Peach Galette

Long time, no post. In the interest of not dying of heatstroke, I've put baking on the back burner for a while. I just haven't had the motivation to turn on the oven for anything that we can't, or more appropriately, shouldn't eat for dinner. Even then, I'd just as soon subsist on popsicles and iced tea all summer long.

Being the fabulous wife I am (or so claims my long-suffering husband), I agreed to make a dessert for a work barbecue this past weekend. Peaches are in season and have been crazy inexpensive the last couple of weeks, so I decided peach pie was in order. Shopping trips were made, ingredients gathered, and then my laziness kicked in and it was determined that a rustic, free-form peach galette would more than suffice. It turned out so simple and delicious that I'm glad I made two - one for us to devour at home (within the hour, ashamedly) and one for the guests at the barbecue.

I'll post the recipe below, but more important things are afoot with Stella - she's walking! She took her first extremely wobbly steps Saturday evening, and today she's casually toddling back and forth between pieces of furniture like it ain't no thang. I've said it before but this time I really mean it - I'm not ready for this! 

Other developments of note: Stella is almost completely weaned (hurrah!!!), talking up a storm (mostly in her own language, but we do recognize mama, papa, ball, go, hi, bye, and most recently, peekaboo), sleeping through the night pretty reliably (although I've just jinxed myself), has sprouted two sharp little front teef, and is growing like a weed (almost two pounds in the last month according to our home scale). So all in all, toddlerhood is shaping up to be pretty awesome. 

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Rustic Peach Galette

adapted from Tracy Porter 

dough ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1 stick butter, cold and cut into small cubes 

1/4 cup ice water

filling ingredients:

1 1/2 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches (how to peel peaches the easy way)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

finishing ingredients:

1 egg

1 tbsp water

turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 tbsp cold butter, cut in small pieces

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

To make the dough: pour flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few seconds to combine. Add cubed butter all at once and pulse until the mixture looks like small pebbles. With the processor running, slowly stream in the water and process JUST until the dough starts to come together. It may seem a bit loose and wet, like cookie dough, but that's fine. Scoop out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, cover, and pat into a disk. Refrigerate for at least an hour, two would be better.

Meanwhile, gently toss all of the filling ingredients in a medium bowl until peaches are evenly coated and set aside. When your dough is thoroughly chilled, lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough out to approximately 1/8 inch thick. Don't worry about any cracks or breaks around the edge - this guy is rustic! Carefully transfer crust to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Spoon the peach mixture onto the center of the dough and spread out as far as you'd like (I wanted a fair amount of crust on top so I left a pretty big border). Bring edges of dough up and fold/arrange/pinch however you find aesthetically pleasing. 

In a small bowl, lightly beat egg and water to make an egg wash. Brush over the crust and then sprinkle liberally with turbinado sugar. Dot the top of the peach mixture with the butter. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly. 

* A couple of notes: the original recipe called for ground cloves in the peach filling. I'm allergic and don't really care for the taste anyway, but if you are so inclined you can add up to 1/2 tsp. I used flour as a thickening agent because I had run out of cornstarch and didn't realize until it was too late, and the filling turned out just right. Lastly, the original suggested topping with freshly whipped cream, which never hurts.