Peach Galette

When you are short on time and want to make a delicious and fruity summer dessert, a galette is an excellent choice. Yesterday I made, not one, but two Peach Galettes for Father’s Day dessert. My dad loves peaches so I thought this would be a perfect sweet treat to celebrate. I used a store bought crust just to make it easy on myself, but if you’d like, you could make a homemade crust as well. I’ve done it both ways so feel free to take your pick. A galette is somewhat like a pie, but in my opinion easier. It features a golden crust that is folded up and over a portion of the filling allowing the beautiful center to shine. As Bon Apetit describes it, “if a crusty cake and a pie had a baby you’d get a galette.” Yum.

Utterly delicious, a rustic galette may be your new favorite summer dessert!

Ingredients for the Galette:

• Homemade crust or store bought Pillsbury Pie crusts (typically come 2-to a pack)
• 3 cups sliced peaches
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup sugar (I made two galettes by simply doubling the recipe. I took sugar down to 1/4 cup for each galette. You could go up to the full half cup of sugar if you like things sweeter, but for me, this turned out perfectly.)
• Pinch of salt
• Good quality peach preserves or jam

Ingredients for the Egg Wash:

• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. If you are making your crust from scratch, follow the link above in the ingredient list. Once incorporated, roll into a 14-inch round, transfer to parchment lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. If you are using a store bought crust, you can start on the peaches, leaving the crust in the fridge until ready to use and place on parchment and then a baking sheet when ready to assemble. The prepared crust will probably be smaller than a homemade 14-inch round just FYI but the steps are the same.

Wash peaches and cut into 1/2 inch slices. No need to peel, the skin will soften completely once baked. Measure out three cups and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle the tapioca starch over the peaches and toss until combined.

Arrange peaches in a ring from the center of the chilled dough, tiling the slices until you have about a 2 inch border of crust all around. Sprinkle sugar on the peaches and a pinch of salt. Using a sharp knife, make cut marks in the leftover 2 inch portion of dough running from the fruit to the edge of the dough spacing about 5 inches apart. Fold over and overlap each portion of dough so that it covers a bit of the fruit and the section before it.

To prepare the egg wash: Whisk egg, egg yolk, heavy cream and salt together. Brush over the exposed crust and all the grooves/cracks. This will give the crust a golden sheen and help bind everything together.

Place galette in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. While it’s baking, soften peach jam or preserves with a bit of hot water mixed in to thin it. After 20 minutes, brush fruit in the center of the galette with the jam liquid. Continue baking until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbly, another 15 – 18 minutes.

Cool and then transfer to a wire rack. Best served with some vanilla ice cream or homemade cinnamon whipped cream! As mentioned, I made two of these because, hello, leftovers! Bon Apetit!