Marmalade Pie

Nothing beats simplicity, and there is nothing more simple that a marmalade pie. Perfect for your sweet breakfast or with an afternoon tea.

Today I am going to share with you the classic pastry dough recipe that can be used for pies, tarts and to make biscuits. It is not really difficult but there are some tips ans tricks that will ease your work.

Starting with the base of each sweet: the flour. I like to use a mixture of wheat flour with differents strenghts, usually half universal four and half 450 W strenght (in Italy this flour is called Manitoba) in this way the pie remains crumbly and not chewy.

One of the most important secrets is the temperature of the butter, it must be really cold, ideally taken directly from the fridge. Since the butter is very cold at the beginning incorporating it in the flour could be difficult , so a good tip is to crumble the butter with your finger in and with the flour to create some kind of grainy mixture, then you can start knead with both hands. Remember to knead the least amount of time possible and be fast as you can, otherwise the final result will be hard and crunchy, not the texture we are looking for!

Finally to bring out the flavour of the pastry there is the addition of the lemon zest, but you can let your creativity flow free and replace it with lime, orange or any citrus zest depending on the marmalade you will choose!

Ingredients

300g flour

150g firm butter

3 eggs yolks

130g caster sugar

1 lemon zest

1 jar of marmalade of your choice (~700g)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180°C (ventilated is better)

2.Mix in a bowl or on you kitchen surface the flour with the very cold butter and the eggs yolks. Be very fast, don't overknead and try to keep the dough cold.

3.While you are kneading, add the caster sugar and the lemon peel .

4.Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 30min.

5.Grease a tart form with butter, and then flour it. Remove the eccess flour tapping the tin over your sink.

6. Remove the dough from the fridge, and roll out it with a rolling pin on a flour dusted surface. The ideal thickness is 2-3 cm

7. Carefully transfer the rolled dough in the tin, the borders should be approx. 4 cm high.

8. Add the marmalede, and decor the surface as you like

9. Insert in the oven and let it cook for 30 to 40min

10. Enjoy

In a future post I will share my blackberry marmalade with a twist recipe, so that you can use it to fill your pies.

Ciao

Chiara