I love Deb’s extra flaky pie crust recipe which draws from Stella’s original recipe and only requires pantry basics so you can make it on impulse or emergency – all purpose flour, caster sugar, table salt, unsalted butter and water.
To make a super easy but ridiculously delicious and impressive galette, I combine it with the filling recipe from Deb’s any kind of fruit galette recipe as I don’t usually have yoghurt or sour cream in the house as is required for Deb’s galette pastry base recipe.
You can freeze the dough and also keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days before you want to cook it as well. If you freeze it, put it in the fridge the night before to defrost totally.
You can also use this dough for a normal covered pie – just halve the dough for each half (i.e. the base and the top if you want to cover the top of your pie) and roll it to fit your pie tin.
Video of the process
Smitten Kitchen’s Recipe (with my notes in italics)
PASTRY BASE
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated sugar (OPTIONAL)
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 1 cup (230 grams, 8 ounces, or 16 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) very cold water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place your flour, salt (and sugar if you are using it) in a large bowl and whisk to combine. (I don’t typically add the sugar now to the base which means you can use it for a savoury pie/galette as well and don’t find a sweet galette misses the sugar in the crust).
2. Cut your butter into small cubes (1/2-inch is ideal here) and add them into the flour mixture. Toss them around so that they’re coated in flour and then use your fingers to squash each butter cube into flatter, lima-bean like pieces. It’s totally fine if this is bigger than you’re used to. (If the butter feels melty, put in the fridge for 10-15min before continuing as melty butter will lead to dense pastry.)
[You could also use a pastry blender, stand mixer, or a food processor, but go very easy on it, especially the food processor — you want flat-ish, lima bean-sized pieces of butter, not the usual “coarse meal” or “small pea-sized” mixture. If using a food processor, when you’re done, dump this butter-flour mixture into a large bowl before continuing.] (Honestly, the finger squash method works the best and is also quite satisfying)
3. Pour water over butter-flour mixture and use a flexible silicone spatula or scraper to bring it together into a dough that will seem too wet and sticky, but will be just fine. Divide dough into two parts, and wrap each half into flat-ish packets wrapped in plastic, waxed or parchment paper. (I find dividing the dough into 4 makes perfect 1 person portion galettes and I shape them into flat rounds at this stage to make rolling out the dough easier.)
4. Rest in the fridge until firm — one to two hours. (If you’re making a galette, make the fruit filling recipe below while you wait.)
5. Unwrap first packet of dough, place on a well-floured counter, sprinkle the top generously with flour, and roll it out into a thick-ish long rectangle. Brush off excess flour off dough with your hands and fold it as you would a business letter, into thirds (I don’t do this folding step and it turns out ok still).
6. Continue to roll this packet into the shape needed for your final pie — shown here 10×15-inch, but a 14-inch round is the usual size for a standard pie crust. (For a galette, just make a messy-ish circle. You can trim the edges to make the final galette more pretty or just leave it “rustic” lol)
FRUIT FILLING FOR GALETTE
INGREDIENTS
- 3 1/2 cups berries, stone fruit, or other fruit, chopped or thinly sliced, or any combination thereof
- Pinch of salt
- Juice of half a lemon or lime (optional)
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/2 to 1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch (see Note, below)
INSTRUCTIONS
Make filling: Combine fruit, salt, citrus juice (if using), sugar, and starch in a medium bowl and set aside. (You can add herbs like rosemary or honey as well.)
Note: This recipe is abundantly flexible.
* Fruit: Use whatever fruit you like to bake with (shown here with about 2 cups sliced rhubarb and 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries).
* Flavors: Use another kind of citrus or none at all; you could add zest or vanilla to the crust. You could slick the bottom of the crust with jam or marzipan.
* Flour: Replace 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat or rye flour.
* Sweetness: The filling is lightly sweetened; you can add up to 3 more tablespoons sugar without putting it over-the-top. For an even less-sweet galette, you could replace the sugar on the crust with poppy or sesame seeds.
* Thickeners: Tapioca flour or starch is my favorite for a clear, unchalky set. If you don’t have it, use an equal amount of cornstarch. Different kinds of fruit have different pectin levels, and might need more or less thickener. For apples or blueberries, use 1/2 tablespoon level. For peaches or fresh cherries, use 1 tablespoon. For strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and rhubarb, use 1 1/2 tablespoons.
Assemble galette:
- Heat oven to 205C/400°F and flatten the baking paper that you wrapped your dough in on a large baking sheet.
- On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a large round-ish shape, about 14 inches across.
- Gently transfer it to the parchment paper in the pan.
- Spoon fruit filling and some of the juices that have collected into center, maybe a teaspoon worth (not too much or it may bubble over while cooking), leaving a 2- to 3-inch border uncovered.
- Fold this border over fruit, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.
- For a darker, glossier crust, beat egg with 1 teaspoon of water and brush it over the crust. Sprinkle it all over with turbinado/demarara or coarse sugar. (I LOVE THIS STEP AND RECOMMEND IT.)
Bake galette:
- For 30 to 35 minutes, or golden all over and the fruit is bubbling and juicy. Cool for at least 20 minutes on wire rack. (If you don’t cool it a little, it can crack in the middle and leak juice – still delicious though but messy). Serve warm or at room temperature.
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