Recipe: Crumble-topped Pear & Almond Slice

Another week, another recipe to use up what's lurking around my fridge. This week, pears.

After getting Ruby Tandoh's book Crumb the other week I've bookmarked a few recipes to try. You may remember rye & caraway bagels, they went down very well. This recipe is essentially a sweet bread topped with honeyed pears, almonds and crumble. Great with a steaming mug of coffee for breakfast.

Although there was no picture in the book, it did state to roll out to a rectangular shape...I went for more of a pizza slice, no one complained!

Crumble-topped pear & almond slice
(Recipe from Ruby Tandoh's Crumb, serves 8).

300g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
190ml milk

For the pear topping:

4 firm dessert pears, such as Williams, Comice or Bosc (although I used Conference and they were fine)
30g unsalted butter
4 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground allspice
70g flaked almonds

For the crumble topping:

50g unsalted butter, room temperature
50g white flour
40g soft light brown sugar
30g flaked almonds, finely chopped

Combine the flour, yeast and honey together in a mixing bowl. In a small pan, heat the honey and milk on a low temperature until tepid. Pour into the dry ingredients, mix and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough will become less sticky. Loosely cover with clingfilm and leave for an hour at room temperature. The dough will double in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the pears. Peel, core and slice. Melt the butter with honey and allspice on low in a large pan. Once melted, increase to a medium heat and add the pears to caramelised. They will soften and turn golden after 5 minutes if stirred regularly. If they start to disintegrate, remove from the heat. Stir in the flaked almonds and leave to cool.

For the crumble, rub together the butter, flour and sugar between your fingertips until the mixture clumps together. Add the chopped almonds and chill in the fridge.

Lightly flour a work surface and turn out the risen dough. Roll to around 20x30cm. Place on a large, lined baking tray and prove for 30-45 minutes. Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Once proved, arrange the pears on the risen dough with a 1cm border. Sprinkle over the crumble and brush the edges with the leftover honey from the pears. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180 degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes.