Baking is a rarer pleasure than other forms of cooking in my house. In an effort to keep everyone healthy, I don’t usually offer dessert unless I’ve made something special, and with my family’s love affair with chocolate, cakes, brownies, and cookies featuring chocolate are the most often requested. My other dessert love affair is with fruit and my family is beginning to share this passion. Fruit crisps, fruit cobbler, fruit compote, fresh fruit with a delicious sauce, these are all desserts that I love to make, serve and eat. When I want something a bit lighter and brighter than the comfort and smoothness of chocolate—I go to the fruit recipes.
Here is a very easy way with fruit, a rustic galette that is really just a free-form panless pie. Galettes can be savory or sweet, the crust doesn’t have sugar in it, just a little sprinkled on the top. You don’t have to be a master baker to perfect this pastry, and best of all, it keeps beautifully. You can refrigerate any leftovers and warm them in the oven, and it comes out as nicely as the day you made it. Serve this plain or with a bit of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Peach Galette
Serves 8
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water
For the Filling:
¼ cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons ground pecans or pecan meal
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ½ pounds fresh peaches, peeled, halved, pitted and sliced into ½ inch wedges or chunks
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ cup peach or apricot preserves
Preparation:
To make the crust:
Combine the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and process for 5 seconds. (The butter pieces will still be visible). Add the ice water and process for another 5 seconds or so, until the dough just comes together (again, the butter pieces will still be visible). Remove the dough from the processor onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a ball. Roll the dough into a 16-inch circle/oval that is about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet large enough to hold it. Chill the dough on the baking sheet for about 20 minutes or until it firms up. Position a rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
Filling the Crust:
Combine ¼ cup of sugar and the ground pecans into a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the chilled crust, leaving a 2-inch edge. Arrange the peaches on top. Dot the peaches with the small pieces of butter. Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar over the peaches, saving a teaspoon of it to sprinkle over the crust edge. Fold the 2-inch edge of the crust up and slightly over the edge of the filling. Sprinkle the edge with the remaining teaspoon of sugar.
Bake the galette for about 50 minutes or until the fruit is very soft and the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush the peach or apricot preserves on top of the fruit and the crust. Cool to room temperature and serve.
