I’ve always been fond of old recipes. Preparing a dish as it was a long time ago is a different way of traveling. Not through space but through time.
And I’ll really like to share this trip with you.
Today the November sky outside my window is color changing. It ’s cold and windy.
A perfect day for baking.
We’ll make an apple pie, something quite well-known in the norther part of our planet!
This one – in my family – is called « torta della signora Ongari » and I’ll tell you why.
My maternal grandparents lived in the beautiful city of Riva del Garda in Trentino, a region that in the first part of the XX century was still marked by the influence of the Austrian domination.
As well as in the other regions of the North East of Italy traditions and culture were filled with Eastern Europe connections.
My grandma had a very good friend of Romanian origins, madame Ongari a passionate cook. They regularly met for a coffee and a chat. Between a biscuit and a sip of coffee, they exchanged everyday life advices and recipes.
The one that stayed in our family is, exactly, the apple pie.
What you need:
200 grams all purpose flour
100 grams of butter (room temperature)
12 grams brewer’s yeast
3 tablespoons of warm milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 Lemon juice and peel
In a bowl combine butter and flour
Put yeast milk and the sugar in a small bowl. Melt the yeast then add an egg yolk.
Knead and work the dough a lot until bubbles appear. Cover with a napkin and leave for the time you prepare the apples
Choose 4 or 5 apples and cut them in very thin slices (you can use a vegetable slicer), add a tablespoon of sugar, the juice of half a lemon and the grated peel and finish a pinch of cinnamon
Roll out the dough (divided into two parts almost equal) put the apples then roll over the remaining layer of dough. Pierce with a fork and put in oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm.