Ingredients
Suitable for a baking pan of 28-30cm (11-12 inches) in diameter
- 500 grams (18 oz.) 00 flour
- 200 grams (7 oz.) granulated sugar
- 250 grams (9 oz.) butter
- 1 whole egg
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 bag of baking powder
- 800 grams (28oz.) jam
Directions
- Use a big bowl to mix the flour and the baking powder. Dice the butter and let it soften at room temperature, then add it to the mix along with the sugar, the whole egg and 2 of the yolks.
- Use electric hand mixers (speed 3) to knead the dough for just 1 or 2 minutes so to partly blend together the ingredients. In case you don’t have electric hand mixers or a kitchen mixer available, you can blend the ingredients by hand initially inside the bowl, then on a pastry board.
- Place the dough (which won’t be well-blended yet) on a pastry board and start kneading it quickly to keep blending all the ingredients together.
- After a few minutes, add the third yolk and keep kneading until it blends completely into the dough. At this point the dough should be firm and smooth on the outside. Make it into a ball.
NOTE: kneading shouldn’t take too long because the heat of your hands might melt the butter completely. Especially during the summer the kneading should be done extra fast. Tightly wrap the ball of dough in cling film making sure to eliminate all the air bubbles that might form.
- Chillfor about 1 hour in the cooler part of the fridge. NOTE: it is possible to prepare the shortcrust pastry up to 2 days before using it. After 1 hour unwrap the ball and place it on a sheet of baking paper.
- Cut off approximately 1/3 of it, you’re going to use it to make the decorative stripes. If it’s very hot in the room, wrap it up again and put it back in the fridge.
- Take another baking paper sheet of the same size, place it on top of the remaining dough and roll it out until you have a disk big enough to cover the entirety of the baking pan – borders included. Still with the help of two baking paper sheets, now ease the pastry disk down in the baking pan and use your hands to make it stick to the borders. At this point you can remove the top baking paper sheet and use a flat edge knife to cut off any excess pastry from the brim.
- Spread the Jam across the bottom of the pastry with a spatula or a spoon.
- Now take the part of dough you saved for decoration purposes. Roll it out using the same method (with the 2 baking paper sheets), only this time forming a rectangle.
- Remove the top sheet and use a long bladed knife to cut the pastry in stripes about 2cm (1 inch) wide. Gently place the stripes on the jam.
- Preheat a conventional oven (not fan-assisted) at 180°C (350°F) and bake for about 35-40 minutes, depending on the oven you use. Once the pastry starts turning golden it means it’s ready.
- Remove it from the oven and let it cool off before taking it out of the baking pan.
