Peach Crostada
Posted on 14 August 2008 by joy
Think of a crostada as a rustic pie. Pie dough is rolled out into a rough circle, filled with the goodness of peaches, lemon, cinnamon and nutmeg and then folded up around the edges to keep in all the good stuff. Crostadas can be made large or small, and are a great end to a casual summer get together. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and you’ll be in heaven! Show off this summer’s peaches in a relaxed yet super impressive rustic summer pie.
Peach Crostada
recipe from Terry Thompson Anderson
Crust:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Peaches:
2-1/2 cups sliced peaches
1 teaspoon minced lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar blended with ½ teaspoon ground
Cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pastry Glaze:
1 egg, beaten
Raw (turbinado) sugar
Begin by making the dough. Combine the flour, sugar, butter and salt in work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Process just until the butter is broken into pea-sized bits. Add the beaten egg and process just to barely blend in the egg. The dough should look like coarse meal. Do not overprocess. Turn dough out onto work surface and knead gently to form a smooth, cohesive dough. Pat the dough into a round disk. Place a 14-inch square piece of parchment paper on work surface; lightly flour the parchment paper. Place the dough disk on parchment paper and roll it out to a 12- or 13-inch round. Lift the parchment paper with dough onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make the peach filling while dough is chilling. Combine the peaches with lemon zest and juice in a medium-sized bowl, tossing to coat the peaches. In a separate small bowl, combine the flour and sugar, stirring with a fork to blend well. When dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and scatter the flour and sugar mixture over about 10 inches of the dough. Scatter the peaches over the same area. Fold about 2 inches of the dough over the edge of the peaches, overlapping it in an attractive pleated pattern. Brush the overlapping dough with the beaten egg, taking care that the egg does not run under the Crostada where it would cause the crust to burn. Scatter raw sugar over the dough.
Bake the crostada in preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until dough is golden brown and firm. Remove from oven and slide the parchment paper with the Crostada onto a wire rack to cool. Cool to lukewarm before slicing into wedges for serving. Top each serving with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream, if desired.
