Crostata Recipe

Make the Pasta Frolla

1. Place the flour on a pastry board then make a hole in the center. Add the sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and eggs at room temperature.
2. Add the cold butter cut into small pieces. Combine it quickly with your hands.
3. Mix the ingredients quickly, for the shortest possible time, so as not to overheat the dough, until the mixture is compact and elastic. Finally, form a loaf and wrap it in cling film.
4. Let it cool for AT LEAST 1 HOUR in the fridge. You can make pasta frolla even the day before.

Make the Crostata

1. You have to work the pasta frolla when cold. So, take it from the fridge and cut about ⅓ of the pastry, wrap it in cling film and put it back in the fridge. This piece of pasta frolla is used to make the edge of the tart and the decorative strips.
2. Roll out the remaining ⅔ of sweeet shortcrust pastry with a rolling pin until it reaches a thickness of about ½ cm (¼ inch). Use a COLD work surface, such as marble.
3. Place the pasta frolla in a tart mold, lined with baking paper. Preferably with the removable bottom, so you can easily take the tart out once baked.
4. Now take the pastry that is cooling in the refrigerator, take off a piece and, with the help of your hands, make a long roll of pastry as thick as a finger. Now, arrange the roll of pastry around the edge of the tart.
5. With the help of the tines of a fork or with the end of its handle, press on the roll of pastry along the edge, as if to make a decoration. Then, pour the jam and, with the help of a spoon, spread it over the whole surface of the tart.
6. SWith the remaining pasta frolla - the one in the fridge - make other rolls of pastry, flatten them with your hands and arrange them to form the classic decoration of Italian jam tart, a criss-cross pattern to form rhombuses or squares.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for about 30 minutes. When the edge of the tart is golden brown, remove the crostata from the oven and let it cool before serving.