Apple Galette (Rustic)

Think of an apple galette as a rustic cousin to a traditional apple pie. Sometimes people find it intimating to make pie dough and then making sure everything is perfect and pretty. The Apple Galette should be what you make first to practice making dough and the more rustic it looks, the better. There is no need to create the perfect lattice or design on it. Once you are comfortable making the dough, you can always graduate to make an official apple pie. Galette is a French word that actually means “a flat round cake of pastry often topped with fruit”. Pretty self explanatory.

Dough:
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed, frozen
1 ½ cup all purpose flour, unbleached, sifted
1 tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. white sugar
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
8 Tbsp. water, cold

Filling:
2 Cosmic Crisp apples, cored and sliced
2 Tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

Topping:
1 large egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. coarse sugar

For the Dough:
Put cubed butter into the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

Combine flour, salt, sugar into a large bowl

Add frozen butter into flour mixture. Use your hands or a stand mixer to combine butter into flour mixture. Note that you won't be able to fully incorporate it since it is frozen, but that is the perfect way to get flakey dough.

Add apple cider vinegar (or regular vinegar), mix to combine.

Add cold water one Tbsp. at a time until a dough ball forms together. Depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen, you may need more or less water to get the dough ball to form.

Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6).

For the Filling:
Slice Cosmic Crisp Apples into thin slices and put into large bowl.
Add cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice into the bowl with apples and toss to coat all the slices. Set aside.

Assembly:
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangular shape, about ¼” thick.

Pour apple mixture into the middle of the rolled-out dough.

Fold edges over, overlapping the previous fold with each new fold. It doesn't have to look pretty so don't worry if it is not even.

Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle with some coarse sugar.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Makes 6 servings.

How to Store Apple Galette:

If you want to make this dessert ahead of time, you can actually make it up to the point of baking and freeze it. It is best to vacuum seal it before freezing to it keeps it shape. When you are ready to bake, just pop it out of the freezer and right into a hot oven. You will likely have to bake it for a little longer depending on how hot your oven gets since it is being cooked from frozen.
If you baked it have a few pieces left over, you can store it in your fridge for a few days in an airtight container. But don’t worry too much about leftovers, this recipe is amazing and I am sure all the slices will be gone before you know it.