Baking a pie is a pretty wonderous thing. Somehow there’s much more meaning and memories that end up baked into a pie than, let’s say, a cupcake. Not that I’m dissing everyone’s favorite cupcake. It’s just that pies seem to remind us of days gone by, of grandmothers, of pies cooling on kitchen windowsills. They are a bit old-fashioned and antiquated, but the act of baking a pie from scratch shouts out love, plain and simple.
Let’s face it. Pies can be fussy and a bit frightening, what with finding the perfect pie dough recipe to flirting with disaster just trying to roll out the damn thing. So that’s why I’ve become enamored with the galette. A galette is what one would call a bit rustic and freeform. It only involves rolling out 1 piece of dough rather than two, since the dough folds over creating it’s own top crust. It’s brilliant, really. It’s beautiful in it’s own way and one bite will bring all those old-timey memories flooding back.
This isn’t the first time I’ve made a similar pie. Last year I was very successful rolling out a wonderful cornmeal crust that held the fruit beautifully. It declared it a dream crust. This time, however, I wanted to try something a bit more traditional and stumbled across Molly’s crust. It wasn’t as easy to work with in that I had to add more water to the dough and it didn’t hold it’s shape very well. Figuring it was bungled, I just threw all the crumbs, loose bits and doughy bits together, and held it tight with some plastic wrap. After sleeping in the fridge overnight, the dough seemed just fine in the morning. I rolled it out and it surprisingly held together. And how did it bake up? Flaky and light, just like I had dreamed. I may just have a new contender to my dream pie dough recipe!
raspberry, black currant & nectarine galette
For crust (crust recipe modified from Orangette):
5 T ice water, plus more as needed
1 t white vinegar
1 ½ c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
¾ t kosher salt
9 T cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes2 c raspberries
2 nectarines, sliced
1/4 c black currants
1/2 c sugar
zest of 1 lime
2 T cornstarch
1 egg, lightly beaten1. In a measuring cup, combine the water and vinegar and store in the fridge until ready to use. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour and salt together. Using a pastry knife, blend in the butter until you are left with a mixture resembling coarse crumbs about the size of peas. Slowly add in the vinegar/water combo and use a wooden spoon to gently blend the mixture so that it holds together lightly. Spread plastic wrap on the counter and dump dough into the middle of the plastic wrap. Seal tightly and press into a disc. Refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.
2. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine together the fruit, sugar, cornstarch and zest. Blend gently. Set aside.
3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it’s fairly thin (about 1/8″ thick) and move dough over to a walled cookie sheet. Place berry mixture in the middle of the dough and then fold the dough edges around the fruit, pressing gently around each fold to contain the juices. Brush crust lightly with egg.
4. Bake galette for about 40 minutes until the crust is golden, the fruit turns soft and the juices run bubbly. Let cool and serve with vanilla ice cream.
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That galette is BREATHTAKING!!! Nice work!!
very very pretty, and i can imagine how delicious it would taste!
Oh yum! I love a galette.
This looks like a very healthy dessert. A dessert where you can eat more because it’s good for you, right? At least that’s what I like to think. The addition of ice cream makes it extra special.
this looks fabulous! i made one with peach and blueberries last night that looked similar to this…but that recipe is a must-try. thanks for sharing 🙂
thanks veggiegirl!
mmm, it was delicious! thanks sara.
indeed, rachel!
blueberries would be a great addition, megan!
healthy? okay, i’ll go with that, bijoux 🙂
I have never made a galette in my entire lie! I want to make one asap, Kickpleat – yours looks fabulous!
I’ve never made a galette but I do love the ease and free form nature of it! Yours looks yummy and with my favourite fruit this summer (nectarines).
Ohh, I’ve been craving this very thing- stone fruits and fresh berries wrapped in pastry. I feel a dessert coming on this weekend. Beautifully done!
thanks patricia, it’s definitely worth the minor effort involved!
thanks, eatme, i love the look of it too!
thanks Aimée, the flavours blend so wonderfully. it’s a great dessert.
I tried to feed my boyfriend with different kinds of sandwiches, but he really doesn’t like sandwiches, except for chocolate sandwiches! 🙂
BDW, I from Asia and I am trying my best to learn how to cook (decent meals :-)), thanks for sharing your yummy recipes… Busby SEO challenge
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