Peach Galette.

 

 

September is officially here. Autumn is just around the corner and with that I have to make something pie-like. We’ve had a hot spell here this week, incredibly humid, but the scents in the air and the daylight are different. They’re autumn. There’s something about this season that relaxes me, and that must be why it’s my favourite. Suddenly I’m okay with slowing down, reading a book, sipping coffee for hours, simply watching the passing by of things and people. The pace gets slower and the food gets warmer.

This works well for us since I can’t keep baking whole cakes and trays of bars, we just can’t keep up with eating it! Now pies and galettes on the other hand are perfect for any meal of the day! Not too sweet, you don’t feel like you’re eating full-on dessert. These are my favourite types of baking projects: those that double up as breakfast + coffee companion, or can be altered easily into something savoury. I was on the fence about cramming this full of roasted vegetables and goat cheese, so you see you have many options with simple pastry. Oh how lovely roasted vegetables and goat cheese wrapped in pastry would be, topped with a quick fried egg. Breakfast glory. These are the things that excite me.

This is a really easy item to make, it tastes delicious, and won’t take up your entire day. I wanted to make something with fresh summer peaches, as I think this is the last of them we’ll get to see. They’re on their way out for the year. Sadly. So here you are.

 

The Peach Galette: yields two 8 inch galettes (remember you can make the full batch and refrigerate half the dough for a couple of days. Another galette flavor later perhaps?!)

 

The Dough:

 

300 g                    all purpose flour

200 g                    cold butter, diced into small cubes

1 TB                       sugar

1/8 tsp                  salt

100 ml                  ice cold water

1                            egg (for egg washing)

2 TB                      cornmeal or semolina for dusting

 

-Whisk together the salt and sugar with the flour in a large bowl. Add the butter and begin cutting it into the flour mixture, either with a pastry cutter or your hands. I always use my hands for small batches, and small batches are all I make anyways! You can use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer if you don’t feel like mucking up your hands just yet.

-Blend the butter into the flour until it resembles bits as small as pebbles or mini peas, and then add your ice cold water.

-Using a spoon mix the water and flour together until it starts to come together, and then switch at this point to using your hands.

-Fold the dough in on itself from the sides and carefully keep mixing it until it seems to hold together into a rough ball.

-Dump the dough out on to a floured work surface and press together from the sides and top, until the dough holds together and no big chunks are left on the counter top.

-Flatten out into a round disk about a 1/2 inch thick, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

(Note: The trick to getting this galette the flakiest is not to overmix your dough. Leave small pebble sized chunks of butter in the dough and mix it only until it just holds together. If your dough springs back on you when you’re trying to roll it out into a round after refrigerating, then you’ve overmixed it a bit.)

Here’s a photo showing you how far I mixed mine. This photo was taken before I rested it in the fridge for 30 mins. At this stage it’s just patted down into a flat round, and not yet rolled out thinly for the galette. A slight bit of crumbliness is what you are looking for at this stage, these little bits will be incorporated into the dough once you take a rolling pin to it later.

 

 

 

The Filling:

 

2-3                            medium fresh peaches

1 TB                          sugar for the filling, plus more for dusting

1 TB                          heaped, all purpose flour

 

-Preheat your oven to 375 F (preferably with a pizza/bread stone!)

-Slice the peaches thinly and then toss with the flour and sugar. There’s no perfect slice thickness, just do whatever you think looks nice without slicing them as thin as paper! You want them to hold up to a bit of juice-loss from the baking. They’ll shrink a bit.

-To build the galettes remove the dough from the fridge, cut into two equal portions, and roll each out into a disk with a rolling pin until they’re about 10 inches across. Dust your work surface, the dough, and your rolling pin generously to avoid sticking.

-Transfer your dough round (it’s probably best to just bake one at a time) to a baking sheet dusted with some of the cornmeal or semolina.

-Place 5 or 6 slices of peach in the very center of the dough round and then begin fanning slices of peach in a circular motion on top of the first 5-6 slices. I placed peaches underneath the fanned ones to give it some height and substance. Remember again that the fruit will shrink a bit once cooked, so be generous and make it nice and full.

-Begin folding the dough up and over the outside of the ring of peaches in about 2 inch wide folds. Again, there’s no rule or real method here, just do whatever you think looks neat! I used a 9 or 10 inch round tart mold to cut the edges off of my dough round before I started folding them up and over, so that the galette would have a nice finished edge.

 

 

-Once your galettes are formed whisk a splash of water into your egg, and brush the dough with the egg wash. Sprinkle generously with sugar, and bake for about 30-35 mins being sure to rotate the tray at least once or twice during bake time.

-Every oven is different, so keep in mind that you want a nice golden finish, and the time baked won’t be exact with what I’ve done here. I find that so many people pull things out of the oven based on “how many minutes” the item’s been in the oven. This is a huge mistake! Learn to look for signs of doneness before pulling things from the oven, you’ll get a much nice product! For cakes: look for a springiness in the center when pushed lightly with your finger, for flaky pie doughs such as this one: look for a medium golden brown color. These details are much more important than how many minutes it’s been baking, and you’ll be much happier with the product when it’s time to stuff it in your face!

-When your galette is golden brown remove it from the oven and rest for 5 minutes on the tray. When it’s cool enough to touch grab a large flat spatula and lift it onto a wire cooling rack for an additional 15 minutes, then slice up and enjoy! This was really easy and unbelievably delicious, not overly sweet at all. 

 

Hope you guys enjoyed a nice Labour Day long weekend, and while you’re all back at the grind today – I’ll just be sitting here at home.

Waiting for a parcel to arrive.     And… eating Galette.

 

Ciao for now!