Peach Frangipane Galette

Late summer in a bite.

Have you seen those beautiful late summer peaches at the farmer’s market? I’m imploring you to use them!

We are, despite our greatest efforts, reaching the tail end of summer. This is the ideal time to utilize stone fruit — peaches to be exact. I wanted something easier than a double crust pie, so I settled on a galette.

Think of a galette as pie’s cooler, lower-maintenance French younger sister. All you do is roll out a pie crust, plop your ingredients in the middle, and tuck the edges in to make an open-faced tart. No top crust necessary, and it bakes right on a sheet pan.

Those juicy late August peaches are pretty fantastic on their own, but I wanted to elevate the flavor with something perfectly complimentary: almonds. We’re adding a layer of frangipane to our galette before topping it with peaches. Frangipane is a super simple French almond cream made out of almond flour, butter, and sugar. It comes together in one bowl by hand or in a hand/stand mixer and we’ll use King Arthur’s recipe here. You can skip the frangipane if you’d like and just use peaches, but the frangipane adds a delectable depth of flavor and also gives the peaches something to stick to.

This recipe could not be simpler, and is ideal for any late summer gathering (or enjoying solo, as I did). Let’s get in to it!

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut in to small cubes

• 1/4 cup ice water

• 1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash

• 1 teaspoon of water, for egg wash

• Turbinado or demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Frangipane:

• See King Arthur’s Frangipane (Almond Cream) recipe

Peach filling:

• 1 lb peaches (453g)

• 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar 

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp kosher salt 

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch 

• 1 tablespoon apricot or peach preserves, for brushing on top of the baked tart

Directions:

At least two hours (but preferably at least 24 or up to 3 days) before assembling your galette, prepare your pie crust. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Add in the butter and pulse again until incorporated in to the flour. Slowly add in the ice water one tablespoon at a time until just combined. Try to use as little water as possible — once the dough barely comes together, stop adding the water. Dump the dough out on to a work surface and, using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough in to three portions, then stack them on top of each other and smush them together (here’s a good video for reference if you want to better understand what I mean). Repeat this three times. This is a faux lamination technique that will create flaky layers in our crust. Form the dough in to a disc, wrap in plastic, and store in the fridge to chill. It’s imperative that the dough chills before rolling out — it needs to firm up and the dough needs to hydrate.

The next step is the frangipane. This can also be done a few days ahead. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. I used a hand mixer for this, but you can also use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or just whisk by hand vigorously. Then, just fold in the almond and all purpose-flour, egg, and almond extract until just combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Now’s the time to mix together our peach filling. Pit and thinly slice your peaches (I used about 5 large peaches for this) and toss in a large mixing bowl with the granulated sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch until combined.

Set aside the filling while you roll out your crust (I like to roll it out directly on the piece of parchment I’ll be using for baking) on to a floured surface in to a 12 inch circle or square.

It’s time to assemble the galette. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, spread the frangipane on to the dough, leaving a 1 to 3 inch border for the crust. Lay the peaches down on top of the frangipane. You can either just dump them out rustically (if you do this, make sure to strain out the juices collecting in the bottom of the bowl) or assort them skin-side up in a pattern like I did. Fold in the edges of the crust to meet the filling and make a tart. Brush the edges of the crust with the reserved beaten egg and teaspoon of water, and sprinkle with a generous dose of coarse sugar.

Bake the galette on a parchment-lined sheet pan for 40-50 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the peaches are bubbling. Once it’s cooled for a few minutes, brush the peaches with the apricot jam to make them look nice and glossy. You can skip this step if you don’t want to add any additional sweetness. Allow to cool for about an hour before serving with vanilla ice cream and honey.