Baking Faculty In-Depth: Linzer Torte

The Austrian Linzer torte is a conventional vacation dessert that includes two layers of tender
hazelnut- and almond-enhanced dough—one layer serving because the torte’s base and the
different as a fascinating lattice design—with a barely tart pink currant or raspberry filling that enhances the candy, spiced dough. Though the phrase “torte” means “cake,” recipes for Linzer tortes are decidedly extra tart-like than cake-like, and so they date to no less than 1653, making it the oldest recognized cake on this planet. For greater than 300 years, Linzer tortes have been the satisfaction and pleasure of Linz, a small city alongside the Danube River in northern Austria. Like many longstanding cultural and culinary traditions, its actual origins are a thriller.

The elements of our Linzer Torte couldn’t be simpler to organize. A buttery, nut-enriched crust comes collectively rapidly in a stand mixer, and the filling of fruit preserves is one thing you’ll be able to simply purchase. Making this vacation torte might sound intimidating, however we’ve made the method easy. The dough is delicate, so we pat it into the tart pan, and as for the lattice, we roll the dough between two items of wax paper and minimize the strips on wax paper to make it simpler to deal with and switch the dough. The Linzer Torte might be served at room temperature the day it’s baked, nevertheless it’s additionally fantastic after an evening within the fridge, making it an ideal make-ahead dessert.

Be part of us for Baking Faculty with Williams Sonoma on Monday, December 11, 2023 for a digital baking class demonstrating tips on how to make this recipe!

For simpler viewing or printing at house, obtain the pdf of this lesson right here!

INGREDIENT BREAKDOWN

Glorious recipes require fantastic substances. Right here’s how our recipe’s substances contribute to creating the easiest Linzer Torte.

ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR: All-purpose flour has a protein content material of 10% to 12%, so the crust has sufficient gluten construction to carry collectively whereas nonetheless permitting the dough to bake right into a melt-in-your-mouth crust.

HAZELNUT FLOUR AND ALMOND FLOUR: Hazelnut flour has a particular sweetness and extra of a buttery taste than almond flour, which has a light, nearly savory nuttiness, making the mix of the 2 nut flours very best on this recipe. They add gentle, delicate texture, drastically improve the torte’s taste, and pair completely with the orange zest and spices within the dough. It’s best to retailer almond and hazelnut flours within the fridge or freezer to maintain them contemporary and prolong their shelf life.

GRANULATED SUGAR: In addition to including satisfying sweetness to the dough, sugar reacts with amino acids within the flour throughout a heat-driven response that results in browning, known as the Maillard response, which provides a stunning golden coloration and toasty taste to the crust. Sugar additionally inhibits gluten formation, resulting in an much more tender crust.

LIGHT BROWN SUGAR: Brown sugar pairs fantastically with the festive spices and tart raspberry filling in our Linzer Torte, including sweetness and depth of taste. Sugar is a hygroscopic ingredient, which implies it absorbs moisture. It should preserve your torte moist longer whereas including a barely caramelized taste with its 3.5% molasses content material.

ORANGE ZEST: A contact of orange zest boosts the torte’s vacation taste delicately but distinctively.

KOSHER SALT: Salt is an all-encompassing taste booster, and candy bakes with out salt are inclined to style flat. We like kosher salt as a result of it’s a pure, additive-free salt with a crisp, clear style. Plus, it’s flaked quite than granulated, permitting for more-even distribution in our dough.

GROUND CINNAMON, GINGER, NUTMEG, AND CLOVES: Barely candy cinnamon, sharp ginger, earthy and nutty nutmeg, and daring cloves mix to type a well-balanced spice mix, offering the right quantity of welcome heat and depth of taste to the dough.

BAKING POWDER: Most baking powders are double-acting, that means the response occurs twice, utilizing two totally different acids. The primary is a fast response when moisture is added to the baking powder within the dough combination. The second response is slower, occurring when the dough bakes.

UNSALTED BUTTER: As a result of butter is crucial to the feel and richness of the crust, selecting a European-style butter with a better fats ratio than generic grocery retailer butter will yield the very best outcomes. As for unsalted versus salted, salt content material can differ throughout totally different butter manufacturers, so we use unsalted butter, permitting us so as to add the precise quantity of kosher salt desired.

EGG: Eggs lend richness by way of their yolks and moisture and construction by way of their whites.

VANILLA EXTRACT: Vanilla extract is a magical ingredient that provides immediate complexity to this torte.

BONNE MAMAN® RASPBERRY PRESERVES: Made with contemporary fruit, the refined tart notes and slight earthiness in Bonne Maman® Raspberry Preserves improve the gorgeously spiced candy dough.

CONFECTIONERS’ SUGAR: A dusting of confectioners’ sugar provides a captivating remaining flourish to the baked Linzer Torte.

Our Linzer Torte is a lattice-topped, raspberry preserves-filled affair made with a fabulous dough of floor hazelnuts and almonds. The key to working with this mushy, nut-enriched dough is to make use of wax paper when rolling to assist preserve the dough from sticking to your rolling pin or counter and freezing the dough earlier than layering the lattice. The strips aren’t woven; they’re merely laced over one another for a lattice impact with out having to deal with the fragile dough an excessive amount of.

MAKING THE DOUGH

1. Within the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk collectively flours, granulated sugar, brown sugar, orange zest, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves by hand till mixed. Add chilly butter; utilizing the paddle attachment, beat at medium pace till combination resembles coarse crumbs, 2 to three minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat at low pace simply till dough comes collectively, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. (Combination must be moist however not sticky and may maintain collectively when pinched.) End up dough onto a clear floor; reserve one-third of dough (about 278 grams), and canopy with plastic wrap. A stand mixer is probably the most environment friendly and foolproof technique when making this dough. In contrast to a meals processor, a stand mixer provides you extra management as you see the dough coming collectively.

PRESSING IN THE DOUGH

1. Spray the sides of a 10-inch spherical fluted removable-bottom tart pan with baking spray with flour. Press remaining dough into backside and up sides of ready pan; trim any extra with a small sharp knife, and add to reserved onethird of dough. Cowl with plastic wrap. After urgent the dough within the pan along with your fingers, press the underside of a metallic measuring cup into the pan to stop the dough from sticking to your fingers whereas getting a pleasant, even layer of dough so it bakes evenly.

CREATING THE LATTICE

1. Flippantly mud a sheet of wax paper with all-purpose flour; place reserved dough on ready wax paper, and evenly mud high of dough with all-purpose flour. Place one other sheet of wax paper on dough, and roll dough right into a 12-inch circle (about ⅛ inch thick); place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate rolled dough and dough in pan for 1 hour. One trick to rolling out a mushy dough like that is to sandwich it between two sheets of wax paper to maintain it from sticking as you’re employed with it. You need to use parchment paper in a pinch, however wax paper is skinny and barely simpler to deal with for this recipe. The dough will stick with the paper simply sufficient to maintain it from sliding round from the strain of the rolling pin, permitting you to roll out the dough effortlessly.
2. Take away high sheet of wax paper from rolled dough; utilizing a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, minimize dough into 1-inch-wide strips; cowl and freeze till agency, about quarter-hour. Utilizing a ruler, we rating the rolled-out dough into 1-inch intervals. This serves as a information to observe as we minimize your entire size of the lattice strips utilizing the assistance of the ruler’s straight edge.

ASSEMBLE AND BAKE

1. Utilizing a small offset spatula, unfold preserves evenly into dough in pan. Gently organize 5 dough strips about ½ inch aside in a single path on high of preserves. Repeat with 5 dough strips in wrong way to create an unwoven lattice sample; press strips into edges of dough in pan, trimming extra to create a clear edge. (If dough turns into too mushy, freeze in 15-minute intervals as wanted; a evenly floured massive offset spatula may also help transfer strips.) Create extra strips as wanted by rerolling extra dough to ⅛-inch thickness between evenly floured sheets of wax paper. (This can be a delicate dough. If it tears whereas shifting, merely press it again collectively; alternatively, reroll, minimize, and refrigerate dough, and take a look at once more.) Refrigerate assembled tart for 20 minutes. Refrigerating the assembled torte lets the butter within the dough solidify, which helps the crust bake up good and crisp.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
3. Bake till crust is golden brown and set and filling is beginning to bubble, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool fully in pan on a wire rack. Take away from pan. Mud with confectioners’ sugar as desired simply earlier than serving.