Last week I collected the last bunch of apples from my mum's apple tree, and I just had to do something with them. So I searched for a recipe with apple (so many!) and I found a rather simple recipe for a galette with apple and caramel on a blog called Life's a Feast. Yum! The light (or: the lack of light) was the cause of the worse quality of the picture. Tomorrow I'll come with a better one. But for now:
For this apple galette you will need:
For the Sweet Almond Pastry Crust:
150 gr cups flour
50 gr cup sugar
50 gr finely ground almonds
50 gr unsalted (vegetable) butter, cool
3-5 tbs cold water
For the Apple Galette Filling:
3-4 apples, peeled, cored and cubed
1-2 tbs flour
2-3 tbs sugar
Scant ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Dash ground nutmeg
Cream for brushing the pastry; sugar for dusting crust.
For the Salted Butter Caramel Sauce (Caramel au Beurre Salé):
1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
3 ½ Tbs (50 g) salted butter
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
Prepare the Pastry Crust:
1. Place the flour, sugar and ground almonds in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
2. Add the butter in cubes; toss to coat the cubes. Using only your thumbs and fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the consistency of damp sand and all of the butter has been incorporated.
3. Using a fork, vigorously stir in 3 tablespoons of the cold water; adding the remaining water a tablespoon at a time until all of the dry ingredients are damp and pull together into a ball.
4. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead briefly and gently, adding a bit of flour if necessary, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill while preparing the filling.
6. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
Prepare the Apple Filling:
7. Peel and core the apples and cut into cubes. Place the apple cubes in a bowl and toss with the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Prepare the Galette:
8. Remove the Sweet Pastry Crust from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap.
9. Place the ball of dough on a floured work surface and gently roll out into a 12-inch diameter circle. Carefully roll the dough around the rolling pin and transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Pile the prepared apple cubes in the center of the pastry circle and spread out to distribute evenly, leaving about 2 - 3 inches of dough free all around the outside edge of the circle, enough to lift up as a border to hold the apples in place.
10. Begin lifting the edge of the circle of dough up and place against the apples. Lifting the dough up about 3 inches at a time and moving around the galette, the dough “flaps” will overlap.
11. Brush the folds of dough where they overlap with a little of the cream and “glue” down, pressing in place gently. Continue all around the galette. Brush the crust all over with cream and dust with sugar.
12. Bake the galette in the preheated oven for about an hour or until the crust is a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing and serving.
Prepare the caramel:
13. Melt the sugar in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat and cook until completely melted and caramel in color.
14. Lower the heat to low and whisk in the butter in about 3 or 4 additions.
15. Continuing to whisk, add the heavy cream in a slow stream; the caramel may foam up, but keep whisking, as it will calm down once all the cream is added and will turn to… a smooth caramel. Once it is smooth and creamy, remove from the heat and allow to cool at least to tepid before serving.
