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Galette!
a book review
Wednesday, 23 July 2025
I do not remember where I came across the recipe for a galette, a free form pie, that I've been using for more than half a decade. Rustic, free-form pastry, baked directly on a baking sheet with the edges folded over the filling.
I was talking with my friend Carole, at her family's orchard where I was purchasing blueberries,
two kinds of plums, apricots and white peaches. She had recently baked a sour cherry pie.
I complimented her, as I find making a pie crust difficult. "Oh," she said, "I buy mine."
Aha! Pies are indeed good to eat but complicated to make A galette is delicious. And easy.
.
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
In the beginning . . . there's the dough. Ingredients are divided into dry and wet: all purpose flour,
some sugar, a little salt. Butter, chilled. Water. A spoonful of vinegar. Combine all by hand. Chill.
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
Her basic recipe for A Good Crust is enough for two galette. Refrigerate or freeze extra. Suggestions for a few specialty crusts incorporate some cocoa or buckwheat, other options. Sauces and drizzles for topping baked galette. Ready? Let's bake.
There are several pages offering "seasonality guide" but I find them confusing. Alphabetical by variation rather than fruit first with options following. For example, Pear with Sumac and Ginger but Sugared and Peppered Plum. No matter, see what's currently available in the farmer's market or store. Then look at the - let's call them chapters, such as stone fruit with directions for plum, peach, sweet cherry, apricot, sour cherry galette.
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
The directions for Sugared and Peppered Plums starts with "Plums just belong in galettes."
A statement I totally agree with. Her suggestion of shaved Parmesan and a drizzle of honey
as topping for the galette instead of ice cream? I need to think about that as a possibility.
Galettes are baked sort of free form on a cookie sheet. Dough rolled out round.
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
Here, pears, sliced and neatly set, a couple of inches of dough pleated up and over the filling.
Each recipe offers something different, beyond merely substituting one fruit for a different one.
Here's a clever suggestion! Use the full, two galette worth dough recipe and bake
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
in a spring form pan for a galette as lofty as a layer cake. Other options suggested here
Use the dough that includes whole wheat flour. Have a layer of crunchy granola as a bottom layer under the peaches. And if the urge strikes when peaches are out of season, substitute frozen peaches in place of fresh. Thaw in refrigerator overnight, drain, pat dry. Since frozen peaches "deflate" more than fresh, use more fruit. Tent with foil as needed. And yes, there's even a page on how to galette (her phrase) with frozen fruit, including a paragraph on how to freeze your own fruit.
Turning pages brings us to Black, Blue, and Red Berries: raspberry, blueberries, cranberries. And grapes. On to several options for Chocolate and Other Sweet Things. Such as an intriguing option for individual handheld chocolate hazelnut galettes. Almost Cannoli. Like the ricotta filling? Smear on pancakes. And by the way, there is also a page of directions to make your own quick-candied orange peel. Or grapefruit. Or lemon. Or whatever.
The seasons turn and bring the year around to winter. There are apples, certainly. Somehow, in my mind I have always thought of galettes as pairing fruit and desserts. But as well as sweet they can also be savory. And Galette! suggests options for Winter Squash and Roots: carrots and beets, sweet potato and kabocha squash. These suggestion provide variations such as herbs with the carrots, sweet potato with harissa, and more. Summer turns to autumn with Nightshades and Summer Squash: the seemingly endless supply of zucchini, summer squash with any-herb pesto. Tomatoes and potatoes. Eggplant. And a diversity of other vegetables with wild variations of accompanimentents.
Excerpted from Galette! by Rebecca Firkser (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2025. Photographs by Jessica Marx.”
Dessert, a friend once told me, is spelled with two "s" because you can always ask for seconds. Fruit desserts are something that can circle the seasons: peaches in summer, Italian blue plums in fall, apples in winter. Pies are a possibility, and there's the option of pre-made, store bought pie crusts. Or, a galette, with produce that provides options and variations you might not have even previously considered.
Most recently on 15 August in the Guardiann's review of recent crime and thriller books, Laura Wilson finds it necessary to mention that The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine is "Atmospheric, suspenseful and studded with interesting recipes (I can vouch for the spiced pear galette)"
Galette! Sweet and Savory Recipes as Easy as Pie
Rebecca Firkser author, photographs by Jessica Marx
Artisan, an imprint of Workman Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group Inc
ISBN 978-1-52352-706-9 Hardcover $30
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher
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