This Fresh Peach Crostata is just Peachy.
There’s nothing better than a fresh, ripe peach. I love peaches in any form: plain, topped with cream or baked into a luscious dessert. I’ve made peach cakes, peach bread pudding, peach cobblers and now a fresh peach crostata. A crostata is an open face pie or tart that is baked like a pizza directly on a baking sheet. No pie pan is needed.
You won’t need a mixer to make the dough, either. As always, feel free to make this pie gluten free using gluten free flour or make it vegan by using vegan butter.
With just eight ingredients, including water and salt, this crostata is easy to make and adapt. Use different fruits or fruit combinations for fruit crostatas all year long. The original recipe comes from Ina Garten’s Apple Crostata, which first appeared in her cookbook Parties back in 2001. Ina doesn’t skimp on the butter, which is probably why her all butter pie dough is so delicious (and not low fat.) The dough recipe makes two pie crusts, so you can use one for this pie and wrap and freeze one for later.
I made two peach pies: one with all peaches and one with peaches and a handful of blueberries.
Chop up butter for the dough and separately for the crumb topping and place it in the freezer while you measure flour, sugar and salt.
It’s Ina’s favorite dessert and I bet it will be yours too. Even though she jokes that her friends grumble “Not the apple (or peach) crostata again!”, she proudly admits that there’s never a crumb left!
Fresh Peach Crostata
- Prep Time: 90 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 mins
- Yield: 6+
Peaches star in this open face tart. A great pie dough recipe that you can easily make gluten free or vegan. Experiment with mixes of fruit for delicious crostatas all year long!
Ingredients
- • 2 cups all purpose flour
- • ¼ cup granulated sugar
- • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- • ½ pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, chopped
- • ¼ cup very cold water
- • 1 ½ pounds sliced and pitted peaches, nectarines or mix
- • ¼ teaspoon grated orange zest
- • ¼ cup all purpose flour
- • ½ cup sugar ( ¼ cup for fruit and ¼ cup for crumble topping)
- • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) cold unsalted butter, chopped
Instructions
- INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the pie dough: In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.
- Add butter and toss to coat with your fingers. Rub butter into flour with your hands or with a pastry cutter until butter is roughly the size of peas.
- Pour the water around the edge of the bowl and mix briefly, just until the dough starts to come together. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of flour on a clean countertop. Dump the dough out onto the counter and form into 2 disks. Cover discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate one for at least an hour and up to two days. Freeze the other disc for future use.
- Preheat the oven to 450 F and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat.
- Prepare fruit and filling: In a large bowl, combine fruit with ¼ cup sugar and orange zest.
- For the topping, combine flour, the other ¼ cup sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add butter and toss to coat. Use a pastry cutter or your fingers to rub in butter just until the mixture starts to come together. Cover and refrigerate crumble topping until ready to use.
- Lightly flour a clean countertop and roll the dough into an 11-inch circle. Place dough on baking sheet. Make a circle of fruit inside the dough, leaving a 1½ – 2 inch border all around. Fill in with remaining peaches and toss crumb mixture on top and around sides of fruit.
- Take the edges of the dough and start folding a few inches at a time over the fruit, pleating as you go to make a circle. (See blog post for photos and descriptions.)
- For a thicker crostata, refrigerate unbaked pie for 20-30 minutes before baking.
- Bake crostata for 20 – 25 minutes in the middle of the oven, until crust is golden and fruit is tender. Let cool 5 minutes and transfer (using two spatulas) to a wire rack.
- Variations: Use apples, pears or berries.
- Use canned pie filling such as cherry or blueberry or a combination.
- For a savory tart, leave out the sugar in the tart dough and fill with vegetables and cheese.
Notes
90 minutes of prep includes one hour of chilling!
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa’s Apple Crostata in the cookbook Parties!
and from Cucina Simpatica by Johanne Killeen and George Germon
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