Peach Galette, No Fuzz Free Form Pie

By SweetnSpicyLiving on July 20, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

Galette or Rustic Pie is a MUST dessert during Summer, that along with crumble, crisp, pie and cobbler. It’s easy to prepare, a free form pie where I don’t have to worry much about how it looks because it is beautiful on its rustic kind of way. If you are hesitant or intimidated in making pie, galette is a prefect way to start because it always turn out perfect every time.

What is a Galette?

A galette is a French pastry similar to a tart or a pie. It is a free form kind of pie, a pastry dough wrapped over a filling made from fruit, sugar, butter and a thickener. This free-form pie-like pastry doesn’t require a special pie pan — just a nice flat surface for baking. This is why galette is also called as rustic pie because of its free form uneven rustic look which makes it different from a regular pie. It is made of two basic components, which are the pie dough (usually a pie crust dough) and a fruit filling with sugar and cornstarch as thickener.

How is Galette Different From a Regular Pie or Tart?

Galette is also a kind of pie, but unlike a regular pie where the pie crust is pressed on the top of a pie pan, Galette is shaped without any pie pan or pie dish. It’s a free form pie, which means you just fold the sides of the pie to create a thick side crust while slightly covering the pie itself. It uses the same crust as a pie and even the filling are the same. A combination of sliced fruit, sugar and cornstarch as a thickener. Bottom line, with galette you have more freedom to shape it the way you want, there’s no room for stressing out yourself in making it look like polished and perfect. In fact, one of he most notable appealing thing about galette is its rustic uneven form, it looks beautiful that way.

How to Prevent Soggy Bottoms

Unlike regular pie, galette crust are not blind bake (pre-baked) to avoid soggy crust. But just because you cannot blind bake it, doesn’t mean you cannot avoid soggy bottom. There are few ways that you can do to lessen if not totally avoid a soggy crust.

Sprinkle top of crust with cake crumbs (flour, butter, sugar mixture)
Brush the crust with egg white, the egg white will serve as a barrier and will help the dough absorb less liquid
Brush the crust with jam. Same as brushing with egg white will serve as a barrier and will help the dough absorb less liquid. Peach or Apricot jam are mild jam and works well for brushing the top.

What Are the Ingredients to Make Peach Galette?

Pie Crust – you can use homemade (which what I did here) or store-bought. I find that making your own pie crust is the best option, as homemade pie crust tends to be more stable and you can make it slightly thicker than store-bought. You don’t want the crust to be too thin as it could break with the heavy filling.
Peach – I would recommend using fresh to avoid a mushy pie. Preserved peaches are quite soft and it has a lot of moisture in it. Baking at high temperature of 400F could make it too mushy and soft.
Cornstarch – to thicken the sauce
Sugar – to add sweetness. The amount of sugar could be adjusted depending on how sweet the peaches that you are using

How To Make This 4 Ingredients Pie Crust

How to Make Any Fruit Galette

Making a Galette, just like any other regular pie is a two fold process

Make the pie crust

Making the pie crust is the first part of making this pie. This pie crust uses my all around all butter pie crust dough. As the name goes, I uses only butter (no shortening or cream cheese), plus flour and sugar. It is as basic as that but t have a nice flaky crumb. You can make the pie crust using a food processor or you can do it manually, or you can use a store-bought one. Be careful though in using a store-bought pie drug this make this galette, I noticed that the store-bought pie crust tends to be too soft and thin to make a galette. You’ll probably use 2 pie crust and combine them to make a thicker crust. You can make the pie crust ahead of time too. Simply cover it with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for 3 days or up to 2-3 months in the freezer. If using a frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator overnight then leave in the counter at least 30 minutes or until you are able to shape it easily.

Make the Fruit Filling

The second part is making the filling. This is simply a combination of sliced fruits, sugar and cornstarch. Make the filling only when you are ready to use it as it to avoid making it too watery. The sugar will melt the longer you leave it. I always recommend using fresh fruits for better outcome. Canned fruits are too soft and when baked in high temperature it could get mushy and the pie soggy. Also, slice the fruits thinly so that it cooks the same time as the crust.

Assemble the Pie

Once your done with this 2 steps, all that needs to be done is to assemble the galette, which is pretty easy. Fill the center of the rolled dough with the peach filling, leaving at last 2-inch allowance on the side. This allowance is what you will fold to encase the filling. Fold the allowance towards the center.

Now, we’re almost there but not quite yet. Chill the pie in the freezer at least 30 minutes before baking it. This is a very important step, so do not skip it. Chilling the pie will prevent it from shrinking as it bake.

Tips to a Successful Galette

Although galette is one of the easiest pie that you can make, there are few tips that I thought I would share with you which helped me achieve a beautiful and delicious pie

Do not skip the cornstarch. However minimal it is, it is important in making the juice of the pie become thick thus ensuring that you will not have a soggy pie
Chill the pie before baking. As you work of the pie dough, the dough could get soft and wet. Chilling or freezing it for few minutes before baking helps it hold it shape as it bakes. A soft pie dough when baked could result to shrinking and spreading.
Sprinkle some sugar on top to get the crunchy crust and sweet cooked peaches.
Let the pie cool completely before slicing. Just like and other pie, this free form pie needs to rest at least 1 hour to allow the sauce the juice to thicken. Trust me, you don’t want a soggy messy pie when you cut it. You want a clean cut pie, be patient and let it rest. This also allow the crust specially the bottom part to harden as it cools. The bottom of the pie is the most part of the pie exposed to being soggy as it get direct contact the feeling and the juice.

Ingredients:

Homemade Pie Crust or store-bought Pie Crust

Peach Filling

4 tbsp granulated White Sugar ( 3 tbsp for the peach filling, 1 tbsp for sprinkling)
1 lb Peaches cut into wedges.
2 tbsp Cornstarch
1/8 tsp Salt

Egg wash

1 beaten Egg Yolk
2 tsp Water or Milk

Pie coating

Egg White – for brushing the bottom of the pie or
any Jam

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
Prepare the Pie Crust: GET THE FULL RECIPE HERE You can make the pie crust days in advance, keep it refrigerated for 3 days or if beyond that keep it in the freezer. When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator until soft enough to flatten and shape. You can make 1 large pie for my Pie Crust recipe, or you can 2 medium sizes which is my preference. For this recipe, we are making 2 medium size. Roll the dough into a 10-inch circle with 1/2-inch thickness.
Prepare the Peaches: Wash and if needed, rub the peaches to remove any fuzz. Cut the peaches in half, remove the pits, and cut into thin wedges. Place the peach slices in a large bowl add salt, cornstarch, 3 tbsp sugar and gently toss to combine. Depending on how sweet the peach you are using, you can add or decrease the sugar.
Prevent Soggy Bottom – Brush the center of the pie where you will put the fruit filling with egg white or jam. This will help prevent a soggy bottom.
Arrange the Peach Slices on the pastry, placing them as close together as you can, without overlapping the slices too much. Leave about 2-inch (5 cm) wide outside border.
Fold: Gently fold the edges of the pastry up and over the peaches (towards the center), pleating as necessary. Make sure to seal any cracks in the pastry.
Chill: Freeze for at least 30 minutes to firm up the crust.
Egg-Wash: Brush the edge with egg wash. Sprinkle top (fruit filling and edge of the pie) with remaining white sugar before baking.
Bake: Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.Remove the pie from the oven, and gently lift the pie from the parchment paper (be careful as the pie will be a little soft and delicate at this point), and place it on a baking rack to cool. This will help prevent the bottom from getting soggy.
Cool: Let the pie cool completely before slicing to allow the juice or the peach to thicken.
Serve: Dust with confectioners sugar before serving. If you are using Whipped Cream, let the pie cool completely before adding the whipped cream.

You can vary the size depending on your preference and adjust baking time as necessary.

How to Serve Fruit Galette

You can serve any galette on its own, just like any other pie. But for me, nothing beats serving this with Vanilla Ice Cream on top, and a light dust of icing sugar for an added appeal. I assure you, this pie is worth making. Give it a try.

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Categories: Baking, Recipe, Tart