During culinary school, galettes were our first ever pastry we were to memorize. We made a apple cinnamon galette over, and over, and over again until we could do it with our eyes closed. I always wondered why our chef instructors insisted on us mastering the galette.
After our galette final (yes, we had a galette final) I realized that participating in the long process of perfecting a galette was the perfect way to immerse us amateur chefs into the pastry world. Making pastry for a galette takes patience and quite a few more steps than I expected. Also, a galette does not require a fancy touch... which means it is encouraged to look rustic during its final presentation.
Therefore, the galette became my favorite pastry to create. It has a beautiful balance of technique in the creation of it's buttery dough as well as a personable relatable quality in it's presentation.
Since cherries are close to being in season, I'd thought I go with this juicy cherry galette. I did use frozen cherries for this recipe since that is what was delivered to me (stupid corona virus). I highly recommend using fresh cherries. I had to keep straining extra liquid so the pastry wouldn't get soggy. Using fresh cherries will remove that annoying process.
Ingredients:
For Pastry:
1 1/2c Pastry Flour (you may use AP flour if you don't have pastry)
1/2 Tsp. Salt
8 Tbsp. Cold sweet butter, cut into small cubes
1/4-1/2c Ice water
1 Egg, beaten (for egg wash)
Extra sugar (for garnish)
For Filling:
1 1/2c Cherries, (some cut in half some kept whole)
1/2c Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp. Cointreau
3 Tbsp. Cornstarch
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit. Mix flour and salt together until evenly combined. Add cubed butter and mix with your hands and between your fingers until all butter chunks are about pea sized. Slowly add ice water 1 tsp. at a time and mix until all dough crumbs are gone and a dough ball forms. Make sure the dough isn't too wet. Form dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for 20 minutes. While dough is chilling, mix cherries, sugar, cointreau, and cornstarch until evenly combined. Set filling aside and place dough on a floured surface. Roll out dough while flipping constantly so it doesn't stick to the surface. The dough should be 1/4 inch thick and resemble a circle. Place on a baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes. Take dough out of the fridge and place filling inside. Fold a section inward, leaving a gap in the middle. Repeat this process until dough forms a shingled appearance. Each dough should overlap the other. Brush egg wash over the dough and sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream.
