So what is a rustic plum galette? Well, it’s basically a freeform tart with the flakiest & butteriest pastry filled with a fruit center (in this case, these beautiful plums were in season!). This was my first time making galette after drooling over beautiful photos of them for a while. I have some tips for you since my first one wasn’t quite photo worthy (but still delicious)!
As an avid Miyoko’s butter fan, I tried the new Country Crock plant butter sticks and was very pleasantly surprised! If you are having a hard time finding Miyokos, definitely give these a look. I used the olive oil one and the melting properties and taste were very good and the crust was SO buttery!
Tips for working with galette dough
The dough for the galette is a very sticky and wet dough and honestly a little hard to work with. This is why the end product is so flaky, so it’s definitely worth being a pain!
- Keep the dough in the mixing bowl the whole time for mixing and kneading. It’s not firm enough to try and knead on the counter and you don’t want to add extra flour. Keeping it in the bowl keeps the mess contained!
- Use VERY cold butter and water.
- Make sure to refrigerate at least 30 minutes. You want the dough to be somewhat pliable, but firm!
- When rolling out the dough, make sure to do it on parchment paper (so it’s easy to move around) and gently flour the surface.
- When folding the dough over the fruit, use a long off-set spatula to slide under the edge and fold over. You may need a sprinkle of flour here if there is any sticking.
- Use band-aids! If there is a little tear in your dough, cut a tiny piece off the very edge, knead it and then gently rub it onto the tear until it is sealed.
I made two small galettes (about 9″ rounds) instead of a large one (about 12″x18″). If you make the two galettes like mine, make sure to divide the toppings equally between to two! In the photo above, you can see how to easily sprinkle the sugar and the pieces of butter over the plum galette before baking.
Choosing the right plum:
When picking out the perfect baking plum, you want on that will give a little when pressed but bounces back. You don’t want a hard one that you are unable to press in and you don’t want an overly ripe one that caves in. When you put the plum in half, you should be able to easily twist it and the pit comes right out (without it being squishy!).
I think the black plum varieties work best for baking!
When your plum galette is done baking, the crust should resemble the crust above – very golden brown on the edges. There may be black and burnt areas on the parchment paper, but not on your beautiful crust!
Brush on the jam onto the galette and soon as in comes out of the oven. You may have to pop the jam in the microwave for 30 seconds to get it easy to spread and make sure to add some to the crust. I use peach jam for the plum galette and the flavor worked beautifully. You could also try the traditional apricot jam or more adventurous ones like raspberry or blackberry.
Plum Galette
Ingredients
Dough
- 180 g (1-½ cups) All Purpose Flour
- ¾ cup Vegan Butter, very cold
- ¼ t Salt
- ⅓ cup Ice Water
Filling
- 10-15 Medium Ripe Plums
- 50 g (¼ cup) Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Almond Flour
- 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
Topping
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 70 g (⅓ cup) Sugar
- ½ cup Peach or Apricot Jam I recommend peach
Instructions
Making the dough
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the flour. With you fingers, rub the butter into the flour until no clumps of butter remain. Dough will still be very dry and crumbly.
- Add ⅓ cup of the ice water (but just the cold water, no ice) to the dough. Mix with your hands or a spatula until dough is very combined, and kneed for a minute while still in the bowl. The dough is very sticky and wet, but shouldn't be runny. Don't add any flour, the dough is supposed to be sticky.
- If you are making a large galette (about 12" x 18") form the dough into one large ball and wrap in plastic. If you would like two smaller galettes (about 9" rounds), divide the dough into two equal balls and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. The more firm the dough is, the easier it is to work with.
- Once dough is firm, roll out to your desired shape on parchment paper, keep them on the parchment throughout the baking process. These are rustic tarts, so you do not need to have perfect edges, just the general shape. Roll the dough about 1/8" – 1/16" , don't go any thinner or the dough will tear. If the dough becomes too sticky at any point, stick it back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Assembling the Galette
- Preheat the oven to 400F. In a small bowl whisk together almond flour, sugar and all purpose flour and set aside.
- Slice plums into slivers (approx 1/4" wide at the thickest part in the middle). Sprinkle the almond flour mixture onto the center of the dough leaving about 2" around the edges empty. If you made two galettes, make sure to divide the mixture evenly between them.
- Arrange the plum slices over the flour mixture in any design you choose. Then gently fold the empty edges of the dough over the edge of the plums. Use flour if the dough is sticking to the parchment. If you getting any tears, create a little dough "band-aid" over that spot to prevent leaking.
- Sprinkle the ⅓ cup sugar over the plums and make sure to get a nice amount sprinkled over the crust too. Cut the butter into very small pieces and place a couple evenly over the plums. Again, if you make two galettes, make sure to divide the sugar and butter evenly between the two.
- Slide the parchment paper with your assembled galette onto a cookie sheet and bake in the over for 50-60 minutes. The crust should be very golden brown and the plum mixture will be bubbling, there may be some very dark pieces on the parchment paper, that is okay!
- Remove galette from the oven and brush the whole thing with the jam, including the crust. Let cool and serve!
happy baking!
