Pear galette and most amazingly flaky crust ever

See that photo? Know what those are? Those are victory hands. Because I did it-finally! I made a super-flaky crust (for a gallette-but i think it could be used for a pie or tart crust too).

Ever since I started making pies, 3 or so years ago, I've wanted to make a super flaky crust. And generally my crusts are okay, but they could be better. Usually they're just a little on the soggy side, or they're just not flaky enough.

Well I was looking through the Tartine Bakery Cookbook (the original not the new one) and I noticed their Fruit Galette recipe. They describe the crust for this galette as similar to a "rough puff pastry"-same ingredients as those in their flaky pie crust dough, but different method: more complicated. FOr quite some time, I was intimidated by this concept of a "more difficult/complicated" method. Finally, though, after one too many trips to Durham NC's Scratch Bakery--where one can find what are perhaps some of the best pies/tarts/pastries in the world--  I decided it was time I aimed for "more" in my pastry crusts; thus I broke down and tried this recipe.

And turns out the method was really not so bad. It involves rolling, layer by layer, cold hunks of butter into flour. The process was a bit messy but really not too bad and actually quite a lot of fun. And the result was just so rewarding.

And so I won't delay this any longer. Here and now, I give you the recipe for pastry crust that will change your life-or at least boost your self-esteem.

Adapted from the Tartine Bakery cookbook (the original), by Elisabeth M. Pruett and Chad Robertson (page 71).

For the dough:  (this makes enough dough for 2 large galettes, or 12 small galettes)

INGREDIENTS:
Very cold unsalted butter,-2 cups or 1 pound/455 g
Water -1 cup or 8 oz/250 ml
Salt - 1.5 tsp or 7 ml
*All purpose flour- 2 1/3 cups or 12 oz/340 g
*Pastry flour - 2 2/3 cups or 12 oz/340 g
(I suggest adding a tablespoon or so of sugar to this-not what the authors suggest but I thought a bit of sweetness in the dough might be nice) 

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Rolling pin
Bench scraper
Cookie sheet

 *(NOTE: the authors say that a mix of all purpose and pastry flour is ideal. I didn't have pastry at the time and did without. The recipe came out just fine,a lthough next time I'll probably aim to go with the all purpose/pastry mix).

1. Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes and put into freezer.
2. Mix water with salt, and place in freezer.
3. Chill butter and water/salt mixtures for about 10 minutes.

4. Measure flour onto your work surface It's not necessary to mix the flours at this point, because they will get mixed as the dough is made.

5. Spread flour into a rectangle about 1/3 inch deep.
6. Scatter butter cubes on top of the flour. Toss some flour on the butter so that your rolling pin doesn't stick.

7. Start to roll butter into flour. When the butter begins to flatten into long and thin pieces, use a bench scraper to scoop up sides of the rectangle so that it's the size that you started with.

8. Repeat rolling and scraping 3-4 times .

9. Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture and pour all of your water/salt mixture into the center (this was a bit messy-next time I will incorporate the water slightly more gradually).
Using the bench scraper, scoop the sides of the dough onto the center, cutting the water into the dough.

10. Keep scraping and cutting until the dough is a shaggy mass, and then shape it into a rectangle that measures about 10 x 14 inches. Now, lightly dust the top of the rectangle with flour

11. Roll out the rectangle until it's twice as wide again and then scrape the top, bottom, and sides together until it is back to the original size.  Reroll, and repeat 3 or 4 times until you have smooth and cohesive dough (I think I ended up rerolling quite a few more times-I didn't get a "smooth" and "cohesive" dough after 4 rerolls).

You should now have a nice neat rectangle that measures about 10 x 14 inches.

12. Transfer the dough to a large baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill well, about 1 hr (I actually extended the chilling to about...um...7 days. Turned out just fine).

13. When you're ready to roll out the dough, divide it into 2 equal portions if you're making large galettes or into 12 equal portions if you're making small galettes. Roll out into circles and transfer to a baking sheet (the authors have amazing instructions for rolling out into a circle. im not going to type all of that out, but you should buy the book. it's an awesome book anyways).

Chill the circles until they are firm.

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I made a pear galette with this dough.

For the filling:
4 bosch pears,
1/4 spiced rum
sugar to taste
2 tablespoons ginger

PREHEAT OVEN to 375 degrees.

Peel and cut pears, length wise.
Place in a sauce pan over medium heat, add the spice rum, sugar and ginger, stir and cook down the pears, for about 10 minutes.

1. Place the pear filling in the center of the dough circle: leave about a 2 inch border for a large galette and about a 1 inch border for the smaller galettes.

2. Fold in sides of circles to cover the fruit-make sure not to leave any spaces from which fruit might leak out.
3. Chill until firm (I managed to skip this chilling step).

4. Brush sides of the galette with milk (or an egg wash as the authors recommend). Sprinkle with granulated sugar, and then bake!

5. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

6. Throw up your triumphant hands to celebrate your success baking a flaky dough!

Caramelized pear tart on a snow day

When I heard news of the impending snow storm I did what every respectable southerner does in the wake of such weather reports: I bee-lined it to the grocery store.

And I bought pears. Thank goodness we were already well stocked with milk because my grocery trip would have been pretty disappointing otherwise, given the lack thereof in the already ravaged dairy section.



I really needed those pears though, because there is no better day on which to bake a pie or tart than one on which you are snowed in and feeling cozy and longing for the smells of warm fruit and butter baking in the oven.


I'd been lusting after the recipe for this pear tart for some time--since I saw it on the fantastic pie devoted nothing-in-the-house blog. And let me tell you, this recipe did not disappoint. In fact, I have now declared this my favorite fruit pie/tart recipe of all time. It involves first caramelizing the pears in a cast-iron skillet on the stove top, followed by baking it upside down style, with the crust on top in the oven, and then flipping the whole thing to make the tart face right-side-up.



I really can't express how good this recipe is. The crust does not suffer from the soggy problem that plagues many other fruit pies, and much of the crust ends up with a caramel layer which is so delicious, I do not even have the words.



An added perk to all this is that the cooking process is very beautiful (or at least I found it so--this may be evidenced by the perhaps excessive number of pictures that I've included in this post). But really, starting with the pears themselves, which I think are a particularly nice looking fruit, even when they do have some bruising and spotting on them, and moving on to the process of watching the butter brown and mix with the sugar and then bubble around the pears as they caramelize...this is definitely a picture-worthy process!




CARAMELIZED UPSIDE-DOWN PEAR TART,

from the nothing-in-the house blog,
which she says she found in the Gourmet cookbook:

4 large firm yet ripe Bosc pears
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Recipe for one half of a pie crust (i.e. the bottom half)

Peel, halve, and core pears. Heat butter in a 9- to 10-inch cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then stir in sugar (sugar will not be dissolved). Arrange pears, cut sides up, in skillet with wide parts facing out. Sprinkle pears with cinnamon and cook undisturbed, until sugar turns a deep golden caramel. (This can take 15- 25 minutes, depending on pears, skillets, and stove.) Cool pears completely in skillet.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round and trim to a 9 1/2- to 10 1/2-inch round. Arrange pastry over caramelized pears, tucking edge around pears inside rim of skillet. Bake tart until pastry is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes.

Invert a rimmed serving plate (slightly larger than skillet) over skillet and, using pot holders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert tart onto plate. Serve tart warm with vanilla whipped cream.

Dark chocolate tart with ginger snap crust

As it turns out, size does matter. At least it matters when it comes to baking. Unfortunately I discovered the importance of size yesterday when I used a 2-inch-too-large-in-diameter tart pan to bake the chocolate dessert that I'm about to describe. Nonetheless please note that I'm still posting about yesterday's experience. And that's a testament to how awesome this recipe is.

Because yes, even though my baking equipment was all wrong and I lazed-out when I should have made accurate measurements of ingredients (instead I quickly said to myself, "to my little eyeball that looks roughly like 1 and a half cups, sure!"), we still thoroughly enjoyed this tart. Yes, we loved it in spite of the tart not being aesthetically pleasing, the crust being TOO crumbly, and the unhealthy amount anxiety that I experienced about baking times, and when I patted the crust dough into the pan.




Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me tell you why this recipe rocks: Point 1.) If one uses the correct pan size as well as the appropriate ingredient measurements, the crust recipe is a friggin' cinch and involves only crumbling up some ginger snaps and blending those crumbs with melted butter! Point 2.) PLUS the crust is friggin delicious, boasting a buttery ginger-y flavor. Point 3.) The filling is, like the crust, super simple in terms of preparation requirements and requires the mixing of only a few ingredients. Point 4.) Most importantly, the overall product is a very rich chocolate tart that is delicious and will satisfy any chocoluv-er's (sorry for the pun) cravings.


One final point. What I love even more than chocolate alone is chocolate with a sprinkling of salt on top. I failed to add this magical touch to the tart that I prepared yesterday but intend to do so each and every time I bake this again. If you are into the salty-chocolatey thing too, then I highly recommend that you do the same.



The recipe is posted here, on the smitten kitchen blog, which she found in Bon Appetit. If you check out her post on this recipe you will see how beautiful this tart can come out. I think she used the appropriate tart pan size. And measured out the ingredients properly. Ah, the perfection. She makes me sick, really.