peach & blackberry galette

I almost missed seeing them.  Walking on the sidewalk along a fairly busy road, my usual route for a morning walk which now happens on autopilot; mind and feet familiar with every curve in the path and every break in the concrete.  For some reason on that day, my gaze drifted to the side and there they were – bunches of berries, some red and some black, nestled between dead leaves under the shade of trees.

“It can’t be” I thought to myself as I went closer, half convinced that my imagination was running wild.  They were berries alright and I could hardly contain my excitement!  So often while reading other blogs, I had gawked at gorgeous pictures of people berry-picking, collecting those little gems into baskets which made me wistfully long for a life in the country where I pictured myself with a handwoven basket walking along in the woods picking berries!  I couldn’t believe my luck!

Since I was early into my walk, I quickly looked around to note some landmarks and carefully counted the steps to the next mailbox so I could find the patch on the way back.  And exactly 110 steps from the said mailbox, the berries were waiting!  I took a few stems with the berries attached while discovering that there were thorns involved, and headed home with my keys, cell phone and hat in one hand and the berries delicately held in the other.

I felt like a kid when I excitedly showed my husband what I had found and wondered aloud if these were indeed blackberries.  Since there was only one way to find out, I asked him to stand by while I tasted it – just in case I keeled over and he needed to call 911 :).  Well……they were certainly blackberries……..pucker sour ones!

Since I did have some blackberries and peaches from the store that were really sweet, a galette came to mind.  There is something very summery about galettes and although the ingredients are similar to a pie, the likeness ends there…at least in my mind.  I had never baked a galette before but the homey, informal nature of it made for a lack of nervousness about the dish failing.  I found this crust recipe that I just love and highly recommend.  The only changes I made was to reduce the amount of butter to 1/2 cup from 3/4 cup and used the food processor to make the dough.  You can use the instructions in the original recipe if making dough by hand.

Try to use the sweetest fruit you can lay your hands on because there is very…very little added sugar in this recipe.  You can just dump the fruit in the center of the rolled dough if you like, but I arranged the slices in a pattern since I find arranging them methodically to be quite calming:)

I hope you will try to make this before the summer ends and have it with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

Crust (slightly modified from this recipe):

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white-whole wheat flour (aata)

1/2 cup oat flour

2 tsp raw sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup ice-cold water

a little milk for brushing the crust

Filling:

3 large or 5 medium peaches

1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries

1 tbsp raw sugar

3/4 tbsp naturally sweetened jam ( I used this one)

Some powdered raw or regular sugar for dusting

For the Crust:

Add the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oat flour, salt and sugar to the food processor bowl and pulse for a few seconds.

Cut the butter into 1/2 tbsp size pieces and add to the food processor (I make one lengthwise cut into the stick of butter and then cut across to give me 16 pieces).  Pulse it until you get large bean size pieces of butter.

Add the cold water and pulse again until the mixture just comes together.  Please do not overwork the dough.

Make a disc of the dough and wrap with some saran wrap.  Keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hrs.

For the Galette:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the peaches into thin wedges (about 20 wedges/peach)

Melt the jam for about 20 secs in the microwave.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and dust the counter liberally with some flour.  Press the dough with your hands to warm it up a bit.  I know this goes against the whole “chilled dough for flaky crust” theory but I found it keeps the dough from cracking while rolling.

Roll the dough into a 13-inch circle.  If you find it is cracking, just press the cracked pieces together and roll.

Transfer the dough gently onto parchment paper.  I find it easier to wrap it around the rolling pin and move it onto the paper.

Brush the crust with the melted jam, keeping about a 2-inch border around.  Arrange the peach slices in the center and then arrange the blackberries on top.

Fold the sides of the dough around the fruit by picking it up gently along the sides and pressing against the fruit.  I don’t pleat it because the lifting and pressing action makes natural pleats.

Brush the top of the dough with a little milk and spoon 1 tbsp of raw sugar over the fruit.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 40 mins, until crust becomes golden brown.

Cool completely on a wire rack and dust with a little powdered raw sugar.  Serve as is or with some ice-cream.

Enjoy!

*  If you find that the fruit is really juicy, you can add about 1/4 cup of almond powder over the jam to absorb some of the juices.