Fruit Galette

My wonderful friend got me a birthday present a couple of months ago for a pastry making class at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, located on Granville Island in Vancouver. My birthday was actually in March, but the class was scheduled for the end of May and I patiently waited in anticipation of all the delicious things I was going to learn to make. I actually stuck her card on the fridge and wistfully admired it and the gift I was due to enjoy as I continued to study and prepare for my exams.

Eventually May came and I had the pleasure of attending my pastry class. It was a fantastic experience which left me mesmerized and on cloud nine. During the course of five hours, I learned how to make several different pastry doughs and tart fillings such as ganache, lemon curd, and almond creme. At the end of the class I left with my very own lemon meringue pie, six mini chocolate ganache tarts, half of a ganache and berry tart, and plenty of extra dough.

As I was browsing tastespotting.com, I noticed some very beautiful pictures of various fruit galettes. As I clicked on the recipes, I found that these rustic french tarts were actually quite easy to make, and that the hardest part was making the dough, which I already had. Thus I decided to make my own fruit galette using my leftover dough and whatever fruit we had lying around. The result was delicious and great on a nice summer day.

Fruit Galette 

For the dough:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold
• 5-6 tbsp water, cold

1. If you have a food processor: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt and pulse a couple of times. Add the chunks of butter into the processor and pulse until the butter pieces are roughly the size of walnuts.
2. If you don't have a food processor: Dissolve the sugar and salt in the water and set aside. Cut the butter into large chunks and add to the flour, and continue cutting the butter through the flour until only walnut size pieces remain.
3. Transfer the dough mixture into a bowl and moisten with the water, starting with just a couple of tablespoons at first. Work the mixture until it forms a dough, adding water by the tablespoon only as needed if it feels dry.

Tip: Make sure your ingredients are cold before you start preparing your dough, as this will make the process much easier.

For the filling:

• 2 tbsp sugar, plus 1 tsp for sprinkling
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1 egg yolk
• 2-3 cups fresh fruit, cut into bite size pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 425 Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough into about a 9" circle.
2. In a bowl gently mix the sugar, corn starch and fruit.
3. Strain the mixture then pour into the center of the dough, leaving about a 2" border.
4. Fold the uncovered border over the edge of the fruit and pinch into pleats.
5. Add a little water to the egg yolk to create an egg wash and brush onto the crust. Sprinkle the crust with the remaining teaspoon of sugar.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crust is lightly browned.

Alternative: To make this even faster and easier, you can buy a pre-made pie crust and simply fill it and bake it. It may not be as authentic, but it still tastes great and the pleating usually looks nicer with the even edges.