DIFFICULTY: 3
INGREDIENTS PER 12 PEOPLE
For short pastry:
ultrafine sugar or powdered sugar, 1/4 cup
teff flour, 2 oz
whole-grain farro or spelt flour, 2 oz
almond flour or almond meal, 1 oz
millet flour, 1 oz
a pinch of salt
cold unsalted butter, 5 tbsp cut into small pieces
1 large egg lightly whisked
vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp
brown rice flour, as needed for making and rolling the dough
For the filling:
peach preserves, 1 cup
ripe (and preferably organic) peaches, 1 lb
PROCEDURE
Knead together sugar, flours, salt; then add butter, and knead until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs; eventually pour in the beaten egg and vanilla extract into it.
Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, then use your fingertips.
Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball. Use some brown rice flour as needed to flour your hands to prevent sticking.
Shape the dough into a flat disk 1 inch thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours.
To bake the crostata, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch high.
Take the short pastry out of the fridge and unwrap it. I recommend you roll the dough on a piece of parchment paper or the plastic film in which it was wrapped as it is quite crumbly.
Lightly dust with brown rice flour the top of the dough and the surface on which you are rolling it. Keep some flour handy to lightly dust the dough as you go along.
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 90 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling gently.
Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. If you used parchment paper or plastic wrap as rolling surface, flip the dough over the tart pan and delicately press it all around so that the corners are well covered. Peel away the wrap.
Trim the exceeding dough and use it where you find that you came up short. 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. You will have only a small amount of left over dough , which you can use to make a thicker edge or a couple of cookies (frollini).
Prick the pastry with a fork in several places. Refrigerate while you cut the peaches and preheat the oven.
Wait 15 minutes or so, then preheat the oven to 350 F.
Rinse well the peaches, quarter them, remove the stone, then cut each quarter into slices 1/4 inch thick.
Take the pan out of the refrigerator and with the help of a spatula evenly distribute the peach preserve on it to create a thin layer.
Arrange the peach slices on top of the preserves to make the top layer. Having tried both ways, I prefer starting from the outside and make circles until I reach the center.
Put the crostata in the oven and bake for 40 minutes: the crostata is ready when the border is golden brown. If necessary, put the crostata back in the oven and check it again after two minutes.
Remove crostata from the oven and let it cool slightly on a rack. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, release the tart base from the tart ring.
Let cool a bit longer on the rack, then, with the help of a wide spatula, slide the crostata onto a serving plate. Make sure it is completely cool before slicing and serving.
Thanks to: Briciole
