in creating this fantastic masterpiece.

If you are up for the challenge please follow the recipe below. I warn you it is not as easy as it looks.

Classic Italian Crostata.

Prep: 15 min

Cooking time: 35 min

Chilling time: 30 min

Ingredients:

-230g all purpose flour (you can also use Gluten free flour)

-100g granulated sugar

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

-1 egg  (room temperature)

-1 egg yolk (room temperature)

-130g unsalted butter (room temperature)

-250g of jam (in this case apricot)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C), grease and flour an 8 or 9 inch- (20 – 22 cm) pie dish.
2. In a large bowl*, gently whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder, create a well in the middle and add slightly beaten egg and yolk and softened butter cut into pieces. 
3. Mix together, at this point turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and work the mixture to form a soft dough (if dough is very dry then add an extra tablespoon of soft butter). 
4. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge and knead the dough a couple of times to soften it up again on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/8″ thickness.
5. Transfer to the prepared pie plate, I used a 8″ pie dish (20 cm). Trim the dish of any extra dough. Prick the dough with the tongs of a fork, then spread the pastry shell with the jam**.  With the extra dough make strips to create a lattice finish. Brush top lightly with milk and bake in a preheated oven at 350° (180°) for 25-30 minutes or until golden.  Let cool then slice, enjoy!

**Any type of jam can be used, but I find raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, apricot, peach or a wild fruit mixture work the best.

Notes

*I also make the dough using a food processor, whisk the ingredients together in the food processor cup, then add the egg, yolk and butter and pulse until almost combined, move to a lightly floured surface and knead gently to completely combine. Wrap and refrigerate.

With any extra dough, I made squares and I placed 1 teaspoon of jam in the middle, folded it over, pinched the sides closed and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350° (180°).