A galette is a type of French pastry which can either be made savory or sweet. This pear galette is a fruit galette so it is definitely a sweet type and so amazing you guys! It is like a shortcut pie but more forgiving if you make a mistake. So you can go for a rustic-looking, imperfect look and it will still taste incredible. This galette recipe comes with a homemade dough. However, you can use puff pastry sheets if you don’t feel like making the dough from scratch. Serve this pear galette warm with your favorite ice cream.
Making the galette dough
The secret to any good homemade dough is ice-cold water and chilled butter. Doing this gives the dough an amazing texture so put the butter and water in the freezer for a few minutes before making your dough. You can make a dough in either a food processor or just use a pastry cutter. If you really don’t have either, you could use your hands but that takes forever and you might get an inconsistent texture. Anyway once you’ve combined the dough ingredients together, shape it into a disc shape and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours or even overnight.
When you are ready to bake your galette, leave the dough out on the counter for just a few minutes to allow you to seamlessly roll it out into an oval shape. Then transfer it to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Assembling the pear galette
When making the galette filling, cornstarch is really your best friend. This ingredients absorbs the juices from the fruit as it cooks in the galette, preventing your crust from getting soggy. Cornstarch is great for frying chicken as well because it is great at absorbing moisture which makes the coating super-crispy. You can also use all-purpose flour, but trust me, cornstarch is much better. So you slice the pears (I quartered them) and mix them with the brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, cinnamon and lemon juice.
Next, sprinkle the walnuts on the rolled out dough and then add the pear filling in the center, leaving about 2 inches of space around the edges. This gives you room to fold the edges inwards like when you make a pizza crust. Brush it with egg wash to get a nice browned crust and top it with some turbinado sugar or brown sugar.
I cooked any leftover pears in a saucepan to make a compote sauce. It is basically stewing fruits with sugar until it becomes mushy and turns into a fruit sauce. For more compote inspiration you can check out my rosemary blueberry compote to help you out.
Ingredients
Galette dough
1&1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ice cold water
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Pear filling
3 pears, stems removed and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons crushed walnuts
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
Galette dough
- In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and butter cubes into coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the cold water and pulse until it looks semi-wet. Alternatively you could mix these ingredients in a bowl with a pastry cutter.
- Transfer to a dry surface and knead it into a disc-shaped ball. Wrap it tightly with cling wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.
Assembling the pear galette
- Mix the sliced pears, brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, cinnamon, lemon juice in a bowl until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C.
- Let the refrigerated dough sit at room temperature for a few minutes before rolling it out into an oval shape about 16 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick.
- Line a large baking tray (I used a 17x11 inch cookie sheet) with parchment paper.
- Place a rolling pin on top of the dough, towards the edge and roll it over the pin to transfer it to the lined baking sheet. This way, the dough won't stretch or get damaged. Once you place the rolling pin on the baking tray, unroll it flat.
- Spread the walnuts generously over the surface of the dough, then add the pear filling in the center leaving about 2 inches of space on the edges of the dough.
- Fold the edges (where there is no pear filling) inwards to form a crust around the dough. This is your galette.
- Brush the edges all over with egg wash and sprinkle the entire gallete with the turbinado/brown sugar.
- Bake at 400°F/205°C for 40 minutes. The edges of the galette should look browned.
- Let it cool slightly before cutting into it. Best served with ice cream.
