The Chef Show Peach Gallette
I’m so happy to share the recipe for the Peach Gallette I made with Roy and Jon during our episode honoring Jonathan Gold. We shot the show soon after Jonathan left us and feelings were raw. It was so lovely to get to spend the day with Jazz, her girls and our hosts Jon and Roy to do what Jonathan loved best. To cook and eat with friends.
Before you make the Gallette or Pie-llete as I called it on the show you first need to make the dough. Mine is below. If you want a deep dive class with me on how to do it check out my class on Bluprint.
For the Filling:
7 ripe peaches (or 8 nectarines), they shouldn’t be super soft
1/4 cup sugar or to taste
1/2 cup brown sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
A squeeze of lemon juice if needed
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Bring water to a rolling boil in a saucepan. Have a bowl full of iced water ready. Put the peaches in the water one at a time so the boil doesn’t stop. Count to ten. Lift the boiled peach out of the water with a slotted spoon or tong and put in the iced water. Continue until all the peaches are done. Slip the skins off all the peaches then cut them into wedges about 3/4″ thick. As you slice them put them in a bowl. Add the sugars as needed and the salt. If the peaches taste flat add a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste again and adjust seasoning. In this case your seasoning is the sugars, salt and lemon. Once the peaches taste correct to your taste add the flour and mix.
To Put the Gallette Together
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
To make the Gallette into a Pie-llette like I did in the show get a 9″ regular pie plate. Do not use a ceramic or deep dish pie dish! I used a 9″ pyrex dish. Roll out the dough according to the dough directions giving yourself plenty of extra to fold over. Drape the dough into the pie pan easing it into the bottom without stretching the dough. Give the filling a stir and pour it on top of the dough. Fold the edges over the filling pleating where you need. The “fold” can nearly cover the filling or just be a small border. It’s totally up to you.
Place the Pie-llette on a rack set on the lowest rung. Cook until the crust is beautifully deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling and thick, approximately 40 minutes. Try to let it cool a bit before you eat it. It will taste even better. Serve with vanilla ice cream if you like.
Evan’s Ultimate Pie Dough
This recipe is extremely flexible. The amount below gives you enough dough for two single 9” pies or one 9” double crust pie. In this ratio “1” is the liquid, “2” is the fat and “3” is the flour. You can use any combination of butter, lard and or vegetable shortening. Sometimes in dry climates or if you are using a flour that’s particularly aged or dry you will need the extra water. Hence the break from the ratio. Here in LA I almost always need that extra ounce. I always make my dough before the filling. It needs to rest in the fridge anyway. Often I’ll even roll out the dough and have it ready in the refrigerator.
12 oz/340 gms all purpose flour
Pinch of Kosher Salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar2 oz/57 gms unsalted butter, slightly softened
6 oz/170 gms chilled butter (or other fat), cut into tablespoon sized chunks
4 to 5 oz Apple Juice OR Water + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
MAKING THE DOUGH
Mix flour, salt and sugar, and baking powder, if using, together in bowl. Add fat into flour using your fingertips or a pastry blender. Take the slightly softened butter and work it into the flour with your fingers until the butter is evenly dispersed throughout the flour. You may also do this in the food processor.
Take the chunks of chilled butter and toss them in the flour so that each piece is coated. Using a pastry cutter cut the fat or your fingers into the flour until most of the dough looks like crumbs the size of peas but some of the fat is still in bigger clumps, the size of almonds. Do not over blend! You can also do this in the food processor by pulsing. But you have to be really careful not to overmix the butter.
If you’re using a food processor now you have to dump the mixture into a bowl .
Add the liquid by drizzling it all over the flour-butter mixture. Use a fork to mix. When dough mostly holds together you have added enough water. Don’t worry about a bunch of dry crumblies at this point.
Dump the mixture out onto your work surface. Use a bench scraper to gather the crumbs into the mass of dough. Use the heel of your hand to smear the dough away from you a third at a time. You are creating flat layers of flour and butter. After the dough is smeared out gather it back together with the bench scraper, using the scraper to layer the smears on top of each other, creating a mass of dough. Do it again. The dough should come together nicely, but you should still see your big pieces of butter. Use the bench scraper to cut the dough in two pieces.
Form each piece into a puck shape about two inches tall. Wrap each half with plastic wrap and let them rest in the refrigerator, for at least an hour or overnight. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months after it rests for an hour.
ROLLING THE DOUGH
I highly recommend that newbies use a pastry cloth with rolling pin sock.
Before you start rolling out the dough be sure you’ve cleared off your working surface. You need room to move. Take the dough from the refrigerator and place on surface that’s lightly dusted with flour. If you’ve made an all butter dough you might want to let the dough sit for about 10 minutes to let the butter soften slightly.
Dust your rolling pin too, but not too much. Gently rap the dough several times across the surface with the rolling pin to make it thinner and easier to roll out. Flip the thick dough puck over, lightly dust it again and rap the dough again, this time in the opposite direction. Now you’re ready to roll.
Remember not to press down directly on the dough. Think of rolling the dough across the surface and away from you. Always start rolling from the middle of the dough outward giving the dough a little quarter turn after each couple of passes. Then flip the dough over and once again roll from the middle outwards, giving the dough a quarter turn each time.
If any of the butter breaks through the surface sprinkle some flour over the exposed fat, then brush away the excess.
Lightly dust the pin, the counter and the dough as necessary. When your circle is a few inches larger than your pie pan you’re ready to move the dough from the counter to the pan. Gently fold the dough in half, and in one movement lift it off the rolling surface and into the pie pan. Unfold the dough circle and gently ease it into the pie pan. Don’t stretch the dough down into the pan. When it heats up in the oven it will bounce back and shrink.