A trip to Courmayeur, Italy, a mountain town in the Valle d’Aosta, at the foot of Mont Blanc and near the French and Swiss borders, led me to the discovery of a delectable Italian Apple Torta. Somewhat different than an American apple pie, the Italain Apple Torta is considerably deeper, heartier with a thicker cookie-like pastry, and flecked with the flavors of lemon, raisins and pine nuts. I knew at first taste that I had to recreate the torta at home. Here is my version.
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For the Pastry
Freeze the unsalted butter and the lard or vegetable shortening. Though this pastry is not as flaky as an American pie crust because it uses eggs, sugar, and baking powder, freezing the shortenings helps give it a slightly lighter texture. Using a food processor, make 1⁄2 of the pastry at a time. (Using the full amount is too much for most processors.) If you don’t have a food processor, you can do the whole amount by hand with a pastry blender.
Place 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1⁄2 teaspoon salt in the processor bowl, and process for 2 minutes to combine the ingredients.
Finely chop or grate 6 1⁄2 tablespoons each of butter and lard or shortening, and add it to the flour mixture in the processor bowl. Pulse several times just until the mixture resembles very coarse crumbs.
Add the frozen shortening to the flour mixture.
You should still be able to see small pieces of butter and lard about the size of tiny peas.
Pulse to get very coarse crumbs
Beat 1 cold egg with 1 teaspoon of vanilla. With the processor running, gradually add that beaten egg mixture to the flour mixture. Then gradually add about 3-4 tablespoons of ice water with the processor running. Stop adding water as soon as the mixture starts to come together.
Stop processing as dough comes together.
You don’t want to heat the pastry or over process it or it will become very tough.
Remove the pastry from the processor, and set it aside.
Repeat the whole process above with the other half of the ingredients.
Take about 1⁄3 of the pastry dough from the second half mixing and add it to the first half, making one larger and one smaller piece. Knead each piece briefly and form them into two flat disks.
Flatten dough into a disk.
Wrap each disk separately in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or, even better, overnight.
To Roll Out the Bottom Pastry
Remove the larger disk from the refrigerator, unwrap it from the plastic, place it on a lightly floured board, and let it rest for about 5-6 minutes so that it won’t crack when you roll it out.
Lightly flour dough.
Roll out the pastry to fit a 10-inch, 2-inch deep lightly buttered springform pan.
Roll out bottom pastry.
This means that your pastry should be rolled out to accommodate the 10-inch diameter bottom, plus 4 inches for the sides, and extra 2 inches for an overhang. That equals about a 16-inch-wide piece of rolled-out pastry. I roll it out slightly thicker than I would for American pie crust because it needs to hold a large mound of apples when removed from the springform pan in which it is baked.
Because the bottom crust is too large to wrap around the rolling pin, I simply fold it in half.
Fold the pastry in half.
Very gently fit the pastry into the buttered springform and refrigerate it until needed.
Line springform with pastry.
Preparing the Filling
Plump the raisins in hot water.
Plump the raisins.
A close friend, Tony Lin, suggested you could marinate the raisins in a sweet Italian wine such as Marsala or Moscato. I believe that it would give the Italian Apple Torta an even more complex flavor and will try it next time.
Lightly toast the pine nuts in a 350° oven for about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Toast the pine nuts.
For this recipe, I use Granny Smith apples because they don’t produce a lot of juice. This Italian Apple Torta is virtually free standing once the springform is removed, thus too much liquid would be a disaster. Peel the apples, rubbing each one with a piece of lemon as you finish peeling it, so that it doesn’t discolor.
Peel the apples.
Core the apples, cut them into very thin slices.
Thinly slice the apples.
Place the apple slices in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice, the sugar, the cinnamon, and the pinch of salt. Although the sliced apples could be layered into the pastry and sprinkled with the cinnamon-sugar mixture, I find that mixing them in a bowl distributes the flavors more evenly.
Add sugar and cinnamon to the apples.
Mix the sliced apples carefully, but thoroughly,
Gently stir the apples.
Remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator. Beat the egg and brush the crust, as well as the sides with the egg wash.
Brush the crust with egg wash.
Drain the raisins from the water or wine.
Place a layer of apples, then sprinkle some of the raisins and pine nuts over them.
Layer the apples with raisins and pine nuts.
Continue with another 4 layers of apples with raisins and pine nuts.
Continue with 4 more layers.
Cut the 2 tablespoons of butter into tiny pieces and distribute them over the top of the apples. Refrigerate until ready for the top crust.
Preparing the Top Crust
Roll out the top crust to about a 10-inch diameter. Remove the torta from the refrigerator and carefully place the top crust over it. Trim any excess from the bottom crust. Pinch together the two crusts, making certain they are sealed. Roll the pinched crusts into the springform pan and make decorative incisions along the roll with a sharp knife. Cut a small X in the center of the top crust of the torta to allow steam to escape.
Fit the top crust.
Brush the top of the torta with the remaining beaten egg wash, and sprinkle the top with a bit of sugar.
Brush the top with egg wash.
Place the torta in the refrigerator until the oven is ready. Place a tray on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 425°.
Baking the Torta
Place the torta on the hot tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350° and bake another 55 minutes to an hour. If the top crust is getting too brown, place a piece of aluminum foil over it. If it is not browning enough move the torta to the middle of the oven for the last 20 minutes of baking. Let the torta cool a bit, then carefully run a thin-bladed knife around the sides to loosen it before removing the outer ring. Serve the Italian Apple Torta warm or at room temperature.
