Sometimes you want a gallette instead of a pie. You’re shocked hearing that from me? Well, don’t be. Apparently I enabled a gallette to be the winning “pie” at the last pie contest. And you know why? Because of the increased caramelization possibilities of more exposed crust and the ability to make a really big one for a wow presentation.
Like this one here which served almost 20. Also, I find that for bakers who are nervous about the whole cooking fruit inside a crust + thickener thing, cooking the apples separately can be an easy anxiety fix.
To size up the recipe just use more dough to make a bigger circle for your gallette and prep more apples. For this gallette that was 14″ across I made my Ratio Dough using 15 oz of flour. I used 10 small apples. You actually don’t need to use many more apples than for a regular pie, they’re just spread out in a much thinner layer.
Evan’s Caramelized Apple Gallette
1 recipe of your favorite pie dough (or GASP purchased pie dough)
7-10 apples, peeled
1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar (divided)
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 lb. unsalted butter (or more if you wish)
Cut the apples off the core then into slices just under 1/2″ thick. Don’t make the slices too thin; by the time you cook them they’ll dwindle down to nothing.
Put the apple slices in a bowl and toss with 1 cup of the sugar and a pinch of salt. Let sit for at least half an hour so the apples soften a bit and start to release their juices. You don’t have to do this step but it makes the cooking go faster.
Melt the butter in a sauté pan large enough to handle the apple slices in a single layer or cook the apples in two batches. Add the apples and their accumulated juices. Cook over high heat until the juices start to evaporate. As the apples start to cook add more sugar if your palate dictates. (I ended up using about 1-1/ 2 cups for this tart. It will depend on how tart your apples are).
Continue cooking the apples over high heat until there are caramelized spots over most of the apple slices and the juices have thickened with the butter and sugar to form a loose caramel. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully scrape the apples and caramel into a bowl to cool.
The apples must cool before you can make the gallette or else the dough will melt.
Roll your dough out to a 1/4″ thickness. Carefully move the rolled circle to a round pizza pan or a large cookie sheet. If the idea of moving the tart off the pan once baked scares you then line the pan with parchment paper before putting the rolled dough on the pan. Scatter the apples in a very thin layer over the circle, leaving an uncovered border for you to fold over. Gather up the untopped edges and fold them up. Brush the dough with an egg-cream wash and bake in a 375 degree oven until the pastry is beautifully browned and the apples are nearly translucent.
Evan Kleiman is an active speaker on culinary subjects as well as issues of food culture and sustainability and, just to keep a balance, she has a very public love affair with Pie. She’s been called the Jerry Garcia of cooking with the freewheeling improvisation she brings to the kitchen. You can follow her exploits on her blog at http://www.evankleiman.com/