Now let’s cook
Apple crumble. Same crumb, different character: it has talkan in it, a flour of grain roasted before it is milled.
Ingredients
- 575 g cooking applesFirm, tart apples such as Bramley; they turn very soft in the oven.
- 25 g sugarWhite granulated sugar.
- 115 g plain wheat flourPlain (all-purpose) white wheat flour.
- 60 g talkanFlour of roasted, ground grain, most often wheat or barley.
- 110 g sugarWhite granulated sugar.
- 0.5 ml fine saltFine table salt.
- 110 g butterButter made from cow’s milk.
Method
Heat the oven to 190 °C. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into slices 1 cm thick.
Toss the apples with 25 g of sugar and tip them into a round dish 23 cm across and at least 5 cm deep. Press them flat with your palm so less of the crumb slips between the slices.
In a bowl, combine the flour, talkan, 110 g of sugar and the salt.
Cut the cold butter into cubes, add it to the bowl and work it in with your fingertips until the mix resembles damp breadcrumbs. Give the bowl a shake: any large lumps rise to the top, so work those in too.
Tip the crumb onto the apples in a mound in the middle, then spread it out to the edges with a fork. Lightly pat the top down with the flat of the fork to bind the crumb, then draw the fork across it.
Set the dish on a baking tray and bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top has browned and a knife slides easily into the apples. Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.