Apple Gallette

Dough:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tbls unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2″ pieces
3 1/2 tbls chilled water

Filling:
2 pounds (Granny Smith or Crispin) apples  peeled, cored and sliced
3 tbls sugar

Glaze:
Lemon sugar

Cream

Make the dough first: sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter cubes with two knives. Make sure that you do this rather quickly, you want to keep the butter as cold as possible to insure a light, flaky pastry dough. Cut it in until the biggest pieces are about the size of large peas.

Add the chilled water one tbls at a time, stirring until the dough just holds together (you may not need all the water, depends on your flour and the humidity of your kitchen).

Dump the dough out on lightly floured counter and pat into a circle about 1.5″ inches thick. Double-wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).

After the chilling period, take the dough out and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes; this allows the dough to soften slightly so that when you roll it out, it won’t break into slivers or pieces.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured counter. Carefully transfer the dough to a greased baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. To fill the tart, overlap the sliced apples on top of the dough in a ring 2 inches from the edge and continue towards the center. To complete the tart, fold over the edges of the dough. It doesn’t have to look perfect, the beauty of a galette lies in its rusticity.


Wipe the crust and exposed apples with cream and sprinkle lemon sugar on top. 

Place the baking sheet in the center of the oven and bake the galette for 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft and have slightly browned edges. Try to rotate the tart every 15 minutes to ensure even browning of the crust.

When the tart is done baking, remove from the oven and slide it off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.


I picked up these crispin apples this morning at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmer's Market and their tart juiciness were just what was needed in this pastry!