Deeply caramelised, crisp puff pastry and fluffy clouds of whipped ricotta make a comely base for an array of tempting toppings
Ingredients
For the pastry:
• 320g ready rolled puff pastry rectangle, or equivalent
• 200g caster sugar, divided
For the whipped ricotta:
• 250g ricotta
• 150ml double cream
Method
1 Remove the pastry from the fridge 10 minutes before you need to use it to allow it to come just to room temperature.
2 Line a 20 × 30 cm baking sheet with baking parchment, folding around the edges to keep it down. Evenly sprinkle over 100 g of the sugar.
3 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4 Roll out or trim your pastry to 20 × 30 cm. Carefully lay the pastry in the pan on top of the sugar, sprinkle over the remaining sugar and cover with another piece of parchment and another baking sheet.
5 Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
6 Leaving the baking sheets layered, bake in the oven for 30 minutes. After this time, the sugar should be starting to caramelise around the edges.
7 Remove the top pan and parchment and bake for a further 15 minutes.
8 Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then very carefully turn over and peel away the bottom parchment.
9 A gloriously golden crust should greet you. Leave to cool fully while you make the ricotta cream.
10 For the cream, simply whip the ricotta with the cream until soft peaks form – by hand is better to avoid overbeating.
11 Spoon the cream onto the cooled puff and spread almost to the edges with a small offset spatula.
Recipe courtesy of Chloe Timms, extracted from Salted Caramel Dreams
