The crostata — Italian shortcrust tart filled with jam, pastry cream, or ricotta — uses a pasta frolla (sweet shortcrust) that is more enriched than French pâte sablée and has a more tender, crumbly, slightly sandy texture — the texture that the word frolla (from the same root as "fragile") describes. The butter is worked cold into the flour and sugar rather than beaten in, producing the characteristic crumbly texture through the same mechanism as pie shortcrust: fat encasing flour particles prevents gluten development.
- **Pasta frolla composition:** 00 flour, cold butter, sugar, egg yolk, and a small amount of milk or white wine. The egg yolk enriches and tenderises simultaneously; the sugar tenderises through the hygroscopic effect (drawing moisture away from the gluten) - **The cold butter:** Cut into small pieces, worked into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs — fat particles distributed through the flour prevent gluten strands from linking. The hands are used but worked quickly to prevent the butter from warming - **Resting in the refrigerator:** 30 minutes minimum before rolling. The butter firms up; the gluten that has formed relaxes - **The lattice:** Classic crostata is finished with a lattice of rolled pastry strips over the jam filling — baked until the lattice is golden and the jam has thickened and slightly caramelised in the exposed windows
Hazan