Peach Galette — Finally Got it!

When I get obsessed with a recipe, it per­vades my wak­ing and sleep­ing hours.

Of late, it’s been peach galette, how much ground almonds to use in the layer below the peaches, what oven tem­per­a­ture, how long to bake — the list goes on. Then comes the test­ing and re-testing until Ross and I are  eat­ing the dessert daily and the freezer is full of  var­i­ous ren­di­tions, all clearly labelled.

It all started last sum­mer when I made this delec­table, rustic-looking free-form pie for my daugh­ters while I was still liv­ing in Strat­ford. It was a first attempt and deli­cious, baked at the height of peach season.

This time, happy to be liv­ing in Toronto again, I’m work­ing on a cook­book with the non-profit group Food­Share to be pub­lished next spring and my Peach Galette has to be in there.

This ver­sion, much of it refined in the mid­dle of the night when I wake up dream­ing of peaches, is fan­tas­tic. It’s eas­ier to make than the tra­di­tional two-crust pie and looks as good as it tastes. You’re welcome!

Peach Galette

For dough, use all but­ter and omit lard, if desired. You can use any ten­der fruit for this: plums, apri­cots, nec­tarines or cher­ries. Local fruit in sea­son is best. If using plums or apri­cots, dou­ble amount of sugar in fill­ing. You can peel peaches by the old-fashioned method — plung­ing them in boil­ing water for a minute or two — or buy one of the excel­lent ser­rated peel­ers now avail­able includ­ing the One-Touch battery-operated device I found at Cana­dian Tire. The lat­ter method is eas­ier and pre­vents the peaches from leak­ing juice. This makes a large pie — enough for a crowd and ideal for a sum­mer gathering.

Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp gran­u­lated sugar
³⁄₄ cup diced cold but­ter
¹⁄₄ cup cold lard
6 to 8 tbsp iced water

Almond Layer:
¹⁄₂ cup ground almonds
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp light brown or organic cane sugar

Peach Fill­ing:
About 6 cups sliced, pit­ted, peeled ripe peaches (about eight)
3 tbsp light brown or organic cane sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp lemon juice

Glaze and gar­nish:
1 egg, beaten with a lit­tle milk
1 tbsp gran­u­lated sugar
¹⁄₄ cup peach, apri­cot or apple jelly, melted
About ½ cup sliced almonds, toasted *

For dough, com­bine flour and sugar in food proces­sor. Add but­ter; pulse 5 to 6 times to break up but­ter roughly. Add lard; pulse a few times or until mix­ture resem­bles coarse crumbs. Grad­u­ally add water through feeder tube until mix­ture begins to clump. Form dough into ball; wrap in plas­tic wrap and chill about 1 hour.

Pre­heat oven to 400F.

For Almond Layer, com­bine all ingre­di­ents in small bowl.

For Peach Fill­ing, com­bine all ingre­di­ents in large bowl.

Roll out dough on floured sur­face to about 15 inches in diam­e­ter. Place on large round pizza or other bak­ing pan. Spread almond mix­ture evenly over dough. Mound peach mix­ture in mid­dle of dough leav­ing about 2 inches of dough around it. Fold edges of dough, pleat­ing at inter­vals, on top of peaches. Brush edges of dough with egg mix­ture, then sprin­kle with sugar.

Bake in oven about 40 to 50 min­utes or until pie is golden brown. Cool. Spread melted jelly over peaches with pas­try brush. Sprin­kle with toasted almonds. Serve with ice cream, thick­ened yogurt or creme fraiche.

Makes about 8 to 12 servings.

* To toast almonds, cook in dry skil­let over low heat about 5 min­utes or until golden brown.

If you’ve got a fan­tas­tic peach recipe, share it on twit­ter by using #peachy­keen and by click­ing here