Apple Galette

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Galette is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or freeform crusty cakes. In this case it’s a rustic, free-form pie with a crust that’s made especially tasty with the addition of crème fraiche. You can use the dough recipe with any sort of filling you like – sweet or savory.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients: Dough

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

Ingredients: Filling

¼ cup crème fraiche or sour cream
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Sugar, white or Turbinado (Sugar in the Raw)

 

1 ¾ - 2 pounds baking apples
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon water
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
¼ cup heavy cream
Turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

Instructions

  1. Put the flour in a small bowl.  Add pinch of salt.  Cut the 8 tablespoons butter into ½ tablespoon slices, into the bowl, and toss to coat each piece with flour. Put in the freezer for 30-60 minutes.
  2. Working quickly so that the butter does not have a chance to warm up; pour flour mixture into food processor, process for 10 seconds, or until butter pieces are no longer visible.
  3. Add crème fraiche.  Process for another 10 seconds, until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal.
  4. Pour onto clean countertop.  Separate out 1-2 tablespoons at a time, and slide it out with the heel of one hand to form a long “flake”.  Scrape up flakes into a pile.
  5. When all the flour/butter mixture has been formed into flakes, compress them into a hockey-puck shaped disk, about 3 inches in diameter.  Pound and reshape a few times to achieve a smoother surface.  Place into plastic bag and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
  6. Peel and core the apples. Slice to medium thickness.
  7. Melt the butter for the filling in a skillet.
  8. Stir the sugar for the filling and the water into the melted butter. Cook over medium high heat until a rich caramel forms – 8 to 10 minutes – stirring frequently. Remove from heat
  9. Add the apple slices to the caramel, and stir to coat. Cook over medium low heat, until the apple juices begin to bubble and all of the caramel has re-liquefied – about 5 to 8 minutes.
  10. Scrape the caramelized apple slices into a large bowl. Add the lemon juice to taste, depending on the tartness of your apples. Add cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, and toss thoroughly to mix. Set aside to cool completely
  11. Preheat oven to 375F and arrange racks to lower third of the oven.
  12. Spread a generous amount of flour onto the counter surface.  Coat the puck with flour, and whack it around the sides to reduce splitting of the edges as you roll it out.  Roll it out evenly to about 12 inches.
  13. Brush off the excess flour, then place dough circle onto a cookie sheet.  Top with apple filling, leaving 2-3 inches around the edge.  Fold the dough edges over the filling, overlapping to provide the rustic galette top.
  14. Brush the visible dough with heavy cream, and sprinkle liberally with Turbinado sugar.
  15. Put into oven. Bake until crust is golden and the filling bubbles, about 30 minutes.
  16. Let cool for 10 minutes, and serve warm.

My husband says: When I make a pie, I have a greedy tendency to stuff as much filling into the crust as will fit. However, because a galette is not cooked in a pie dish to contain the sides, that’s a very bad idea. Stick to a modest amount of filling, or you’ll end up with a soggy mess flowing out all over the sheet.