Peach Crostata

I bake because I want the end result. I love my sweets. I have a huge sweet tooth. That's no surprise here, It's not a secret. But the thing is, I'm not that great at it. It's really not my thing. I have no patience with the little details when it comes to baking. So it was no surprise when I made this crostata, brought it to a family function and my sister (the baker) started to kill herself laughing.

The recipe calls for using 3/4 of the dough to use as the base and the other 1/4 of the dough to make decorative ropes and top the crostata. Well as you can see from the photo, you can understand why my sister laughed. Hahaha. I can't blame her. It looked funny. I don't know what I was thinking with those ropes...Well, I'll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking I was too lazy to get my rolling pin  and roll out the dough to make lattice, like you see on a lot of pies and crostatas.

But I will tell you, this crostata was delicious! Not overly sweet and easy to put together. Please don't let the look of it deter you from making it. The only thing I would do differently is sprinkle LOTS of powdered sugar on it...to cover up the obvious!!! Hahahahaha!

Peach Crostata
makes one 9 inch crostata
use a pan with removable bottom

1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Zest of a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or extract
2 eggs, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup peach jam
2-3 peaches, sliced

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place flour on a work surface and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle the salt, sugar and baking powder and add the lemon zest.

Crack the eggs in the well and using your finger, stir them in to break up the eggs and start incorporating the dry ingredients. Then add the butter and the vanilla and keep stirring until the dough starts to come together. Knead gently until it is smooth.

Take a 1/4 quarter of the dough and set aside for the lattice. Pat the remaining dough into the pie pan and push the edges of the dough about 1/2 inch up the side of the pan to create the crust.

Spoon the jam into onto the crust and spread evenly. Lay the peach slices on top. Take the remaining dough and decorate the pie however you like. Either roll out and make lattice or as I did and pinch off pieces, roll into ropes and place on pie. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for an hour before cutting into it.

Happy Labour Day weekend!

m xo