On galettes and not judging by appearances

When I first started baking seriously and realised the internet was a treasure chest full of recipes and inspirations for baking, my initial reaction to galettes was that they were fake, wannabe pies: the ugly, deadbeat cousin of a pie that is just too lazy to get its butt off the couch and, I don't know, be a real pie I guess. I wanted to be a real baker and make real pies so I disregarded galettes for years... until now.

As always, was I ever wrong. I'm not sure when I realized that it was the quaint, rustic look to them and the sheer simplicity to their making that made them so appealing and, dare I say it, breathtaking (an extreme adjective for a piece of pastry, but hey, I like to be overdramatic). I scoured my favourite resource Tastespotting for a suitable recipe, and eventually came across one from the Tartine cookbook (which I wish I owned), posted by Spicy Icecream. Their method to making the pastry intrigued me: no food processor or pastry cutter or even a bowl and spoon, just dump everything onto the counter and roll it together with a rolling pin? Yeah, like that would work. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot, and although I admit I felt stupid at first and was sure I was just going to make a mess and end up having to throw away half a pound of butter, I persevered... and it worked. Not only did it work out exactly as the recipe said, it was the best damn tart pastry I had ever made (and believe me when I say all my attempts in the past were failures) -- buttery and flaky and oh so good. And they gave way to my beautiful galettes, who, might I add, I shall never doubt ever again.


I halved the recipe and made 4 medium-sized peach and blueberry & peach galettes.

Fruit Galettes
From Tartine by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson
Makes 2 large or 12 small galettes

Dough
455g unsalted butter, very cold
1 cup water
1 ½ teaspoons salt
5 cups all purpose flour

Filling
About 6 cups fruit (peaches, nectarines, apricots, berries, sautéed apples or pears – your choice), cut up if necessary
Granulated sugar

Egg wash
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon cream
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling

To make the dough, cut the butter into 1-inch cubes and put them in the freezer. Measure the water, dissolve the salt into it and put into the freezer as well. Chill both for about 10 minutes.

Measure the flour onto a large, flat work surface and spread into a rectangle about 1cm thick. Scatter the butter cubes over the flour and toss a little flour over the butter so that your rolling pin won’t stick, and begin rolling. When the butter starts flattening out into long, thin pieces, use a bench scraper to scoop up the sides of the rectangle so that it is the size that you started with. Repeat the rolling and scraping 3 or 4 times.

Make a well in the center and pour all of the water into it. Using the bench scraper, scoop the sides of the dough into the center, cutting the water through the dough. Keep scraping and cutting until the dough is a shaggy mass and shape into a rectangle.

Lightly dust the top with flour and roll out the rectangle until it is half as large again, then scrape the top, bottom and sides together to the original size and re-roll. Repeat 3 or 4 times until you have a smooth and cohesive dough. Transfer rectangle of dough to a large baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour. While the dough is chilling, prepare the fruit. Hull berries, pit the peaches and cut into eighths, etc depending on the fruit you are using.

When you are ready to roll the dough, divide it into 2 equal portions if making large galettes or 12 equal portions for small ones. Roll the dough into circle shapes by rolling from the center to each end, not flattening the end points. Turn the pastry so the flattened out corners are at the top and bottom. Again, roll from the center towards the points nearest and farthest to you, stopping short of the top and bottom. Roll the thicker areas and you will begin to see a circle forming. Transfer to baking sheets and chill for 10 minutes.

Fill the center of each dough circle with fruit, leaving a 5cm edge uncovered on the large galettes or a 2cm edge on the small ones. Taste the fruit for sweetness and determine how much sugar you want to use to sweeten it. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, typically using 2-4 tablespoons for large galettes and 1-2 teaspoons for each small. Fold in the sides of the circle to cover the fruit partially. Chill for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF). To make the egg wash, whisk egg yolk and cream in a small bowl. Crush the egg wash over the pastry edges and then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake the galettes until the crust has visibly puffed and baked to dark brown and the juice from the fruit is bubbling inside – 45-60 minutes for large galettes and 40-50 minutes for small galettes. Rotate the baking sheets at the midway point to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and serve hot or at room temperature.