Peach and Blueberry Crostata

Last night I made a Peach and Blueberry Crostata for dessert. I followed Tyler Florence's recipe from Eat This Book. I highly recommend this book, even if only for his simple takes on ordinary dishes- like the amazing Guacamole I get compliments on every time I make, or the delicious and flavorful Avocado Salad with Lemon, Bacon, and Watercress.

But last night was something new for me. I've never made a tart, and although there were a few hiccups along the way- the end result was still delicious.

So here it is, the recipe for his:

Peach and Blueberry Crostata (my notes are in red)

Ingredients:

Pastry Dough:

• 2 cups all- purpose four, plus more for rolling
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest of 1 Lemon, finely grated
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

Filling:

• 4 large ripe peaches
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons all- purpose flour

• 1 large egg, beated with a drizzle of cold water
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk, and the ice water and work that in with your hands. (Or do the whole thing in the food processor, pulsing a couple of times to combine the dry ingredients, pulsing in the butter, and then the egg and water- this is what I did.) You want their to be just enough moisture to bind the dough so that it holds together without being too wet or sticky, so check the consistency, shape the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic. (I needed to use about 2.5 more tablespoons of water to get the right consistency.) Put it in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.

When the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put a pizza stone in the oven to heat, if you have one.

Cut the peaches in half, discard the pits, slice in a large bowl. Add the blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, and flour, and toss to coat; set aside.

Sprinkle the counter and rolling pin lightly with flour. Roll the dough out to a 14- inch round, about 1/4 inch thick. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle; free form is good. (Mine was about 13 by 10 inches.) Transfer the dough to a lightly floured pizza paddle. (If you don't have a pizza stone ad paddle, transfer to the back of a jelly roll pan; you'll put that right in the oven.) (This is where I messed up- I did mine on the back of a baking sheet- hence the size- and then transferred it directly onto the pizza stone- which had been in the oven and instantly started cooking and softening my dough- making it incredibly difficult to complete the next few steps.) Spoon the filling mixture over the center of the dough round, leaving a 2 inch border all around. Brush the border with the egg wash. Bring the edge of crust over onto the filling, leaving the fruit exposed in the center. Gently fold and pinch the dough to seal any cracks. Brush the crust with the remaining egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar. Transfer to the pizza stone (or put the pan in the oven) and bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly and tender (About 27 minutes for me).

Slide the knife under the tart to loosen it from the stone or pan. Then cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.


The ice cream was a nice compliment to the crostata. My husband and his friend has vanilla, and I had strawberry- yum.

Please let me know if you have any questions- I'll try my best to answer them :)