Peach and Nectarine Galette

I was going through some pictures and came across this - it's a galette; a free form pie filled with frangipane ( almond cream), nectarine and peaches. It's one my of favorite pastries because it looks very rustic and there's no fuzz about baking it in a pie or a tart pan. All you need is a rolling pin, parchment paper or a silicone mat and a good baking sheet to bake this pie.

If you love making pies this is a good one to try. Assuming that you have a favorite recipe for a very flaky pie crust or even a store bought one, all you have to prepare is the almond cream, have ripe stone fruits on hand and apricot jam which you will use to glaze the pie when it's baked and while still hot off the oven so the glaze spreads easily.

You will find a lot of recipe sources for almond cream so I will leave it up to your preferred mixture. It's very easy to prepare even. Basically, it's the same filling you use when you make a Pear Frangipane.

What I can share with you is a cool tip on how to make the bottom of the galette flaky and golden, baked through and not soggy.

Here's a trick on how to do it:

Roll out your pie dough to a nice even thickness and fairly round. Have an extra tray that has a flat surface ready to set the parchment on its surface. Place the rolled dough on the center of the parchment paper. Spread the frangipane mixture just with in 2 inches from the tip of the rolled pie dough. Arrange the slices of fruit on top of the frangipane. Fold the edges inward to create a wall to prevent the almond mixture and fruit to seep out. Brush the edges of the galette with beaten egg and sprinkle granulated sugar.

Put the gallette in the freezer or fridge. This allows the dough to set and hold it's shape when baking. Leave it in the fridge to harden or set, about 15-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to the required temperature.  Now, put the baking sheet in the oven to warm up. It takes about 15 minutes of preheating time so the baking sheet gets really hot. Take your chilled pie out of the fridge. Take the baking sheet out of the oven. Carefully slide the parchment paper with the frozen pie on to the hot baking sheet. Put it back in the oven and bake until golden brown. What it does is it jump starts the cooking of the bottom of your pie dough, thus, it bakes almost the same time as the crust of the galette. You can use this technique whenever you bake a pie, even when you use a pie pan. When it's time to bake set the pan on top of a preheated baking sheet.

And as soon as it is baked, spread with warmed apricot jam to give that nice sheen on the surface of the gallette. It makes the galette even tastier, too!

I can't wait to make galettes when these fruits are in season!