plum galette, pie #39 of 52

what a dreary day-we needed the rain and i am happy it has finally arrived but does it have to be so dark and grey too?  enough of the whining, this pie can brighten your rainy day without a lot of work.  galettes are a quick and easy pie because they aren't supposed to look perfect.  it is a great go to recipe when you need a dessert that seems a little more elegant than usual without the hassle of classically prepared pastries.

plums bake up quick too but this can be made with peaches, apples, berries or pears.  make the dough from scratch using the recipe below but freeze half of it for another day and use it to make a tart or more galettes.

plum galette

serves 4

dough

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons cold milk

Place the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and blend to combine.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  In a food processor this will be accomplished by pulsing the mixture.  Add the egg yolks and the milk and mix until the dough combines and forms a smooth dough.  Divide the dough in two pieces, shape into 4” disks, freeze one for later and chill the other before using.

plum filling

4 black plums

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon zest

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 of a vanilla bean-seeds only, pod reserved for another use

halve the plums, remove the pit and cut into thin wedges.  in a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and rub them together with your fingers until completely mixed.  toss the plums with the sugar mix and allow them to macerate while you roll out the dough.

preheat the oven to 350.  cut one disk of dough into 4 equal pieces.  shape each piece into a round disk and roll them out to 7-1/2 inch circles.  place the dough circles onto sheet pans lined with parchment 

paper.  arrange the pears in a circle on top of each round of dough leaving a 1" border around the edge.  fold the edges up over the top of the plums to form a loose and free formed pie.  drizzle a spoonful of the collected juices over the center of each galette.  if desired, brush the edges with some water and sprinkle with additional sugar, but you can leave it plain as i did too.  bake for 25-30 minutes or until nicely golden around the top and the juices are bubbly.  allow them to rest on the pan for 10-15 minutes before serving and if you want to really go all out, serve them with some vanilla ice cream.

as always, bake one and send me a photo, i will post it here.  now if you will excuse me, i am going to go and find some other song to play incessantly in my head-the carpenter's(rainy days and mondays) are killing me...bakinbabe116@aol.com