{"id":807873,"date":"2020-05-28T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384044"},"modified":"2020-05-28T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T15:45:00","slug":"high-country-baking-italian-torta-sbrisolona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/high-country-baking-italian-torta-sbrisolona\/","title":{"rendered":"High Country Baking: Italian torta sbrisolona"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"617\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-1024x617.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-1024x617.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-768x462.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-1536x925.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/P1050336-2048x1233.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Italian torta sbrisolona<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy Vera Dawson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Italians know how to eat; their food is some of the best in the world. So, when I came across a recipe for this torta that\u2019s a specialty of Mantua, Italy, I had to try it. It\u2019s been served as a casual dessert for hundreds of years in its home country where there are more ways to make it than you can count. All of them result in a crunchy, crumbly giant-sized shortbread cookie that diners break into pieces and munch accompanied by grapes and grappa or dessert wine. Since I lacked both grapes and grappa when I made it recently, I served it with strawberries and Amaretto and was quite pleased with the combination.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve included two recipes for the torta; the first is a good representation of most of the recipes I reviewed that originated in Italy. It\u2019s my favorite but, if your ingredients are limited, the second is a very acceptable alternative. The pans required by both are the same.<\/p>\n<p>Note that the first recipe calls for almond flour, not almond meal. The flour is made by grinding blanched (skinless) almonds while the meal is made by grinding almonds with skins. You can use meal if that\u2019s all you have, but the texture of the torta will be denser and heavier.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Italian torta sbrisolona<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><em>Make in a 9 1\/2 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or 10-inch springform pan. Works at any elevation.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3\/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, spoon and level<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup almond flour<\/li>\n<li>1\/3 cup fine-ground yellow cornmeal<\/li>\n<li>1\/3 cup granulated sugar, preferably superfine<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 teaspoon fine sea salt<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon<\/li>\n<li>6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold<\/li>\n<li>1 large egg yolk<\/li>\n<li>1\/3 cup sliced almonds<\/li>\n<li>Extra sliced almonds, optional<\/li>\n<li>Powdered sugar, optional<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with a rack in the center. Grease the pan with butter.<\/p>\n<p>2. Add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and cinnamon to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse to combine well. Cut the butter into 12 pieces, add them and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Add the egg yolk, and pulse until the mixture is uniformly moist and looks like wet, grainy sand. Pinch some of the dough; if it holds together, it\u2019s done. If not, pulse a little longer.<\/p>\n<p>3. Dump the dough out into a bowl, add the sliced almonds, crushing them in your hand, so they\u2019re broken into pieces, and toss the mixture, so the almonds are evenly distributed. Pinch pea-sized to 1-inch clumps of dough, (like making streusel), and drop them into the prepared pan. Continue until you\u2019ve used all the dough, making sure the pan is evenly covered. Don\u2019t press the clumps into each other; they\u2019ll come together as they bake. Sprinkle more sliced almonds on top, if desired.<\/p>\n<p>4. Bake until the top is golden brown and well set, about 32-48 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Store, well wrapped, at cool room temperature, for up to three days. Detach the pan sides when ready to serve and sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Limited-ingredient recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>5 ounces of blanched almonds<\/li>\n<li>1 3\/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided<\/li>\n<li>3\/4 cup granulated sugar<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n<li>14 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold<\/li>\n<li>2 teaspoons vanilla extract<\/li>\n<li>Powdered sugar, optional<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Directions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center. Grease the pan with butter.<\/p>\n<p>2. Place the almonds with 1\/4 cup of the flour in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the remaining flour, sugar and salt and pulse to combine well. Cut the butter into 28 pieces, add them, with the vanilla, and pulse until large moist clumps of dough form. Dump the dough into a bowl.<\/p>\n<p>3. Squeeze the dough into pea-sized to 1-inch clumps, and gently press 3\/4 of them into the prepared pan. Don\u2019t smooth the dough, just level it but leave it lumpy and irregular. Sprinkle the rest of the dough clumps over the top. Bake until the top just starts to color, then turn the temperature down to 300 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown and fairly dry, a total of about 32-38 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Store, well wrapped, at cool room temperature, for two days. Detach the pan sides before serving and sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/VeraDawson_h-1024x819.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-372349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/VeraDawson_h-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/VeraDawson_h-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/VeraDawson_h-768x614.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Vera Dawson<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Vera Dawson\u2019s column \u201cHigh Country Baking\u201d publishes biweekly on Thursdays in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she\u2019s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at <a href=\"mailto:veradawson1@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">veradawson1@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/high-country-baking-italian-torta-sbrisolona\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Italian torta sbrisolonaCourtesy Vera Dawson Italians know how to eat; their food is some of the best in the world. So, when I came across a recipe for this torta that\u2019s a specialty of Mantua, Italy, I had to try it. It\u2019s been served as a casual dessert for hundreds of years in its home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-807873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-10 02:36:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}