This is my recipe for one of the most traditional desserts of Italian cuisine: the tart with fruit jam. Like all apparently simple recipes, the difference is in the quality of the ingredients and in the details.
The traditional tart requires only two preparations: the shortcrust pastry, which you shall prepare one day in advance, and a generous dose of fruit jam, which can be homemade or purchased in stores, in the latter case provided that it’s of excellent quality, with a proportion of fruit which cannot be lower than 70% of the weight of the jam.
The full recipe for making the 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧 can be available on Guerino’s Cake blog:
𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
Butter: 170 g
Caster sugar: 200 g
Vanilla beams: 1 g
Grated lemon or orange peel: 4 g
Salt: 2 g
Whole eggs: 50 g (approximately one medium egg)
Milk: 30 g
Ammonium bicarbonate: 4 g
Weak flour: 375 g
Fruit Jam: 500 g (this video was made using Strawberry Jam)
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
First, the citrus peel is grated, the flour is filtered through a sieve, then the salt is dissolved in the egg and the ammonium bicarbonate in the milk.
The pastry is prepared in the mixer, adding the ingredients in the following order: soft butter (at 18 ° C), sugar, citrus peels, vanilla seeds, eggs (with salt inside), milk (with yeast inside). Each ingredient must be added when the previous one has been completely absorbed by the dough. Lastly, the flour is added, taking care not to knead the dough beyond what is necessary to avoid the formation of the gluten mesh.
Carefully pour the mass onto a shelf and form a rectangular block. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it to rest in the refrigerator for at least one night.
Make a disc about 30 cm wide, and at least 8 strips about 1 cm wide each. Both the base and the strips should be approximately 3mm thick. Put the base and strips to cool in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before making the tart.
Grease the mould with a little melted butter and gently roll out the dough, making sure that it adheres perfectly to the edges. For this type of tart, it may be useful to use a false-bottomed pan, so as to facilitate the removal of the tart at the end of baking. A classic pan can also be used, but in this case, much more attention is needed to remove the tart from the pan. The excess of shortcrust pastry can be removed by passing the rolling pin on the edge of the pan.
Pour gently the tart on the shortcrust pastry base. Pay attention to never fill up to the edge of the shell, otherwise, the jam will overflow out during cooking.
Place the shortcrust pastry strips on top of the jam with extreme care and delicacy. In this case, to remove the excess of pastry, light pressure with your finger will be enough.
The tart is baked in the static oven for about 25 minutes. Cook it at 180 °C for the first 15 minutes, and at 160 °C for the last 10 minutes.