This apple galette is my go-to, all-time favorite dessert to make for company. Super crisp crust with lots of flaky layers. Fruit that develops an intense flavor. Leftovers taste as good for breakfast, if you don’t refrigerate the tart. (The crust gets soggy and there is no reheating technique I’ve discovered that revives it.)
This wonderful crisp galette owes its success to many tricks I’ve learned over the years. First the dough, which comes from a recipe in Jacques Pepin’s book, The Art of Cooking. It is one that has been widely imitated. The secret is mixing the dough in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. You use ice cold butter and pulse briefly to just cut the butter in; large chunks of butter help give flakiness to the dough. And a small amount of ice-cold water brings it all together.
I can make this pastry blindfolded. I can make it without any specialized equipment too. You can too.
We use it for all sorts of fruit when making this galette from apple to peach, plum and rhubarb. When using ripe and juicy fruit, a light layer of ground almonds, sugar and breadcrumbs or flour is essential to absorb any excess moisture. (A richer frangipane cream filling is nice too.)
Here is the dough used to make a pear frangipane tart. I poached the pears before baking so they soften and stay juicy.
The dough is ideal for savory tarts like these tomato and zucchini tartlets and juicy fruit like strawberries and rhubarb too.
This recipe for Apple Almond Galette makes one half-sheet tray sized dessert, good for 8 to 10 people. Divide the dough in half and make two smaller tarts from different fruits or on different days.
Kitchen Notebook
A few years ago, I assisted when Jacques Pepin and his grand daughter Shorey made videos to go with his book A Grandfather’s Lessons. We are very old friends; Charlie met Jacques in the early 1970’s. And making his galette dough my way was a fun surprise for the cast and crew on the last day of the shoot. I wore one of my Dad’s old shirts to match too.
This wonderful crisp galette owes its success to many tricks I’ve learned over the years. First the dough, which comes from a recipe in Jacques Pepin’s book, The Art of Cooking. It is one that has been widely imitated. The secret is mixing the dough in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. You use ice cold butter and pulse briefly to just cut the butter in; large chunks of butter help give flakiness to the dough. And a small amount of ice-cold water brings it all together.
Ingredients
8 ounces (about 1 ½ cups) all purpose flour, chilled in the refrigerator
¼ teaspoon salt
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into several pieces then frozen
1/3 cup ice water
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons finely ground almonds
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 to 3 pounds of tart apples such as Courtland or, peeled and cored
2 to 3 Tablespoons sugar for glaze
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a 12-inch x 18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the flour, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel cutting blade. Process for 5 to 8 seconds until butter is cut into somewhat smaller lumps. Do not over mix. Add the water and process 6 to 8 seconds until the flour is moistened.
- Dump the mixture into a large bowl and gather up dough into a ball. Knead gently if necessary just to bind the ingredients. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before using.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an oval shape about 12 inches x 18 inches, roughly the size of a half baking sheet. Fold the dough in quarters and transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet. (You may like to roll the dough on the parchment paper then transfer the dough covered parchment paper to the baking sheet.)
- Use a rolling cutter or paring knife to trim the edges of the dough uniformly, if you like.
- Combine the 2 tablespoons flour, ground almonds and sugar and sprinkle over the surface of the dough.
- Cut the apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the apple slices in concentric circles in one layer on the dough leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the edge of the dough over to form the crust edge. Sprinkle the surface of the dough and the apples with the remaining sugar and dot with slices of butter.
- Place on a center shelf in the oven and bake for 50 minutes to one hour until the crust is a deep brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve while still warm with whipped cream or ice cream.