Place flour on to a chopping board

Chop the butter into cubes and add them to the flour

Add 100g of white sugar and the vanilla powder (or vanilla essence) and start to combine the ingredients well with your hands

Squeeze the mixture in with the butter using your hands so it softens and eventually melts into the ingredients.

Continue to do this for at least 10 minutes.

Make a medium sized heap (or a small mountain) with the ingredients, and then, by joining your fingers together at the tips, swirl them around to make a circle in the centre and eventually a well.

Crack a whole egg into the middle.

Separate the other two egg yolks from the egg white and add the yolks only to the mix.

Using your fingers, mix the eggs well and if you don’t like the feeling, you can of course use a fork!

Sprinkle the vanilla powder or one teaspoon of vanilla essence into the egg and mix well.

Slowly gather up the flour from around the edges using the palm of your hand and push it through to the eggs in the middle making a moist heap – be careful the egg doesn’t run everywhere by catching it and scooping it all back up.

Continue to combine all of the mixture together so that it begins to bind and soften, picking up crumbs of flour and sticking it back in, while gently kneading it.

You can stop working the dough once it has a smooth texture and all of the ingredients have combined well.

Create a sort of oval shape instead of a big, round ball, so it is easier to roll out later on!

Wrap the ball tightly with cling wrap.

Put the dough in the fridge for 1 hour. The pastry is the key ingredient to make the best strawberry jam pie recipe.

PREPARE THE CROSTATA BASE:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and remove the dough from the fridge.

Sprinkle some flour onto the chopping board and place the ball of dough on top. Press down on it using your fingers, then sprinkle some more flour on top of the dough, get a rolling pin and flatten it from front to back and side to side, opening it up.

Turn it on the other side and roll it again using the rolling pin, adding more flour if you need to and especially if it’s a little bit sticky.

Keep rolling it until it is pretty thin, and try not to break it.

If any small pieces fall off the edges, stick them back on with your fingers and work them back in with the rolling pin.

Get a non-stock tart pan that has a detachable bottom and rub a generous amount of butter all over it, including on the sides. If you like, you can melt the butter, then spread it using a brush.

Sprinkle flour all over the base making sure it sticks to the base and sides. This will stop the cake from sticking to the pan once it is cooked. The easiest thing to do is shake it from side to side to move the flour around.

Place the rolling pin vertically on top of the base and gently roll the base around it guiding it with your hands.

Place the base on top of the tray, rolling the pin from one end to the other, so that the base begins to fall into place then very delicately help it mould to the shape of the tray pressing down with your fingers.

Using the rolling pin again, roll over the edges , trimming the excess dough off.

If you need to, using the excess dough, add some extra pieces to the sides, sticking them all the way around to make sure you have even sides and that the base is the perfect height for your filling.

With a fork, make small deep holes all over the base to help it cook through in the oven – it is very important you do this or your cake might crack in the oven!

Pour the strawberry jam mix into the base , trying to even it out as much as possible.

Using the rest of the leftover dough, make a ball and flatten it with a rolling pin, once again making a very thin, oval-like shape.

Cut this into strips using a long, sharp knife around 1.5cm wide.

Starting from the middle of the tart, place one strip at a time on top of the jam, making sure it reaches the tip of the base on both edges by helping it to stick down with your fingers.

The strips can be laid around 0.5cm apart.

Repeat this process, laying down the rest of the strips in the opposite direction, and creating a criss cross effect.

Place the tart into the pre-heated oven for around 40 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and let it rest for 1-2hr.

E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!