Beautiful autumn evenings through last week got me in the mood to make some apple galettes. I’ve always been a pie person – crumbly crust sitting in pretty while pie dishes with the traditional lattice that adds its quintessential charm. This time I decided to make galettes instead and realised how much fun they were and they are can be made so in a jiffy – no trimmings, no fancy patterns.
To add to the fun of making galettes, and to give me reason to make more of these, I did a little experiment of my own to test a few things.
Test 1:
One of the things I’ve be curious about is how the regular Indian Kashmiri apples would taste when baked as compared to the widely used Granny Smiths (not so easily available, double the price of regular apples).
Test 2:
The second thing I wanted to test was the difference an egg yolk would make when added to the dough. I just don’t feel too nice about breaking an egg and throwing the white down the sink. There are times I push it back into the fridge, promising myself that I’ll use it up soon enough, but that hasn’t happened yet.
So I made the different galettes. The first one with egg yolk in the dough and Granny Smiths; second with the yolk and the Kashmiri apples; and finally the third with the Granny Smiths, but without the egg yolk in the dough.
Result:
1. Granny Smith won hands down. Definitely don’t mind paying double the price for some very delicious pie filling with a nice bite to it. The Kashmiri apples tend to get mushy sooner, so maybe if I am stuck with using these I’d have to pull them out of the oven sooner.
2. The crust with the egg yolk was a thousand times better than the one without. Beatifully golden with a nice crumbly texture. I have never made a crust better than this one. This is so good, I am happy eating it all by itself too.
Apple Galettes
(Makes 2 medium sized galettes)
Galette Pastry:
200g/1 ½ cups flour
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar
100g/ 1 stick cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg yolk, beaten
Ice water to combine the dough
Apple filling:
2 Granny Smith Apples, chopped into small chunks
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp vanilla sugar
A handful raisins
A handful of pecans, chopped coarsely
Mix the sugar and flour together. Blend in the cold butter and the egg yolk with a pastry cutter. It’s faster when you use your hands, but be sure to do this quickly, we don’t want the butter to melt away or we lose the flaky texture. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, add the ice cold water, a spoonful at a time, until the dough is just combined. Divide it into two and let it rest in the freezer for 10 minutes.
For the filling: Mix all the ingredients mentioned in a bowl.
Assembling:
Roll out the pastry dough into a circle of about 1/3 cm or 1/8 inch thickness. Make sure the dough is well floured so that it doesn’t stick. Place half the filling mixture in the centre of the rolled dough. Fold the edges of the dough over the apple mixture, sealing all the crevices. Transfer on to a baking sheet. Brush the galettes with egg wash and bake in a preheated oven (180ºC or 350ºF)
Now it’s time to eat! Enjoy the galette with vanilla icecream or whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. I took the easy way out by using Smuckers. :P
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that does sound easy peasy! thanks for a great recipe!
Great work again!
Thanks, both of you! :)
Galette is my favourite of all pies…& yours looks moreish & delightful! I love rustic pies, & yes, the green apples are tart & much better! I'm out of walnuts, otherwise would've made this tomorrow Coco. YUM!
Oh, my sister was just asking me which apples were best for baking. And now I know! (or at least, have an idea).
I am a wreck at making pies so I think a galette would be my cup of tea. Your photos are really pretty and I liked how you tested the egg theory and the apples. I think that is a good way for the rest of us to learn. Thanks for sharing!
Great minds think alike! I just made apple crumble bars. I was actually deciding between a galette and a crumble, but since I’ve never made a galette before, I thought I’d choose the safer way out :P
Consider your recipe bookmarked, and by the time I feel braver, I’ll plunge headlong into this. Thanks for sharing, sweetie! :)
I have never made galette, but your looks too tempting to try, Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Are those snaps of food you cook? OMG they look so tasty!
Indeed 2 Yummy IMO.
:)
Nice tasting notes… Point taken about the tastier yolkled dough :)
Krish: Yes, those are the photographs of the stuff I make. Thanks for the compliment!
koolhead17: I’m flattered, thank you!
Jude: I made galettes at different points during the week so a few changes and noting their observations seemed interesting.
Shaheen
I appreciate your twitter request but I’m hardly ever there.
Really like this galette! And I sure like your tasting notes, especially about the yolk in the crust. I always like the rustic feel and look of the galette over pie!
I loved reading about your experimenting! I’ve never had a Kashmiri apple but love granny smith apples in pies and galettes. Thankfully granny smiths are cheap in Michigan.
Thank you Maggie, I’m thrilled that you like the post/ :) You’re so lucky to get Granny Smiths so cheap. One world’s gourmet food is another one’s regular food. But I guess that’s how we learn to value things.
This looks good. And you’ve gone through quite a bit of experimenting.
I made a galette too, last month, but with pears. Love them.
Aparna: You’re tempting me. Too late for me to try something with pear. I like the sound of your spiced pear galette!
I’m not familiar with Kashmiri apples, but some really good pie recipes utilize a combination of firm/tart apples and mushy/sweet apples (a little more of the first than the second…about a 60/40 ratio). The firm apple slices provide the main body and flavor of the pie and the mushy applesauce-y apples bind the whole thing together and provide a pleasing textural variation. If Granny Smiths cost more, then all the more reason to experiment with using both, and perhaps have an interesting pie as a result. It’s important to blend them fairly evenly throughout the pie (blend them all together and lay them out at random).
Of course, if it turns out that Kashmiri apples are a variety that loses all flavor when baked (some apples are like that), then they are to be avoided.
Wow very interesting
Hey Shaheen – quick q.. i dont use eggs at home, instead use an egg replacer powder.. While it works great for eggs and egg whites, there isnt really a way to use them for just the yolk.. Do you think if I just subbed the yolk for a whole egg, would it work?? What does the yolk do for the dough as opposed to a whole egg?? Thanks!!!
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