OMGalettes!

PEACHES!

Peaches peaches peaches!

So juicy and delicious! I read somewhere (the New York Times Dining section?) that, while most produce has suffered from this summer's schizoid weather, this is a great year for peaches. So I went out and bought peaches at the Union Square Farmer's Market. Yellow peaches, white peaches- I don't discriminate.

Now, what to do with all these peaches? I was faced with a similar fruity dilemma, thanks to the five containers of blueberries in our fridge after my Farmer's Market binge. (It's just me and my dad in the house now, and much as we love blueberries, it's a little much.) Daddy suggested that I make pie, but since there's only two of us, I thought I should make something a little more manageable. Poof- galettes!

A lot of people don't seem to know what a galette is. It's sort of like a pie or tart, but instead of being made in a dish you just dump the filling onto a circular piece of dough and fold up the edges. The word most frequently used to describe galettes is "rustic." Take that to mean what you will, but I take it to mean that it's okay to be messy. Galettes are also nice because you can make them whatever size you want. I made one little one (which I ate), one medium-sized one (which my dad ate), and one big one (which is sitting in the fridge). It's kind of like Goldilocks, if the papa bear's bowl of porridge was sitting in the fridge.

The recipe was a joint effort between Tartelette and LaDue & Crew. I like Tartelette a lot but usually I'm too intimidated to try her recipes, because they look so elegant as to be inaccessible for a novice baker like me. Still, I had made the galette that I linked to for my college suitemates as a Valentine's Day treat, and they gave the dough rave reviews, so I decided I wanted to try it myself. As for LaDue & Crew, I had never heard of her, but it was the first result that came up when I searched "peach blueberry galette," and it looks like she has some yummy recipes! Yay the Internet!

I have to say, despite what my suitemates said, I wasn't sure the galette dough was worth it. It was pretty good but not amazing, and it's a female dog to make. Both times I just couldn't get it to cohere (even though this time I cheated and used a food processor for the first part). Instead, the middle of the dough was sticky, while along the periphery it was crumbly and crumbs spilled everywhere. In general it's really difficult to work with, so I think that next time I'll try a different dough. Still, the thing I liked most about it was that it wasn't too sweet, so it didn't overpower the natural sugars in the fruit.

The filling was delightful, though I sort of made up the ratios. I didn't want to put in too much fruit because I knew I wasn't making many galettes, but I kept dipping in the bowl to eat the peaches! They were just so good! Anyway, I had a lot of leftover fruit at the end, so I just ate that. Om nom nom. I also added some cinnamon, which I think gave it a nice extra kick.

Overall, these were pretty fun to make, and a great summer treat. I did learn the hard way, however, that if you make your galettes on parchment paper and then set the baking sheet on the stove to cool, you should not turn on an open flame right next to the sheet. I almost burned down our kitchen!

For the Pate Sucree:
2 cups (250gr) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons (25gr) sugar
pinch of salt
1 stick (113gr) butter, cut in small dices
1 egg
2-4 tablespoons cold water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt and cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture ressembles forms pea size crumbs. Make a well in the center and add the egg. With a fork, start working the flour in a little at a time and when most of it is incorporated, quickly mix the dough into a coherent and smooth mass, adding some cold water, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary (this varies depending on the humidity or altitude of where you live). Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

For the filling:

6 or 7 large peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced

1 c fresh blueberries

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbs cornstarch

1 tsp Vanilla

1/8 c slivered almonds

Blogger's note- I added about 1 1/2 tsps of cinnamon

Combine peaches and blueberries in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and nutmeg. Then add cornstarch, and combine well. Pour into bowl with fruit and mix. Add vanilla, and mix. Set aside.

To assemble:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Roll the dough onto a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and cut three 6-inch rounds in it and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Fill the center of each round with the filling and crimp the edges towards the center. I don't like to cover the fruit that much with the dough but that is a personal preference. Brush the crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sugar over the galettes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. (Blogger's note: I have no idea where she got that number. Both times I made it it was closer to 35 minutes, and it didn't even get very brown in that time.)