Or: Yet Another Attempt to Convince People I Know What I’m Doing in the Kitchen.
I love a good French galette. Mostly because it’s one of the few things in cooking where being sloppy is considered rustic rather than incompetent.
This particular version involves fresh pears, a handful of blueberries, almond flour, a generous amount of brown sugar, and some rather lovely blueberry-lemon Chef Butter.
I bake mine in a cast-iron skillet as my pizza oven is cooling down. This gives me the opportunity to pretend I’m practicing sophisticated French baking techniques rather than simply trying to justify the ridiculous amount of money I’ve invested in cooking outdoors.
The result? Buttery, caramelized, slightly tart, and remarkably difficult to screw up. I’ve tested that last claim extensively.
Prep: 20 minutes, plus dough chilling
Baking: Approximately 35–45 minutes
Serves: 6–8, or fewer if you have weak impulse control.
Ingredients
The pastry (homemade, because apparently I have time.)
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 3–5 tablespoons ice water
Or buy refrigerated Trader Joe’s pie dough. The French may judge you, but they’re going to judge your shoes and we won’t invite them anyways.
The good stuff:
- 3 ripe but firm pears (Bosc or Anjou)
- A generous handful of fresh blueberries
- ½ cup brown sugar. Don’t skimp. This is dessert, not a wellness retreat.
- 2 tablespoons almond flour
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2-4 tablespoons Monterey Farms Chef Butter, Blueberry Lemon flavor
- 2 handfuls of chopped walnuts
The finishing touches:
- 1 beaten egg
- A sprinkle of coarse sugar
- 2 tablespoons of honey, for glazing
The Process
1. Make some dough.
Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add ice water gradually until the dough comes together.
Form a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Congratulations. You’ve successfully completed the most technically demanding part of this operation.
2. Prepare the fruit.
Core and thinly slice the pears. I leave the skins on because they look pretty, and peeling seems like unnecessary work.
Gently toss the pears and blueberries with brown sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, and cornstarch.
Yes, half a cup of brown sugar. I mentioned that, right?
3. Assemble your masterpiece.
Roll the dough into a roughly 12-inch circle and lay it into a cool, lightly buttered 10-inch cast-iron skillet, allowing the excess pastry to hang over the sides.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of almond flour over the pastry bottom. This absorbs some of the fruit juices and helps prevent the dreaded soggy bottom.
Arrange the pears over the almond flour, scatter blueberries throughout, and spoon over the sugary juices (leaving behind any excessive liquid).
Fold the pastry edges inward over the fruit. Uneven folds are encouraged. We call that artisanal.
Dot the filling generously with Blueberry Lemon Chef Butter and walnuts. Again, don’t skimp. You might go to the gym tomorrow, maybe.
4. Into the pizza oven.
Here’s where my questionable investment in a pizza oven finally pays a dividend.
After the pizzas are done, I let the oven cool to approximately 375–400°F. Not pizza-baking temperatures, unless your goal is to turn a galette into a carbon-based archaeological specimen.
Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Place the skillet in the cooling oven and bake for approximately 25–40 minutes, rotating as needed. Watch the bottom heat carefully; a cast-iron skillet sitting on a hot pizza-oven floor can scorch the crust well before the filling is ready. Use a rack or heat diffuser if necessary.
You’re looking for deeply golden pastry, bubbling fruit juices, and tender pears.
5. The finishing flourish.
Warm a little honey and brush it over the fruit for a glossy finish.
Allow the galette to rest for 15 minutes.
This is theoretically important for setting the filling. In practice, it is also an opportunity to burn your tongue because patience has never been my defining characteristic.
Serving
Warm, with vanilla bean ice cream or a spoonful of crème fraîche.
The almond flour adds a subtle nuttiness, the blueberries contribute little bursts of tartness, and that blueberry-lemon Chef Butter adds a delicious citrusy richness.
The brown sugar caramelizes around the pears, producing something far more sophisticated than the person who made it.
Final thought: French pastry chefs spend years mastering their craft. I throw fruit into a cast-iron skillet, fold some dough over it, and stick it in a cooling pizza oven.
Sometimes the universe rewards the underqualified.
A little love for Monterey Farms Chef Butter
One of the great pleasures of living on the Monterey Bay is discovering local food entrepreneurs who actually know what they’re doing—a club to which I do not belong. Monterey Farms’ Chef Butter is the creation of Jane Hayes, a longtime local chef and entrepreneur, and Janet Melac, a Le Cordon Bleu Paris-trained chef who once operated acclaimed restaurants in Pacific Grove. Together, they’ve developed a collection of compound butters that make ordinary home cooks look suspiciously competent.
Their Blueberry Lemon Chef Butter, made with real blueberries, honey, lemon juice, and lemon peel, is particularly wonderful in desserts. It adds richness, brightness, and just enough sophistication to suggest that someone in the kitchen had a plan. Available locally at markets including Bruno’s in Carmel and Grove Market in Pacific Grove. Learn more at Monterey Farms.
Rustic revelation!