Lia’s snack recipe
Not sure about the origins of this sweet, but I certainly remember the delicious crostata (to encrust) my aunt used to make when I visited Bari the first time. Pasta frolla is the Italian short-crust pastry dough also used to make La Pastiera Napoletana (see Enzo’s recipe) and made with flour, sugar, butter, baking power, grated lemon/orange rind, eggs and homemade jam.
I generally use my homemade jam or high-quality jam from Eataly.
A good pastry should be light, crispy and chilled for about 20 minutes after mixing and before rolling out. This trick relaxes the gluten so that the pastry will be soft and will not shrink when baked.
My Quick Way
- Remove butter from fridge and allow to soften.
- Sift 270 g flour in a big bowl, add 120 g butter, 100 sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 eggs and the grated rind of a lemon or orange depending on the jam you intend to use.
- Mix all ingredients until the dough is soft and comes together.
- Place the pastry on a lightly floured board and knead gently by turning and pressing with your hands and roll into a ball .
- Wrap in a cotton/linen cloth or plastic and chill for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Place dough on a lightly floured board/baking sheet (which is useful to keep when baking) and use your fingers to make a round shape. Use rolling pin if necessary; about 0.5 cm thick for an 8”- 20 cm pan.
- Transfer to the pan and trim any extra dough and prick the base with a fork.
- Spread the jam on the pastry ( I sometimes mix different jams together) and fold the edges of the pastry towards the centre to slightly cover the jam.
- Make long strips with a pastry wheel (see pictures) and arrange them over the crostata. It should look like a crisscross pattern.
- Brush pastry with milk or beaten egg yolk.
- Bake for 40 minutes in pre-heated oven, until golden on top. I generally lower heat after the first 20 mintues.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
- Sprinkle with icing sugar if you like!
