apple tart / crostata di mele

a personal take on an Italian classic

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy, the current selection of our Cook the Books Club, is a well-known children's book in the US. It was an interesting read, giving me a glimpse into some of the literature people my age were exposed to during their childhood and a view into rural life and related activities in an age and place quite removed from mine. For Almanzo and his family the year was marked by the seasonal work they did, and that work is described in detail by Ingalls Wilder. There is also moral content, mostly with regards to money.

The distance in time and place between the book and me made some parts jarring and in this light, it was particularly interesting to listen to a recent piece on NPR on Ingalls Wilder on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of her birth¹. As usual, I am thankful to belong to a book club that exposes me to works I would not have read on my own.

There is a lot of food in the book and also something dear to my heart: the imperative of avoiding food waste. This topic recurs in the story including in the chapter connected to my choice of recipe. First Almanzo and his siblings harvest apples by hand, careful not to bruise them so they won't spoil when put into storage.

it's apple season!

The other apples are pressed into cider (sidro). Making use of less than perfect apples was the subject of an article I wrote a few years ago¹. I regularly buy such apples (called seconds at farmers' market around here) and eat them out of hand or use them in my kitchen. Their main fault usually a tiny bruise or discoloration that can be easily removed, or a non-conformant shape.

Almanzo likes all pies. I have nice memories of the first apple pie I tasted, during my first stay in the UK, homemade by my landlady with apples from her garden. Being Italian, my preference goes to crostata, the traditional Italian tart.

The base (shell) of a crostata is made of pasta frolla (or pastafrolla), a dough of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. In the filling of this crostata I celebrate the change of seasons by using plum preserves from summer and apples from the new crop.

the baked apple slices look like rose petals

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Apple tart / Crostata di mele

Ingredients

For pasta frolla:

• 1/3 cup / 65 g ultrafine sugar or 1/2 cup powdered sugar (see Note 1)
• 1/2 cup / 60 g whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup / 65 g unbleached all-purpose flour (see Note 2)
• 1/4 cup / 30 g almond flour or almond meal
• 1/4 cup / 30 g whole-grain barley flour OR unbleached all-purpose flour OR a mix of millet and sorghum flours
• A pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons / 85 g / 3 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg (possibly from pastured poultry), lightly whisked to blend yolk and white
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 1 cup fruit preserves of a flavor you like that goes well with apples and made mostly with fruit (see Note 3)
• 2 apples, about 10 ounces / 280 g, of a variety that is sweet and crisp, organic if possible
  

Note 1: Ultrafine or superfine sugar is also referred to as baker's sugar. If you cannot find it, you can make your own by putting some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and letting it run until the sugar is finely ground.

Note 2: The less gluten (as indicated by % protein) in the flour, the better (I like to use Perfect Pastry blend by King Arthur Flour). Do not use bread flour. 

Note 3: I use my homemade low-sugar preserves. I recommend you choose a good quality product, made with mostly fruit and little sugar.

How to make the pasta frolla
Put sugar, flours and salt in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add butter and pulse a few times for 3 seconds at a time until the mix resembles coarse meal. Empty food processor's bowl onto your work surface.

[If you don't have a food processor: Whisk together sugar, flours and salt in a bowl. Rub or cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it 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.]

Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the 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 all-purpose flour as needed to flour your hands to prevent excessive sticking.

Shape the dough into a flat disk 1 inch / 2.5 cm thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. I usually make it the evening before and refrigerate it overnight.

How to prepare the bottom layer of the crostata
To bake the crostata, I recommend using a 9 or 9 1/2-inch / 23-24 cm fluted round tart pan with removable bottom, about 1 inch / 2.5 cm high.

Take the pasta frolla out of the refrigerator 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 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 / 3 mm thick. If you used parchment paper or plastic wrap as rolling surface, flip the dough over the tart pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the wrap.

Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan and use it, as necessary, where you find that you came up short and/or to make the border of an even thickness all the way around. Prick the shell with a fork in several places. You will have only a small amount of dough left over, which you can use to make a thicker edge or a cookie or two (1/6 inch / 4 mm thick and cut as desired, baked at the same temperature as the tart for 15 minutes).

Refrigerate the tart shell. After 15 minutes or so, preheat the oven to 350 F / 177 C.

apples — thinly sliced with the help of a mandoline

How to fill the crostata
Rinse well the apples and cut them into quarters. Slice them thinly crosswise using the thinnest setting of a mandoline or similar tool.

Take the unbaked tart shell out of the fridge. With the help of a spatula distribute on it the fruit preserves in an even layer. Fan out the apple slices and distribute them over the fruit preserves to make an even layer that will look quite beautiful once the tart is baked.

How to bake the crostata
Put the crostata in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Check the tart to estimate the time remaining, then continue baking until the tart border is of a light golden hue. Make sure the apples don't burn at the edges. (If that is about to happen, cover the tart loosely with foil and continue baking.)

Remove the tart from the oven and let cool slightly on a rack. If you used a tart pan with a removable bottom, release the tart base from the fluted 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 the tart is completely cool before slicing delicately and serving.

Serves 10-12.

pretty also in black and white

The tart is best eaten the day it is made.

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¹ NPR: 'Little House on the Prairie' author is 150 
² North Coast Journal: Baking Beauties
³ On this blog: Vinegar Tart

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

crostata di mele

or launch the crostata di mele audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

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This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

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This is also my contribution to the 31st edition of Novel Food, the literary/culinary event that Lisa of Champaign Taste and I started some time ago and that I continue to host.

The roundup of the event.

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tart, fruit dessert, apple, crostata, Italian cuisine

Comments

[Debra Eliotseats]

I love the colors in this tart, Simona. They apple slices really do look like rose petals. I imagine there will be lots of apple dishes form this book.

[Deb in Hawaii]

What a beautiful tart Simona--so elegant and it looks delicious too. I especially like how you have joined the seasons with the plum preserves and the apples. Just lovely. (And yes, to Debra's comment-apples were definitely a key inspiration for many of us.) ;-)

Thank you for joining in and for sharing your thoughts about the book. I am always so interested in your perspective with you not having not grown up in the U.S. I will look up the NPR piece.

[Alicia (Foodycat)]

Moving house at the beginning of August sadly knocked me out of this round - although I did re-read the book!

It's such a contrast to Laura's stories about her own childhood: a fantasy of abundance and plenty.

Your tart looks glorious.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you Debra. I agree: this is apple season and freshly harvested apples are too tempting right now.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you Deb. The NPR piece was timely as I knew little about the author.

[Simona Carini]

Hope the move went well, Alicia. I did notice that food was always plentiful on the table (and always lots of pie :)

[Wendy Klik]

This tart is amazing. I am sure that Laura would have went on and on about how much Almonzo loved it.

[Claudia]

What a lovely tart Simona with the red rimmed apples, and I'll bet that plum jam tasted fabulous under it all. Almanzo's upbringing was certainly different from that of his wife. She had more of a hardscrabble life, with lots of moving from one place to another.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you Wendy :)

[Simona Carini]

Thank you Claudia. I don't know much about her life except for what I heard in the NPR piece, which talked, among other things, about the collaboration with her daughter in writing the books. They also talked about the hard life of the women at the time. I totally sympathize with Almanzo's wish for a horse :)

[David Kaisel]

Ciao, Simona!

What a beautiful crostata. It really does look like the whorl of a rose.

I've been looking for recipes to feature the two delicious barley flours I've been milling (a purple barley called 'Karma', and a bi-color semi-pearled naked barley called 'Streaker', appropriately enough. Both developed by the innovative barley breeding program led by Pat Hayes at Oregon State University). I can't think of a better use for these soft, delicate flours than this crostata.

The pasta frolla also sounds like an ideal destination for my low-protein Chiddam Blanc de Mars soft white wheat flour.

Apples will definitely be on my shopping list next weekend. In the meantime, back to my explorations in the world of rye breads :-)

[Simona Carini]

Grazie, David. Definitely use some of that soft white to make crostata. I love rye bread! Rye is in general a tasty grain. I know Rhonda has experimented with rye and chocolate and that's something I'd like to do as well. By the way, check also the dinner rolls on the next post: I use your spelt flour to make them :)

[Amy's Cooking Adventures]

What a lovely tart! Those delicate apples are just beautiful!

[Supriya Kuttty]

Oh Wow... I love the colors in this tart, Simona. It's really looking so amazing and Delicious also. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe with all of us. Looking forward to more recipes like this. best wishers and Regards.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Amy :)

[Simona Carini]

Welcome to my blog, Supriya, and thank you for your kind words :)