Pie, "simplified" : galettes

You've been reading about my new adventures in pie land. And I've been having a ball. I'm actually looking forward to trying my hand at a peach pie in the not too distant future, maybe even an apricot one.

Whilst I have stayed away from "pies," I have a certain reputation (yes, I know you all know about my certain "reputation," I'm talking about MY COOKING) for my galettes. And I don't want to give them up, because on a very basic level, galettes are wonderful.

One person called them "the sloppy cook's pie." Well, I don't know about that. I WILL admit they are easier for me than pies, but I don't think that they require any less finesse than a good pie does. They are different. And a galette does need some special or some modified equipment to make properly.

You CAN call a galette and "open faced, free form pie," as I have seen them called. That's somewhat accurate. But because of the way they are cooked, you really can't compare them to pies. A galette almost always has a much more concentrated, carmelized flavor. They are far less juicy than many pies, and while you could make a galette out of any berry, I don't see them working for me. My favorites are fig, apricot, rhubarb, and apple. In fact, the apple galette may be my very favorite, especially if I can get a variety called "pink pearl." This is an "heirloom" apple (and I will talk about "heirloom" fruits and vegetables, in days to come), with a yellow peel, and a pink flesh. A TRULY pink flesh. When I serve a pink pearl galette to people, there is always a hush in the room, because of what it looks like. A rhubarb galette elicits the same kind of response, because the rhubarb cooks to this dark, ruby like intensity that is unmatched for color by anything else. Figs concentrate their flavor to the point where eating fig galette is like eating a big slice of fig newton, and the flavor of apricots, and peaches, concentrates so that a small piece is just about all that you need, but you'll have seconds. Apricot galette is what I'll talk about here.

First, to make the galette dough. You need a stick and a half of butter, and a cup and a half of all purpose flour. The butter should be cold, and cut into small cubes. If you have a food processor, but them in, together, and add half a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of sugar. Pulse the mixture until you get something that is sort of like corn meal. Then start adding ice water. Just like with pie, but you'll need more. I usually need somewhere around five tablespoons. You're looking for the stuff to begin to form big clumps, without forming a ball.

Dump this all out on a counter top and take the back of your hand and smear the stuff, until it all comes together. This technique is called..... frottage. I wish it weren't but it is. And now there is at least one reader saying "now I know why he enjoys them so much. PIG!

Okay, after you've frottaged, gather the dough together into a disc and put it in plastic, or aluminum foil , and let it refrigerate, preferably overnight.

Take the dough out about an hour before you're ready to bake and preheat your oven to 425. Before you start putting things together, decide on your pan, and here is where people have their problems with galettes, because they don't plan this step well. Galettes are big, flat creatures, with no real support underneath them. You're not putting them in a pie pan. If you happen to have a big, round pizza pan, that's great. If you don't, a baking sheet will work, but pay attention to this step, it's realy important: you are going to turn the pan UPSIDE DOWN. The reason for this is you are going to have to get the finished galette off of the pan, to cool. If you bake it on a baking sheet, or in a pizza pan, when it comes time to get it off, the edges of the pan are going to make it nightmarishly difficult to do. Trust me on this.

Also get your ingredients together. The only thing you really do NOT need to have ready ahead of time is the fruit. You will need a half stick of unsalted butter, melted, about a half cup of sugar,(more, if you're making rhubarb galette), and some crumbs of some kind. Plain, unflavored breadcrumbs will work. If you have cookies that are "appropriate" for your fruit, use them. When I say appropriate, think flavor combinations. Surely no one is going to put crumbled oreos under an apple pie, are you???? But ginger snaps? Hellyeah. For apricot galette, I suggest amaretti, but short bread will work. In fact, shortbread could be considered the "default" cookie here. That's what I use with figs, for example, or if I just don't have the impetus to go and get the ameretti. Anyway, crush yourself about a half to 3/4 cup of cookie crumbs, either in the food processor or by putting the cookies into a plastic bag, and working out your agressions.

Now, time to roll out the galette. Here's a tip that I have learned over the years. If you read cookbooks, when it comes time to roll out dough like this, they tell you to "lightly flour" your surface. Do you have any idea what this means? Not me. And then I started watching cooks roll out crust on tv. They would say "lightly flour" the surface, and then dump out enough flour to make it look like Kmart started selling cocaine. I would say that a good quarter cup of flour on your surface is NOT too much. And have some at the side, because if things stick, use more.

Roll out the dough, and what I have found, in making a dough circle like this, is that if I think of the dough as a clock, and rotate it an "hour" every three or four strokes, I can pretty much keep the even circle. You want to roll this to fifteen inches in diameter. That is a pretty big circle, but bear with me. BEFORE YOU FILL IT, move it to your baking surface. Put parchment down on the back of the baking sheet, or the pizza pan, and put the crust right on top of that. You're going to be glad you did this.

When you have this rolled out, sprinkle your crumbs all over the bottom. Then, start cutting up fruit, and put it in the center and toward the edges, either in a decorative pattern if you like, or just heap it up. Try to keep an even thickness of a layer, and stop about 2 inches from the end of the circle.

What you do now is fold up that two inch circle, all around the fruit. Some of it will be covered, most of it will not be. Brush melted butter over that crust, and then sprinkle sugar over it. You should use very little sugar on the rim, and sprinkle the rest over the fruit. If you think your fruit may not be that sweet, add another quarter cup. Like I say, you MUST do this with rhubarb , but if you have a sweet tooth, or the fruit just isn't all that ripe, add more sugar.

Now, think for a minute: if you had made this galette on a surface, like a countertop, and now had to get it onto the baking pan, how would you do it? See how I make it easy for you? And I guarantee that if you look at any recipe for a galette, even the recipes from my friend Dana (from whom I have shamelessly stolen this galette crust recipe), you will NOT be told to do this ahead of time. You've just saved the day.

Anyway, slide this construct into your oven, and bake for about 45-55 minutes. You might want to put a baking sheet under neath it, just in case you get boil over. Juicy fruits will do that. You won't have it happen with figs, and not with apples. You may have it happen with rhubarb or peaches. Apricots usually don't bubble over, but they can. A favorite of quinces and huckleberries doesn't bubble either.

After forty five minutes, you will have a lovely creation, with unevenly browned edges. That's what you want. IF you are so compelled, what you can now do is melt about a quarter cup of good quality jam. I said GOOD quality. Look, if you went through all this trouble, and you're going to put smuckers on your galette, you shouldn't have made the galette. Get good stuff. Heat it gently till it breaks down and either brush it or pour it over the galette. Try to get the edge crusts too.

Now, again, you should be thanking me for this. Since you baked it on a parchment sheet, if you put a cooling rack right next to it, you can slide the thing off and let it cool, with air circulating all around. When you're ready to serve it, move it to a nice platter or tray, get a sharp knife and go at it.

Galettes are a wonderful, rustic way to present a pie. If you're doing a dinner where that kind of "rustic" look is called for, do this instead of a formal pie. You can also do this with vegetables, such as tomatoes (use bread crumbs underneath them, and omit the sugar), with cheese and olives, or even zucchini.

I want you to cook this. In fact, I want you to cook EVERYTHING.

P.S. this dough makes a wonderful quiche crust too. And there's enough to make two quiches.