Crostata di Marmellata




Italians often tend to eat cake for breakfast. Usually very simple cake or jam tart with a cup of hot milk. Having cereal for breakfast is a relatively new habit. As much as I love cakes I prefer to eat them for afternoon tea or after dinner. At least if I start the day well I don't feel as guilty about eating cake during the day...
This simple recipe is my mother in law's. When we visit her in Sardinia my husband enjoys having home baked crostata for breakfast or for afternoon tea as he did when he was a child. After exploring some of the more challenging pastry preparations this one is a welcome change for anyone who wants a yummy homemade treat with minimum effort.

200g plain flour
100g butter
100g sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tsp baking powder
200g jam of choice

Preheat oven to 180°c.
Line a 22cm cake tin or pie dish.

Mix softened butter with the sugar with a wooden spoon.
Add the eggs one by one.
Mix in the flour and knead for a minute on a slightly floured surface.

Take one 1/4 of the pastry and set aside
Form remaining pastry into a ball and flatten into the prepared cake tin and push the pastry to the edges.
Spread jam of choice over the pastry leaving 1cm around the edges.

With the remaning 1/4, roll long thin strips and place them on top of the jam criss crossing them to make a lattice pattern.
Place in oven for about 30 mins.

NB I like to put some grated lemon rind in the pastry when making crostata with apricot jam or strawberry jam and grated orange rind when making it with red forest fruit jam..

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