Peaches and Plums
Summer time has the best fruit! I wish I could eat peaches all year with breakfast and bake fresh desserts. Since the fruit is only available for a few months, I try to take advantage of it as much as I can.
After looking through the same cookbook as my last post, “Barefoot Contessa at Home” by Ina Garten, the Summer Fruit Crostata caught my eye and inspired me to bake a summer dessert. This crostata is different than other crostata recipes because there’s a crumble topping. It adds a little extra sweetness to the fruit.
Making the pastry in the food processor is a lot easier than doing it by hand and it prevents the butter from melting. Adding cold water and pulsing the food processor will bring the dough together. Make sure to stop before it begins to take form. Lightly flour your wooden cutting board and turn the dough onto the board.
Once you roll it into a ball, divide the dough into two pieces. Gently flatten the two halves of dough and wrap with plastic wrap. Put one disk of dough in the refrigerator (so the butter doesn’t melt as fast in the oven) and the other disk in the freezer to save it for another day. Tip: Since it is summer, it might be best to refrigerate longer than an hour since your kitchen is hot and will melt the butter faster.
While the dough is in the fridge, this is a good opportunity to start preparing the fruit. The sugar and the flour help bring out the sugars in the fruit and thicken the pie filling as well. It’s best to remove the skin on the peaches, but keep the skin on the plums.
Once the dough has been completely chilled, add more flour to the cutting board and lightly flour the rolling pin. Don’t add too much flour to the dough though, but enough needs to be added to prevent stickiness. Once it gets to an 11-inch circle (it is okay if it is not exactly a circle), use the rolling pin to roll the dough onto it and then carry the dough onto a sheet pan with parchment paper. Next, scoop the fruit into the center of the dough and make sure there is about 1-1/2” of extra dough to then fold over the fruit. Quickly make the crumb topping in the food processor to then sprinkle over the crostata. The crumb topping adds a bit of sweetness to the fruit. Try to close all of the gaps in the dough to prevent the juice from escaping.
I would recommend using an egg wash (egg and some water) to help brown the crostata during baking. It would have added a little more color to the crust. Since I did not refrigerate the dough long enough, the crostata lost it's shape during cooking and the juice escaped. Once the crust is browned and the fruit is bubbling, the crostata is done. Let it cool on the rack and you can serve it warm or at room temperature.
Baking a crostata would be easier to start with instead of a pie because it is a freeform pie - the crust doesn’t have to be perfect and the fruit is the star of the dessert. Enjoy!
