Have I mentioned that I love apples? There is just something wholesome about them. They perform equally well in a crisp wild rice salad as they do in a warm, gooey pie. This apple galette is better than pie. No real fiddling with the crust or worrying if it’s going to shrink. It’s supposed to look rustic! Plus, there is an amazing layer of caramel-y pecan-y goodness at the bottom! I don’t know if it’s the rustic feel, the pecans, or the apples, but it somehow feels wholesome, like you could eat it for breakfast. (Hey, if you eat it for breakfast, I won’t judge. I do however feel obligated to tell you that this is not breakfast. This is pie.)
A few notes about the preparation of the apple galette. First, if you are afraid of pie crust don’t worry. As I mentioned, a galette is much more forgiving than a pie. In order to achieve a flakey crust, you should use very cold butter. You have a couple of options when it comes to “cutting in ” the butter to the flour. The first might seem obvious-you can cut the butter into small pieces, toss them in the flour, and then use two butter knives to continue cutting the butter into smaller and smaller pieces until the mixture resembles course sand. The second option is to use a pastry cutter (if you own one of these, I am going to assume you know how to wield it) if you don’t but are curious about them, using a pastry cutter is like having six knives working at once! The third option, is to use a cheese grater to grate the very cold butter into the flour. Toss with your hands, and then use your fingers to press the butter into the flour. have used all three methods with great success.
The second note, is about the assembly. As I mentioned, this apple galette is supposed to look rustic. So relax! You will basically roll out a huge circle of crust, plop some fruit in the middle, fold up the edges to contain the fruit, and bake. Easy peasy. To make things even easier, I usually sprinkle a little flour over my silpat mat or a piece of wax paper cut to fit my baking sheet. Then, I roll the dough out directly on that. That way, I know exactly how far I need to fold the edges in for my galette to fit on my pan. (No one likes a galette drooping of the pan and making a mess of their oven. I know I said rustic, but come on.) If I rolled the dough too big, and the edges are meeting in the middle, robbing me of the adorable apples peeking through the center, I just cut the dough back to the right size. I then re-roll out the scraps, sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar and bake for about six minutes. (A little pre-galette snack?)
- For the dough:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 sticks cold butter (226 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup ice water
- 1 egg (for egg wash)
- For the filling:
- 2 large apples (I used honey crisp)
- 1 pear
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup softened butter (56 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 egg yolk
- pinch of salt
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
- For the crust: Combine flour, salt, and two tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl.
- Cut butter into flour mixture. (See notes above)
- The flour mixture should appear crumbly. Sprinkle lemon juice over the dough and stir briefly.
- Slowly add ice water, sprinkling about a tablespoon at a time. Using your hands, incorporate the water into the dough, until the dough just comes together in a ball. (You may not use all of the water.)
- On a lightly floured surface, press the dough into a round disk about a half inch thick.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
- For the filling: Thinly slice apples and pears, and transfer to a large bowl. Add two tablespoons flour and a pinch of salt and stir until distributed evenly throughout the fruit. Set aside.
- In a small bowl cream butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add egg yolk and stir until well combined. Stir in flour and pecans, and set aside.
- Assemble the galette (see notes above): Remove dough from fridge and roll into a big circle, about a quarter inch thick.
- Spread pecan mixture over the center of the crust and cover with apple/pear mixture.
- Fold the sides of the dough up over the apples, leaving the center open. (If you have too much crust, cut some away so that the sides come about half way to the center of the galette.
- Beat egg in a small bowl and brush over the crust. Sometimes I sprinkle a little sugar on the crust as well.
- Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for about 45 minutes.
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