Cherry and Peach Galette

Do you like the idea of baking your own tart but worry that it is too fiddly and you’ll never manage one of those beautiful lattice tops? Enter the galette. The word galette refers to a variety of flat cakes. It is used mostly to describe this type of freeform tart, a single layer of pastry where the edges are wrapped around the filling and baked flat on a baking sheet.

I love these tarts as I am quite into the rustic look. Who am I kidding, I can’t really do ‘pretty’ food so I like the idea of a dessert that’s supposed to look a little messy. The beauty is that they can be made either sweet or savoury, for example, leave the sugar out of the pastry and fill with squash and feta – yum!

I love stocking up on cherries at this time of year and I’m always looking for new ways to use them. I knew I wanted to make a galette but wasn’t sure what other fruit to use in it. Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen uses them with raspberries in her Red Berry Galette but as I loved them so much with peaches in this Grilled Peaches Cherry and Goats’ Cheese Salad, I decided to go with a Cherry and Peach Galette.

Useful tips & links:

I have made a sweet buttery shortcut pastry for this, feel free to use a ready made sheet of shortcrust pastry. The pastry needs time to set but can be kept in the fridge for up to two days wrapped in clingfilm so you can make that well ahead of time.
Demerara sugar has a large grain so it give the crust a lovely crunch. Use regular caster sugar if you don’t have it.
Almonds are great with cherries so if you like you could swap some of the flour in the pastry for ground almonds or top the galette with flaked almonds.
I use fresh cherries but I tend to buy in bulk when they are on offer and stone and freeze them. Frozen cherries will work well here too, just defrost thoroughly first and dry them to avoid excess moisture.
For more sweet cherry recipes, have a look at my Cherry Clafoutis. For more galette inspiration have a look at Anna’s Red Berry Galette on Thyme to Eat or Ellen’s stunning Rustic Apricot and Cherry Tart.

Cherry and Peach Galette

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

225g of plain flour
140g of cold unsalted butter, diced
25g of caster sugar
1 egg

For the filling:

350g of cherries, stoned and halved
1 peach thinly sliced
50g of caster sugar
The zest of ½ a lemon
1 tablespoon of cornflour
1 teaspoon of vanilla

To assemble:
Semolina flour or ground almonds
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons of demerara sugar
15g of butter

Method:

To make your pastry by machine put the flour and butter into a food processor and pulse it until you have a breadcrumb texture. Next add the sugar and pulse again. Pour in the egg and whizz until it is just coming together. If it is too dry add a little iced water until it combines but don’t add too much, it is better for the pastry to be a little dry than too wet.
If making the pastry by hand, rub the butter into the flour with your finger tips or cut through the butter and flour with knives in a scissors motion until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar and combine the egg as above.
Tip the pastry mixture onto a board and bring it together for a minute with your hands until it is a smooth dough. Press it into a flat disc shape, wrap it in clingfilm and pop it into the fridge to rest for at least 45 minutes. If you are pressed for time, put it into the freezer for 10 minutes.
Prepare the fruit filling by cutting up the cherries and slicing the peach. I just halve the cherries so they don’t go too soft and keep their shape but slice them smaller if you like.
Put the fruit into a bowl and add the sugar, cornflour, lemon zest and vanilla and mix it well together. Allow it to stand while you take care of the pastry.

To bake the Cherry and Peach Galette:

When you are ready to bake the galette, preheat your oven to 200c/180c fan/gas mark 6. Put your baking tray into the oven to preheat, this will help the bottom of the galette to cook properly and avoid the dreaded ‘soggy bottom’.
Take the pastry from the fridge and roll it out in a circle until it is approx 4mm thick and 12″/30cm in diameter. Place the pastry on to some greaseproof paper or baking parchment so that you can easily lift it onto the baking sheet.
Sprinkle some semolina flour or ground almonds onto the middle of the pastry. This will help to protect the pastry at the bottom from getting too soggy as the juice from the fruit will seep into it.
Arrange the fruit onto the pastry leaving a border of about 2″/5cm. Pour over any juice that has collected in the bowl.
Pull the edges of the pastry up over the fruit, tucking in the pastry where it overlaps. Don’t worry too much about the appearance, it is meant to look rustic.
Brush the egg yolk over the pastry and sprinkle over the demerara sugar. Dot the butter over the fruit, which will help to keep it glossy while it bakes.
Carefully lift it onto the hot baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden and the fruit is soft.
Allow it to stand for a few minutes on the baking sheet after taking it out of the oven and slice and serve warm with some cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice-cream.