I can sort of understand what compelled Julie Powell to try to cook her way through Mastering The Art of French Cooking but only sort of. I have no desire to either cook or eat lobster, or to debone a duck. Besides, I’m afflicted with my own version of her quest: to see if I can bake my way through Baking with Julia.
Granted, not all of the recipes in BWJ are actually by Julia Child. In fact, most of them are specialties of the guest bakers she had on her PBS show of the same name.
It’s taking me a while, though, to work my way through the book as I’m hampered by two major factors: a desire to skip the heart attack in my 40s and a lack of willing eating audience.
But, I have found at least one dish popular with the diners I have access to: the galette.
A galette is a simple dough made quickly and meant to be used either the same day or the next morning. It can be used for either savory or sweet filling.
As it’s finally fresh berry season here in the Eastern U.S., I’ve been doing a lot of berry galettes lately. This weekend, I thought I’d try a savory, breakfast specific, galette with eggs and sausage.
It kind of exploded. Despite this, it was tasty.
Galette dough: Baking with Julia Savor the Joys of Baking with America’s Best Bakers by Dorie Greenspan, pp. 371-372
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons sour cream (or yogurt or buttermilk)
- 1/3 cup (approximately) ice water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold), cut into 6-8 pieces
Equipment
- Small mixing bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Fork
- Sharp knife
- Measuring devices: Liquid measuring cup; 1 cup dry measure, 1/4 cup dry measure, tablespoon, teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon.
- Pastry blender
- Plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or waxed paper
Instructions
Note: Dough must chill at least two hours before it can be used.
- Stir the sour cream and ice water together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and stir with a fork to mix.
- Drop the butter pieces into the bowl, tossing them once or twice just to coat them with flour.
- With a pastry blender work the butter intto the flour aiming for pieces that range in size from bread crumbs to small peas. The smaller pieces will make the dough tender. The larger onces will make it flaky.
- Sprinkle the cold sour cream and water mixture over the dough 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork to distribute evenly. After you’ve added all of the mixture the dough should be moist enough to stick together when pressed.
- Divide the dough in half, wrapping each half separately, and press into a disc.
- Chill for at least 2 hours before attempting to use.
Makes enough for two 8-inch galettes.
Berry galette, IBID, pg. 377
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups fresh berries, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (cold)
- 1 to 2 cups flour (for rolling)
- Pastry brush
- 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400degF.
- Remove the galette from the refrigerator and unwrap. The dough will be sticky so liberally flour your work surface to keep the dough from tearing.
- Roll disc evenly to roughly an 11 inch diameter (about 1/4 inch thick)
- Place drained berries in the middle of the dough circle.
- Cut the 1 tablespoon butter into small pieces and dot around the berry filling.
- Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar and drizzle honey (optional) over berries.
- Fold the edges of the dough over the filling so that the resulting dough circle is roughly 8 inches in diameter. This is a loose, soft dough so the edges will pleat naturally and rustically as befits the dish’s origins.
- Use the pastry brush to dampen the edges of the folded dough with water.
- Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar on dampened dough.
- Bake for 20-35 minutes or until dough is golden brown.
For best results, eat the same day.
And yes, two galettes have 1/4 pound + 1 tablespoon of butter in them. See what I mean about skipping the heart attack in my 40s?
Leave a Reply