Well, that was easy and awfully good (half of it has already been dispatched).
The thing it’s resting on is a Matfer Exopat Nonstick Baking/Roasting Sheet that I just got: I have heard/read a lot about these but not even the most effusive praise seems enough. OK, so it’s not such a big deal but anything that saves cleanup and removes the risk of tearing up your creation is worth having.
So how to make this?
The crust was even better than usual, for some reason. I use a food processor, and here’s how I did it.
The crust
Put 1 cup of Crisco in the freezer (wrapped in some wax paper or on a plate).
Add to the food processor:
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (Bob’s Red Mill is good)
- 1 cup of white flour
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Pulse that together, then add the shortening, in blobs the size of a grape. Pulse it in one second increments until the shortening is the size of peas. Stop. Drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over the mixture evenly (remove the lid: don’t just pour it down the spout). Pulse in one second increments until even moistened. Stop. You’re done.
Scrape it all out onto a lightly floured countertop, divide it in half (this makes 2 9 inch crusts), wrap each in plastic or wax paper, flatten it out, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 days.
The filling
To call this variable is an understatement. I used about
- half a cup of slivered almonds,
- a pound of of plums,
- a tablespoon of sugar and
- a tablespoon of white flour.
Chop up the almonds as small as you can: a grinder or food processor would be fine.
Pit the plums, sliced into 6 or 8 pieces, and mix them with the flour and sugar.
Roll out the crust into a rough circle, 12-14 inches in diameter. Don’t worry about rough edges but try not to tear it. You might want to slide the crust onto your baking surface before finishing the rolling-out.
Sprinkle the almonds in a circle about half the size of the full crust (6-7 inches). You might want to add sugar to them before doing this, but I didn’t miss it. Scoop the plum mixture onto the top and flatten it gently into that same sized circle. It’s OK if it spreads a bit: it will be folded back in when you pull the crust in.
Now take the crust edge and, working around the circle, pull it up and over the fruit. Don’t be too fussy about how it looks (no pleats or fluting), just pull it up to keep all the juice in.
Bake at 375º for 20-30 minutes.
The basics of this are good with *any* fruit you care to use, from berries to other other stone fruits to apples and pears.
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