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Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven with a baking stone on it, if you have one.
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Preheat the oven to 375.
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3
If the crostata dough is very cold, let it soften at room temperature for a few minutes while you make the filling.
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Rinse the plums and pat dry.
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Cut them in flat halves, following the natural line around the fruit through the stem end, and remove the pits.
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Toss the halves with the lemon zest, apricot jam, and butter bits in a mixing bowl.
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(If youre making the crostata with large plums or fruit like peaches or nectarines, cut in quarters or wedges.)
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Toss the bread crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon together.
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On a lightly floured board, start stretching the dough into a circle, rolling from the center in all directions.
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Turn the dough over as it stretches, and flour the work surface as needed.
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11
Cut a piece of parchment that will cover your baking sheet.
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Roll the circle of dough to a diameter of 15 inches, and lay it, centered, on the parchment.
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13
Now trim the outside edges of the dough, with a sharp knife or scissors, cutting away ragged or thin spots and making as perfect a round as you can, since this edge will be visible on the top of your crostata.
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14
Keep the circle at least 13 inches in diameter.
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15
Lift the parchment with the dough on it to the baking sheet.
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Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of the bread-crumb mix in a 7- to-9-inch-diameter circle in the center of the dough, as a base for the fruit.
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The bread crumbs will soak up the juices, so if you have very ripe and juicy fruit (like peaches) use more crumbs, to form a thicker layer; if using a drier fruit, like apricots, use less crumbs.
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Arrange the coated plum halves, cut side up, on top of the crumb base.
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I place them in concentric rings, starting from the outside, and lean each inner ring on the plums just outside.
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In this manner, with a larger, 8- or 9-inch base of crumbs, you should be able to fit all the plums in one layer, for a crostata with an even height.
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If the crumb base is smaller, youll need to pile up the fruit.
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This will give the crostata more of a dome shape (as in the photo).
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When youve assembled your fruit in the middle of the dough, fold the uncovered band of pastry on top of the fruit, as shown in the photo.
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The width of the band will vary with your arrangement of the plums, but you should have at least 2 1/2 inches of dough to form the pleated top crust.
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Finally, sprinkle 1 or more tablespoons of sugared bread crumbs over the visible fruit in the center.
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26
As before, use more crumbs on juicy fruit.
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If you have any left over, sprinkle them over the pleated dough.
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Put the baking sheet with the crostata in the oven, on the stone if using one, and bake for 25 minutes; rotate the pan back to front for even cooking.
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Continue baking, and check the browning of the crust after 40 minutes: it should be light gold.
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30
If it is getting quite dark, you may need to lay a piece of foil on top.
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Bake for another 15 minutes or more, until the fruit is bubbling and has caramelized on the edges.
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If youve filled the crostata with a mound of fruit, youll probably want to bake it more than an hourand cover the topto make sure all the fruit is cooked.
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Let the crostata cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes or more before lifting it, with the parchment, to a wire rack to continue cooling.
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When it has set, slide it off the parchment, supported by long patulas, onto a platter.
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35
Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if you wish.
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Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and process for a few seconds to mix the dry ingredients.
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Cut the butter into 1/2-inch pieces, drop them onto the flour, and pulse the machine ten or twelve times, in short bursts, 20 seconds in all.
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The mixture should be crumbly, with only a few larger bits of butter visible.
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Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of water on top of the dough; immediately pulse about six times, only a second or two each time.
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40
You want the crumbs to gather together in wet clusters, a bit like cottage-cheese curdsdont expect a mass of dough to form.
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If they havent gathered, sprinkle on more water, a teaspoon at a time, and pulse two or three times after each.
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When the clusters form, scrape them all out of the bowl, press them together, and knead just for a few seconds to form a smooth, tight dough.
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43
Flatten it into a disk, wrap well in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3 hours or up to a day before using.
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44
Freeze the dough for longer keeping.
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(If the crumbs havent clustered after youve added 4 tablespoons of water, open the top and press them with your fingers; if theyre wet and stick together, just empty the bowl and press them into a disk of dough.)
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46
For this crostata, as for many desserts, I encourage you to use ripe fruit.
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47
But it concerns me that it is difficult these daysunless you have your own orchardto get fruit that can truly ripen as nature intended.
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48
Much, perhaps most, of the fruit in our markets is engineered for commercial needs, for shipping and shelf life.
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It is bred to remain in a green, immature state for a prolonged period.
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This keeps the cellulose intact, so the fruit is firm when its shipped, when its on display, and when its in your kitchen.
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But fruit is not supposed to stay young.
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It has to ripen, to mature, and to dieand thats when it is at its best.
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53
Whether a pear, an apricot, a fig, or a berry, I want it precisely when its maturity has peaked and it begins to diethen the cells literally burst and release all their aroma and the flavor compounds of their mature development.
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54
The explosion in your mouth of a fruit at its moment of death, so to speak, is one of the great experiences we should have with food.
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I guess I learned this when I was six or seven and we were sent to find the ripest figs.
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56
I remember looking at every fruit on all the branches, searching for ones that were split, on the verge of overripeness and fermentation.
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Out of the cracks, I had learned, would come a drop of the figs essence, an elixir as sweet as honey.
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This made an impression on me Ive never forgotten.
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At my home today, right outside the kitchen window, is a fig tree.
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And whenever Im at the sink, I find myself automatically looking for figs ready to explode.
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And then I can tell my grandchildren what I learned when I was their agethat is, if I can get them to stop racing up and down the driveway on their tricycles!
