Tags
French Desserts, Galette Dough, Pate Brisee, Peach Galette, Rustic Desserts, Summer Fruit Desserts
The free-form, unassuming look of a Galette can draw any baker to put good use of fresh summer stone fruit like peaches, apricots, cherries, plums and nectarines. If you’re really adventurous, you can also use meat, fish, cheese, vegetables and apples. So rustic and yet elegant, it’s the perfect addition to any meal whether you are cooking for the family or serving as an elegant dessert.
For my peach Galette, I started with 1-1/2 pounds of fresh peaches and sliced them into 1/2 inch thick pieces, added a little sugar, salt, cornstarch and lemon juice.
Next, in a separate bowl, I made what’s called Pate Brisee which is a slightly sweet pasty dough. This recipe seems pretty standard for any galette. You start with mixing flour, salt and sugar.
Then, with clean, washed hands I mixed 2 sticks cold butter until it resembled coarse meal. It looked like this:
To this, I added 1/4 cup of ice water. It all came together so beautifully and it looked like this:
At this point, I cut it in half, covered it in plastic wrap, and let it cool in fridge for an hour. Rolling out the dough was super easy. Remember, free form. No worries here. Pile on the fruit and the juices!
Fold, give it a little egg wash (an egg wash is just an egg that you scramble and apply to the dough using a pastry brush), and sanding sugar (a must have – gives it a little flare!)
In a little over an hour, you get this beautiful Peach Galette!
Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and you’re done.
The great thing about this pastry dough recipe is that it yields 2 disks. I think I’ll try it next with cherries or even some roasted vegetables. A Galette is rustic yet elegant and versatile for anyone. So, what kind of Galette will you be making?
Pate Brisee – Yields 2
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
DIRECTIONS:
1. Whisk together the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and mix until it resembles coarse meal. Add ice water (I used 1/4 cup) in a slow, steady stream until the dough holds together.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide in 2. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten, and form 2 disks. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.
STONE FRUIT GALETTE – source: Martha Stewart
1-1/2 pounds peaches
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tablespoons cornstarch
1 disk Pate Brisee
All-purpose, for surface
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Sanding sugar (optional), for sprinkling
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together fruit, granulated sugar, lemon juice, salt and cornstarch.
2. Roll out pate brisee into a 13-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick, on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to baking sheet. Arrange fruit in center, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold over border to enclose fruit, leaving center open. Brush crust with egg, and sprinkle with sanding sugar.
3. Bake until golden brown and bubbling in center, about 1 hour, 10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet. Let cool on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve with ice cream.
