It started with an innocent trip to Costco. In July. Which meant there were enticing summer fruits beckoning to me as I strolled with my big, empty cart, shopping alone at 8:15pm, which is the absolute best (or worst??) time to shop at Costco. I sauntered over to say hello to the sweet produce.
They seduced me.
I drove home with strawberries, blueberries, a watermelon, bananas, and white peaches. All Costco-sized, of course. White peaches are one of Ben’s favorites, and I couldn’t wait to dig in! They’re also my friend Kim’s favorite, so I justified the purchase by telling myself she’d probably take half of them. Even so, I started to feel burdened by all the ripe fruit we would have to consume in the next week. I was comforted with the knowledge that summer fruits were going to be amazing right now, so this was the time to GO BIG OR GO HOME.
When we got home, I sliced one of those soft, juicy peaches open and… it was yellow inside.
They were not white peaches.
And then the strawberries weren’t sweet.
And then the watermelon wasn’t as amazing as last time.
What a bust!
What was I going to do with two pounds of mediocre strawberries, two pounds of blueberries, a ginormous meh watermelon, pounds of bananas, and 10 juicy, ripe YELLOW peaches?!
So I sat down with my fun new journal and decided on the fate of my disappointing purchases. Soon I had visions of fruit tarts, ice creams, juices, and galettes dancing in my mind. I had go-to recipes for almost all of them, so it was just a matter of remembering to run the blender before the kids went down for a nap, and sticking the ice cream bowl into the freezer so it would be ready to churn ice cream. No problem.
My first go at galettes
Except for the galette. I had never actually made a galette before, but had been itching to try since I had a slice of my friend Lauren’s nectarine galette recently. Everything I read about galettes promised me that they were the more relaxed, rustic cousin to pies. They didn’t require a pie tin and the fillings had minimal fuss. Just roll out the crust, pile fruit on top, and fold the edges over. This would be a snap to throw together, right?
Lauren happily shared her recipe with me, but as I skimmed it, I was immediately overwhelmed by the paragraphs of instructions. I like to keep my recipes short and sweet, and this didn’t feel like the more relaxed, rustic version of anything. There were ~13 ingredients on the list, which was about 8 more than I was hoping for. So I went to see what my baking hero Dorie had to say about it, and then researched a whole bunch of other recipes online, and here is what I learned:
- Your favorite go-to pie crust will do. Yayyy Trader Joe’s!
- You can go many routes on the filling, including using marmalade or jam, making a custard to pour in, creating a cornstarch/sugar mixture, or simply sprinkling some sugar on top. I went with the last one.
- If you have juicy fruits (like peaches), you need something to soak up the juiciness or it will soak through your crust. You can line the bottom with a layer of bread crumbs (unseasoned), graham cracker crumbs (as Dorie did), pulverized amaretti cookies, or a mixture of ground almonds and sugar. I went with the last one.
- You can brush the folded crust with egg wash or butter. I dislike touching raw eggs, so I used butter.
- It is nice to sprinkle some crunchy sugar (like raw turbinado sugar) on the folded edges for a little crunch. Regular white sugar will do in a pinch.
- There are a whole bunch of cooking temperatures and times (some with various times and temperatures within one recipe!), but I personally think a hotter oven will give you a crisper crust. So I went with that.
- One recipe said to preheat the pan (pizza stone, if you have one) in the lower third of the oven while the oven is getting to temperature. I am guessing this is to keep the top of the crust from burning and also keeping the bottom of the galette crisp and less soggy. I followed that advice.
- Smaller galettes can be delicious. The first time I made this recipe, I made two smaller galettes. The second time, I tried one big galette. I liked the smaller ones much more. They were easier to handle and didn’t get as soggy in the middle (though I did add more peach slices to fill it in more, so maybe that was more to blame). I also personally prefer the higher crust to fruit ratio of the smaller galettes.
One of the reasons a galette really appeals to me is the idea that it’s supposed to be very simple. Also, the fruit I was using was actually good, so I didn’t want to mask that with custards or jams or lots of sugar. So, with simplicity as my guiding principle, I started with my favorite store-bought pie dough (thank you Trader Joe’s!).
I didn’t make a fancy filling, but just sprinkled on a bit of sugar.
I generally followed the instructions from Smitten Kitchen that Lauren had sent me, with a few (simplifying) tweaks.
The final result was delicious!
It was simple but elegant and my friends each got seconds and I’m already trying to find another excuse to make it. Which means I need to write down how I made it so it will turn out good again. So here goes!
Summer Fruit Galette, or Peach and Blueberry Galette
Makes 2 smaller galettes
Ingredients
- 11 ounces pie dough (one pie crust)
- 2 tablespoons almond meal
- 2 teaspoons sugar + 2 tablespoons of sugar, separated
- 1.5 lbs summer fruit, cleaned and cut (I used 2 large peaches, cut into wedges + 1 cup blueberries)
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon raw turbinado sugar (or other crunchy sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place baking sheet on a lower rack to heat up with the oven.
- Roll half of the pie dough into a circle about 1/8″ thick. Lay onto a sheet of parchment paper.
- Combine almond meal and 2 teaspoons sugar in a small bowl, then sprinkle half of the mixture on top of the pie dough, leaving a 1.5-2″ border around the edges.
- Arrange half of the fruit onto the tart. I placed the peaches down and then dumped a handful of blueberries on top. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on top of fruit.
- Fold edges over, crimping as you go and overlapping the fruit a little bit. Brush folded edges with half of the melted butter, then sprinkle half of the turbinado sugar over the crust.
- Repeat steps 2-5 for the second galette.
- Transfer parchment paper with galettes onto the baking sheet that has been heating up in the oven.* Bake in lower third of the oven for about 40-50 minutes, until the crust is well browned and its edges are slightly caramelized.
- Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
*To transfer, I took the hot baking sheet out of the oven and placed it on my stove. Then I used a cool, rimless baking sheet as a sort of ginormous spatula to transfer the parchment paper with the galettes from the counter onto the hot baking pan. Then I put it all back into the oven.
2 responses to “Simple Summer Fruit Galette Recipe”
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mayhaps it’s time to come back to the CSA. i can at least guarantee your fruit will not be crappy. i’ve been using jacque pepin’s apple galette recipe that uses a food processor for dough and the most annoying part of the whole mess is to try to lay the apples out properly. good for breakfast, right?
Looks goooood. Yes your CSA fruit is always amazing!!! But then I’d just want to eat it out of hand and not bake it haha. I’ll try the galette recipe sometime, thanks!