This apple galette is an easy, delicious dessert that is very fast. A galette is a very forgiving free form tart. It is classic and elegant, comforting and rustic. Its a classic French country dessert. You get all the delicious parts of an apple pie, with none of the fuss. My favorite part of a pie is the crust. With a galette, you get more flaky crust, yet it is much easier. The only downfall of this dessert is that it disappears too quickly. For the crust, I used apple jack brandy. Using alcohol instead of water prevents gluten from forming in the dough. This will make your crust so tender, you won’t believe it. I did not bother to peel the apples for the dessert. The skins of the apples are very beautiful, and come out very tender in this recipe. You can peel the apples if desired. I used Macintosh apples, because they were on sale, you can use any type of apples you like.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 oz cold butter, sliced
• 3 tablespoons Apple Jack Brandy, or water (you may need to adjust this amount, it will be enough for the dough to come together)

Filling

• 3-4 sliced apples and cored, I used Macintosh apples
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• a pinch of kosher salt
• the zest of an orange
• about a teaspoon of orange juice, freshly squeezed

Topping

• egg wash for crust
• 3 tablespoons Apple Jelly

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the dough in the food processor with the dough blade, or by hand with a pastry knife or fork. I prepared this one easily in the food processor.
2. First add the flour, sugar, and salt and mix or pulse to combine. Then add the sliced butter, and cut in or pulse until the dough is grainy.
3. Then add the apple brandy or water a little at a time until the dough comes together. Then place the dough in the refrigerator until ready to use.
4. Prepare the filling by slicing and coring the apples. Add to a large mixing bowl. Add the orange zest and squeeze about a tablespoon of the orange juice over the apples. Add the brown sugar and salt, and toss the apples well.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out. I used a pizza stone for the galette. Press the dough out into a circle and then cover with saran wrap. Then roll the dough out in an even layer about 1/8 inch thick.
6. Then arrange the apples in concentric circles around the dough. Fold up the dough over the apples. Brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash for a beautiful golden brown color.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and apples are very tender.
8. While galette is warm, take a pastry brush and brush apple jelly on top of apples, very gently. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tags: apples

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Dessert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.