BeyondPasta

Mmm so good! Mmm so summery, when the tomatoes are ripe this is just the best savory pie. Light and filling and so tasty.

A crunchy crust that holds together wonderfully, good cheese and the freshness of the tomatoes, plus a perfect blend of spices. While Max complains every time I make it, he sees veggies and has an automatic reaction of disappointment, this pie disappears from his plate sooner than it disappears from mine :D

The recipe for the dough comes from the book Pastry savory and sweet from the Chef Michel Roux. This guy knows what he is doing! All the recipes I tried so far were great. I strongly suggest you to check out this book! I added to the original recipe some chopped rosemary, that makes an already wonderful dough just outstanding!

Ingredients

• Dough
  • 1 3/4 cup flour (250 gr)
  • 1 rosemary stalk
  • 1/2 tsp salt (3 gr)
  • 1 tsp sugar (6 gr)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup butter (125 gr)
  • 2 1/2 tbs very cold water (40 ml)
• 5 slices smocked provolone
• 8 oz mozzarella, cubed (226 gr)
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• salt, pepper and thyme to taste
• 1 tbs olive oil

Directions

Prepare the dough with the following directions and if times allows let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour. I did not have time to let the dough rest but it turned out well, maybe rolling it out was a little trickier though, it required a lot of flour to prevent it from sticking on the countertop.

Remove the leaves from the rosemary stalk and chop them.

In a large bowl sift the flour, add the chopped rosemary, mix together and make a well. Add, salt, sugar and egg in the well. Add the butter cut in small pieces, let soften just a little bit and then work with your fingers to mix everything together until you get a grainy consistency (picture 1). Add the cold water and bring all the ingredients together kneading the dough quickly until it forms a ball (picture 2). Wrap in plastic and let rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

Turn on the oven at 400ºF (200ºC).

Grease with butter a 9.5″ (25 cm) pie pan. Roll out the dough and line the pan. You need to cover the bottom and go up to the sides of about 1″ (2.5 cm), picture 3.

Lay the smocked provolone slices on the bottom in an even layer (picture 4).

Cut the mozzarella in cubes and toss over the provolone in an even layer (picture 4).

Cut the tomatoes in thin slices and make a final layer on top of the cheese. Place the tomatoes in an even layer (picture 5), do not make more than 2 layers of tomatoes or the ones on the bottom won’t cook through.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Pour some olive oil on top and bake for 40 minutes. Complete by broiling in the oven for 5 additional minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Note that this pie holds well in the fridge, just reheat it before serving.