Homemade pastry takes about 10 minutes to make and tastes so much better than anything you can buy. With this recipe you can make one galette and have two additional dough rounds to stash in the freezer for the future. When you need a dessert (or special breakfast), transfer the dough from freezer to refrigerator, let it thaw overnight, and then you’re ready to roll. This recipe is for a cherry galette, but berries, peaches, plums, and nectarines all make lovely galettes in summer.
Thank you to Kurtis Bagley for teaching me his Pâte Brisée (shortcrust pastry) recipe.
photo by Samantha Lord
Cherry Galette
makes one 8-inch galette
Ingredients
PASTRY FOR 3 (8-INCH) GALETTES, 4 SERVINGS EACH
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (8 ounces), cold from the refrigerator, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces, then quartered
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Tall glass of ice water; you will probably use 6–8 tablespoons of ice-cold water
FILLING FOR 1 (8-INCH) GALETTE
- 2–3 cups pitted cherries, fresh or frozen (thaw and strain from the juice)
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Spritz of fresh lemon juice
For Finishing Pastry
- 1 tablespoon cream or milk for brushing
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
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Place flour, salt, and butter in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour until you have a fairly uniformly coarse mixture. From the glass of ice water, measure 6 tablespoons of water and sprinkle over the crumbly dough then stir with a fork. If the mixture seems dry, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Your mixture will look crumbly, but when you pinch a small amount it will clump together.
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Dump crumbly dough onto counter, then push and pat together into a thick round. If the dough isn’t coming together, sprinkle additional ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and keep pressing and forming. Cut the round into 3 pieces, then shape each into disks about 1-inch thick. Wrap each in parchment or plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes (or up to 2 days) before rolling. Alternatively, you can freeze the dough disks at this time.
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Place 1 pastry disk on a sheet of parchment or lightly floured surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin (or wine bottle), roll out into a thin, roundish shape approximately 12 inches in diameter. Transfer the pastry-on-parchment to a baking sheet (parchment-lined if you didn't roll on parchment), spoon on the cherries (keep an eye out for stray pits), dot with butter, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar, and spritz with lemon. Fold edges of pastry up and over the cherries. Brush the exposed pastry with milk or cream, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. Let cool on rack, then enjoy with a scoop of ice cream.
