Summer Fruit Galette
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008A galette is simply a less fussy pie, but the free-form nature seems to add an element of intgrigue to the table. There is something about the just-thrown-together appearance, so rustic, and no doubt handmade, that makes a galette so appealing.
photo by David Peterman
This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie baking odyssey was chosen by Michelle in Colorado Springs. I chose to feature apricots and lavender in my mini-galettes. Half an apricot wrapped with dough makes a perfect individual pastry delight. I cut out four-inch rounds of dough and then rolled them a touch larger, spread a bit of apricot jam in the center, added a sprinkle of bread crumbs in place of the graham cracker crumbs that I didn’t have, and plunked the apricot half in the center. A quick fold of the pastry up around the apricot, then a brush of melted jam over the apricot and they were ready for the oven. They looked like little sunny-side-up eggs.
Half way through the baking process a custard is poured over the galette adding a delicious sweet creamy element that played really nicely off the tartness of the apricot. I infused the butter used to make the custard with a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers for a subtle flavor enhancement. Pouring the custard on the hot galettes was a little tricky with these tiny ones because there wasn’t any open space for the custard to fill, so I lifted the apricot and spooned it in underneath. It was a bit messy and offered great potential for burning my fingers, but it did work. Because the custard is so good, next time I might slice the apricot and spread it out like a little pinwheel so more of the custard could be accommodated. In a full-sized galette this would not be an issue as there would be plenty of space between each piece of apricot for the custard to fill. The custard is runny, which might be why it is necessary to add it to the hot galette rather than adding it before baking. It is a relatively thin layer of custard so it could also be that it would just overcook if it were added at the beginning. Now I want to do some experiments to figure this out.
To tie into the lavender infused custard, I sprinkled the galettes with lavender sugar when they came out of the oven and garnished each one with a couple of fresh lavender flowers. The lavender sugar is as simple as grinding dried lavender flowers with granulated sugar in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. I sprinkled the sugar on through a fine mesh sieve to sift out any large pieces of the dried flowers.
The mini-galettes would be perfect to serve for a brunch, afternoon tea, or dinner buffet. They look so beautiful stacked up on a serving platter and are easily eaten out of hand which makes them so great for a mingling type party. Dorie suggests they are best served the same day, and I would agree with “best”, but they are darn tasty the next day as well! You can find Dorie’s recipes in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours.
A supreme snack tip!
We all know the delights of extra pie dough baked with a bit of butter, cinnamon, and sugar, but pie dough baked with the extra custard - oh, wow! Roll out any extra pie dough and pinch up a 1/2″ rim of dough around the exterior edge to trap the custard from running all over the oven. Pour any extra custard in the dough and bake until it is golden brown and the dough looks crispy. This a spectacular treat!
