Wild Thistle Kitchen: Pear Galette
By • September 23, 2021 0 1121
In my opinion, the Pear Galette is the unsung hero of fall desserts. Let me elaborate: It happens every year — Fall rolls in with its beautiful, cool, crisp air, colorful changing leaves, red wine, fireplaces, and cozy blankets…. and enough pumpkin and apple recipes to make your head spin. I have nothing against either of them, but I’ll admit I get bored with them pretty quickly, and by the time Thanksgiving rolls around I don’t even want to look at either one of them. Thank goodness my dad made the best pecan pie ever. But that’s another post.
The Pear Galette is the answer to fall dessert boredom (i.e., apple and pumpkin overload). It’s easy, elegant and still full of cozy fall spice and warmth. And it’s easier than pie! Literally.
And Let’s Talk about Galettes
I really can’t praise the humble, elegant galette enough. Just as the pear is apple’s sexy cousin, the galette is pie’s laid back, effortlessly cool French buddy. Essentially an open-faced, free-form pie, galettes take the fear and fiddliness out of pie making. They are supposed to be rustic! Their simplicity is what makes them beautiful and elegant.
The Crust for this Pear Galette is Simple
My crust recipe is all butter, made in a flash in the food processor, and very easy to work with.
Once you have the basic method down, you can switch up the fruits, adjusting the flour and sugar in the filling depending on the juiciness and sweetness of your chosen fruit. It’s easily doubled too if you want two galettes or are making a double crust pie. Although, I hardly make pies anymore because I love galettes so much, especially this pear galette, and I hope you will too!
Happy Baking! xo – Anita
Ingredients for the Crust:
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), very cold and diced into small cubes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs vodka mixed with 4 tbs water, very cold (I learned the vodka trick from America’s Test Kitchen a long, long time ago, and it really makes a difference; however, you can leave it out and just use water.)
Ingredients for the Galette:
- 3-4 pears, (Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett would be my top choices) — ripe but firm, peeled and thinly sliced or quartered and chunked into large bite-size pieces
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- juice from half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon butter, diced into small pieces
- 1 egg mixed with one tablespoon of water
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling
- One rolled out crust, from recipe above, on parchment paper
For the full recipe, go to https://wildthistlekitchen.com/pear-galette/.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 9-inch galette
