Plum Galette

It’s a lazy summer afternoon, lunch is ready & I am craving for something sweet. For some reason I am stuck with the thought of a yummy Tart but I want to make something easier, quicker, less fussy.  To satisfy my craving of a Tart and still trying to get away with much less work I turn to the beloved Galette! J The galette is a gift for such lazy days, it’s a free form Tart that can be made with just about any fruit or a variety of fruits that you can manage to get your hands at in your refrigerator. It’s one of those deserts that require little effort but have a big impact. It is so versatile; one can experiment with various combinations of fruits. The result is still stunning enough to be served to guests at a fancy dinner and is unquestionably lip-smacking good! J

I had some delicious yellow Plums in my refrigerator, so I decided to make my galette with plums and pistachios. You can use any other nut that you prefer or completely omit it if you wish. I chose pistachios simply because I loved the idea of their colour combination J plus the fruit n nut combination never fails J  

Recipe           

Ingredients:

For the Crust: ( yields 2 galettes)

175 gms Flour (Maida)

1 tbsp Castor Sugar

100 gms Butter (Cold, cut into cubes)

1 tbsp Sour Cream

50ml Water (Ice cold)

½ tsp Salt

For the Filling

1 tbsp Cane Sugar/Castor Sugar/Dermera Sugar

1 tbsp Butter (chilled and cut into cubes)

350gms Plums (Washed, pitted & sliced)

20gms Pistachios

Method:

1) To make the dough: Pulse the flour, sugar, salt & butter in a food processor that has

    cutting blade at short intervals until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

    Gradually add the sour cream & water and pulse very briefly just enoygh to combine

    the dough. (The dough can be prepared by hand also: rub the dry ingredients with the    

    chilled cutter cubes till the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs and then add

     sour cream & water gradually, and mix all the ingredients with a fork)

2) Divide the dough into 2 parts & shape the dough into 2 disks (make sure that you

     don’t over knead)

3) Wrap in cling film & refrigerate for at least 1 hour

4) Preheat the oven to 180 degree

5) Roll out the chilled dough until about 0.1 inch thick (a neat trick to avoid messy

     rolling is to roll the dough between 2 sheets of cling film, you won’t require any flour

     for dusting not the problem of dough sticking to the surface or the rolling pin)

6) Transfer the rolled out dough onto a parchment paper on a baking tray (it will be

     extremely easy to do this with the help of the cling film)

7) Place the slices of fruit on the dough, leaving a border of about 2 inches. Sprinkle the

     sugar over the fruit and distribute the knobs of butter.

8) Fold the sides towards the centre and place the baking tray in the oven. Bake for

      about 30-35 mins at 180 degree. The fruit should become soft and the crust a nice   

      golden brown.

9) Garnish the galette with some roasted pistachios and enjoy it warm either on its own

     or with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Tips:

  ·       The key to a nice flaky crust is that all the ingredients should be cold. Ensure that the butter being used for the dough is chilled and use only ice-cold water, you can even refrigerate the flour if you wish a little ahead of time.

  ·       The small pieces of butter peeking through the dough ensure the flakiness of your crust. While baking the butter melts and creates these air pockets that gives it the flaky texture. So please ensure that you Do Not over knead the dough as the heat from your hand may melt the butter and that will result in a flat, non-flaky crust.