We kicked off second year bakery practicals making amazing brownies, the second class however was very interesting.We were going to make Italian pies which are called “crostarta”.
A crostata is an Italian baked tart or pie also known as coppi in Naples and sfogliate in Lombardy The earliest known use of crostata in its modern sense can be traced to the cookbooks Libro de Arte Coquinaria (Art of Cooking) , published circa 1465,and Cuoco napolitano (Neapolitan recipes), published in the late 15th century containing a recipe (number 94) titled Crostata de Caso, Pane, etc.A crostata is a “rustic free-form version of an open fruit tart that may also be baked in a pie plate.Historically, it also referred to an “open-faced sandwich or canapé” because of its crusted appearance, or a chewet, a type of meat pie.
Traditionally, a crostata consisted of a base, usually three layers, of friable dough “flavoured with clarified fat and butter”. Today, shortcrust pastry is used instead. It is differentiated from a torta by its filling: a crostata has an inconsistent chunky filling, whereas a torta has a consistent filling made of blended ingredients.There are “endless variations” of both sweet and savoury crostata,the sweet ones usually served as a dessert.
Sweet variations use fruit preserves as a filling, typically apricot cherry,peach or nectarine or berries The crostata can also be blind-baked and then filled with pastry cream (crema pasticciera) topped with pieces of fresh fruit; this is called crostata di frutta. In his 1570 cookbook Opera dell’arte del cucinare, Bartolomeo Scappi included a recipe for a crostata of plums and sour cherries, and others for quince, and pears. A modern version is crostata alla nutella, which has Nutella as the filling.[13]
Ingredients for a savoury crostata may include meat, fish, or vegetables,[11] which are pre-cooked.[5] Opera dell’arte del cucinare included a recipe for a “crostata of crabmeat and shrimp”, and also stated that to instead make a torta, the shrimp and crab should be crushed.A popular sweet variant, especially in central Italy, is crostata di ricotta, made with
ricotta mixed with sugar and lemon zest, and which may additionally include cocoa or raisins.
Scappi included many recipes for crostata in Opera dell’arte del cucinare. For meat and seafood based crostata, there were recipes using pork jowls or prosciutto,crayfish,anchovies, or oysters. Other savoury crostata recipes included a crostata with creamy cheese referred to as a butirata,those with truffles or field mushrooms, one with artichoke or cardoon hearts,and one with “the viscera of any sort of turtle”.
For this class we were divided into teams of three, and given one product each i got “crostarta de melle” which means apple pie. My partner and i decided to do a chocolate shortcrust , cinnamon sponge and a vanilla creme patisserie. these were the products that we made.
Foods that don't upset your pocket 