Crostata is one of the most typical italian cake and it is also one of the best you can possibly do at home! The name derives from the latin that means " crust" to recall the crispiness of the base of this cake! If you have ever made one at home you will know is one of that things that reminds of mum, grandparents, summer breakfasts in the garden and birds!
In italy it is a typical breakfast dish in the whole italy that for sure if you have been on holiday here ( and you stayed in a non-cheap touristic hotel), you surely have eaten it or at least smelled it! We (italians) in fact eat sweets food for breakfast ( we eat croissants, biscuits or cake such as crostata, or sponge cakes....) together with espresso coffee or cappuccino or orange juice ( freshly squeezed!) We only serve "continental breakfast" ( eggs, sausages...)for tourists! An italian will look at you like you are mad but it is ok do not worry!
There are various way of doing a CROSTATA, like simple version with only jam ( it is amzing with strawberry, cherry or apricot jam!) , you can do it with with custard cream, fresh fruits and gelatin, or you can do it with cheese!
The versions I am presenting is a mixed north and south style with both cheese and strawberry jam!
If you try this at home, get ready to be invested by this delicious smell!
Doses for 8 portions
INGREDIENTS for the pastry
- 300 g flour
-150g sugar
- 100g butter cold
- 2 eggs
-1 teaspoon of baking powder
- salt
INGREDIENTS for the filling
- 250 g mascarpone
-2 tablespoons of milk
-1 teaspoon of sugar
-100g strawberry jam or conserve
EQUIPMENTS
- mixer or kitchen robot
-baking tin
-bowl
-rolling pin
-greaseproof paper
PROCEDURE
Base:
So we will start by mixing the baking powder with the flour very thoroughly.
Then we will add the cold butter cut into small cubes to the flour until we will obtain a consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and a bit of salt (less than a teaspoon).
Make a hole in the middle of the flour mix and add the two eggs then mix until you will have a soft but not leaky or sticky a dough mix ( as a shortcrust pastry).
Make a ball shape with the dough and roll it into cling film. Put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Aside mix the mascarpone cheese with two spoons of milk and the sugar to make the mascarpone cheese a bit more creamy than it it.
After 30 minutes take back the crostata base from the fridge. Cut 2/3 of the dough and put again in the fridge the 1/3 of dough ( we will need it later for the decoration!)
Take a grease proof paper, put it on your kitchen surface a put a bit of flour on it to make sure the dough will not stick. Start rolling the dough with a rolling pin until you obtain a sheet of about 0.4 cm ( It has to be slightly thick but not too much or it will be too hard to be eaten!).
Once this is done, transfer the whole grease proof paper + sheet into a baking thin of approximately 26 cm of diameter. Use a fork to make some holes on the base of the pastry.
Make sure the dough covers the sides of the thin (can also be more and fold over outside, it is fine , the important thing is that we have the sides up!)
Cut all the excess pastry who comes out of the cake thin leaving a border of pastry of about 2-3 fingers tall. Keep the pastry that you have cut and add it to the 1/3 that is still in the fridge.
Now put the mascarpone cream prepared before on the cake base and make sure is distributed homogeneously in all the sides of the cake.
Add now the strawberry jam on top of it, to cover all the mascarpone cheese!
It is now time to finish the decoration of the cake. So take back the dough we left in the fridge and with a rolling pin roll it down , a bit thinner than the previous sheet we made, I would say about 0.2 cm width. With the help of a knife cut some stripes of the same width (not like mines...sorry I am not very good with this part ahaha).
Start applying the stripes on the cake parallel between each other on the all surface.
Now make some more stripes of the same shape and thickness.
We will now go to cross it in order to make rhomboid shapes " holes". So we are not just going to put them in the opposite direction from the previous stripes ( we would make in this way some squares!), so go at about 45 degrees angle, then put them parallel to each other for the all surface.
Beautiful right?
Now we will make sure all the strips are well adhered to the edges of the cake so press the edges of the stripes to the cake to make a even surface.
If you have pastry left like I did ( proof on the right🤣 ), you can shape it as a little rope shape ( or just as a line as I did, because I could not bother to put any extra effort in this cake ahahah ) and put it all around the cake to make an even surface even ( it is just aesthetics so you do not have to, but it will make it look nicer!).
Press then all the edges to make it even!
Put it now in a preheated oven at static setting ( no ventilation) at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
After the first 10 minutes, cover the crostata with foil or the crust might burn ( but the inside of the cake is not cooked yet!)
Check the cake every 10 minutes to make sure it is not cooking too quickly, and in case reduce the temperature of the oven to 160 degrees.
As the cheese will cook it might start pushing the jam out of the holes and making a bit of a mess on the edges. You can use a spoon to remove it a bit in case it was too much!
After 30 minutes your crostata is ready!
Serve it warm!
ENJOY!
SUGGESTIONS
You can make this crostata without the cheese completely just fill it up with your favourite fruit jam and you will not be disappointed !
You can also fill it with custard cream and fresh fruits ( or frozen berries!) Again....will not be disappointed trust me!
ENJOY!
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