Fruit Galettes

Fruit galettes are kind of perfect. They’re adaptable to every season — apples and pears for fall and winter, peaches and plums for summer, and a berry mixture for spring. And, they can be made with fruit on hand, in this case, apples. I’m one who loves the apple-cinnamon combination, and it tasted wonderful in this galette. The crust is flaky and buttery, just as it should be. Apricots and cherries, peaches and nectarines, blackberries and raspberries — the possibilities are endless.

Fruit Galettes (click to print)
makes one large galette or six small galettes
from Tartine

Dough
1 cup unsalted butter, very cold
1/2 cup water
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups pastry flour (or all-purpose)

Filling
about 3 cups fruit, cut up or whole depending on type
2 to 4 tablespoons granulated or brown sugar
lemon juice, if needed

Egg Wash
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

granulated sugar for sprinkling

Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes, and put them in the freezer. Dissolve the salt into the water, and put it in the freezer. Chill the butter and water for 10 minutes.

Measure both flours onto your work surface. Spread the flour out into a rectangle about 1/3-inch deep. Scatter the butter cubes over the flour. Toss a little of the flour over the butter so that your rolling pin won’t stick. Begin rolling. When the butter begins to flatten into long, thin pieces, use a bench scraper to scoop up the sides of the rectangle so that it is again the size you started with. Repeat the rolling and scraping 3 or 4 times.

Make a well in the center and pour in the cold water. With a bench scraper, scoop the sides of the dough onto the center, mixing the water into the dough. Keep scraping and mixing until the dough is a shaggy mass. Shape the dough into a rectangle about 10×14-inches. Lightly dust the top with flour. Roll out the rectangle until it is half as thick, and then scrape the top, bottom, and sides together again to the original size and reroll. Repeat 3 or 4 times until the dough becomes smooth and cohesive. You should end up with a roughly 10×14-inch rectangle.

Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill well, about 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the fruit. Hull the berries if necessary, pit the peaches and slice into eighths, pit the apricots, and so on.

After the dough has been chilled, divide it into 6 equal portions if making small galettes. Roll the dough into a rough circle, or circles if making small galettes, about 14 inches in diameter and 1/8-inch thick for a large galette and 6 to 7 inches in diameter and a little thinner for small galettes. Transfer the circle(s) to baking sheets, and chill until firm, about 10 minutes

Fill the center of each dough circle with fruit, leaving uncovered a border of 2 inches on a large circle and 1 inch on small circles. Taste the fruit for sweetness, and then sprinkle with granulated or brown sugar, about 2 to 4 tablespoons for each large galette and 1 to 2 teaspoons for each small galette. If you want to, sprinkle some lemon juice also. Fold in the sides of the circle(s) to cover the fruit partially, making sure there are no openings where fruit juices can leak out. Chill until firm, about 10 minutes. While the galettes are chilling, preheat the oven to 375°F.

From here, you can either store them in the fridge unwrapped for a couple of hours, wrap them airtight and freeze them for up to two weeks, or bake them immediately. When ready to bake, make the egg wash by whisking together the egg yolk and cream. Brush the egg wash over the pastry edges, and then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake the galettes until the crust has puffed and baked to a dark brown and the juice from the fruit is bubbling inside, 45 to 60 minutes for a large galette and 40 to 50 minutes for small galettes. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through to ensure even browning. (If baking straight from the freezer, add 10 minutes to the baking time.) Remove from the oven and serve hot, or let cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.