October Recipe 4 -Fig Crostata

Ever heard of a crostata? How about a galette?  You’ve probably eaten a few of these before, and really liked them.  They’re simple and easy to make.

According to ‘thekitchn.com’, a galette and crostata are one and the same. A galette is French, and the crostata is Italian. 

Both mean an open pie.  Which is perfect for me, since I tend to bake more crude and rustic creations, rather than precise, neat and delicate looking dishes!

I was looking for a pie recipe that included figs.  They’re great cut up in salads or usually just as they are. I’ve never baked with them, and thought that I’d give it a try.  Whilst searching for a fruit pie recipe online, I found Nicole’s site – glutenfreeonashoestring.com

Wow! Is this woman talented, and humorous!  Her recipes all look so delicious! I wanted to try them all, immediately!  However, I was looking for something to do with figs, and although Nicole baked a crostata using peaches, I loved the look of it, and decided to try it out. It looked ‘easy as pie’, even for someone like me!

I did have to adapt Nicole’s recipe, but I still think that mine came out really well. I’ll have to try her peach crostata recipe next summer (why didn’t I see this one when I had a huge bowl full of peaches in August!?)

 This is Nicole’s original recipe:

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/a-peach-of-a-crostata/

Here is my recipe:

Fresh Fig Crostata (Gluten free, Egg free, Soy free, Oat free)

Ingredients:

For the crostata crust:

1 cup of gluten free flour *my blend

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 Tablespoons of icing sugar

1/4 cup of margarine (I didn’t have butter) + 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

1/2 cup of icy water

*my blend (brown rice flour, potato starch, black rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca starch and xanthan gum)

Crust ingredients

For the fig filling:

• 6 small red figs, cut up (peeled)
  1 fig, unpeeled (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1/2 Tablespoon of dark brown sugar
• 1/2 a lemon squeezed plus zest
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1 Tablespoon of milk (for eggwash)
• 1/4 cup of raw slivered almonds

Fig filling ingredients

Directions:

Oven temperature: 190C/375F
Baking time: 35-45 minutes

For the Dough:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and icing sugar
2. Add the cold margarine and coconut oil (or butter) and using two knives, cut it into the flour
3. Add the half a cup of icy water
4. I did not place the dough into a fridge, but left it on the counter for about half an hour
   (I learnt this the hard way! because the coconut oil will make the dough rock solid!)

Step1&2 – Combine flours in bowl. Add marge and oil

Step 3 – Cut margarine into flour

Step 4 – Add the icy water and mix to form a dough

For the Fig Filling:

Place the cut up figs, lemon juice, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl and set aside

Fig filling

Putting it all together:

1. Roll the dough between two pieces of clingwrap
2. Place onto waxpaper and flatten out
3. Sprinkle three quarters of the almonds onto the base of the dough
4. Spoon the fig mixture on top
5. In the centre, place one unpeeled fig, quartered (if you wish)
6. Sprinkle the remaining almonds on top
7. Using the waxpaper, lift up the edges of the dough and fold them towards the centre, overlapping (mine is very crude, but hopefully with practice I’ll improve)
8. Place onto a baking sheet on an ovenproof baking tray
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C/375F for 35-45 minutes. I baked mine for 40 minutes
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool

Roll out and flatten the dough

Sprinkle almonds on base then spread fig filling on top

 

Wrap up the edges and place cut up fig on top

 

Cut up and serve with cream, ice cream or drizzle with honey or chocolate