Post by Mary Ann on Feb 18, 2008 13:46:13 GMT -5
This is a free form tart, rustic and still very pretty company food.
First you have to make the pate brisee. That just means butter dough, but doesn't pate brisee sound pretty? When you do it right, you're going to see goobers of butter throughout the dough. This Is Good. You don't want to overwork the dough or the butter will melt into the flour when you bake it and make your dough tough; if it's little crumbs of butter to larger pieces, then your butter will melt to form long, brittle, flavorful flakes. Okay?
For the pate brisee you will need:
1 1/2 cups of plain ol' white flour
1 stick of very cold good butter, like Land O Lakes unsalted cut into lots of little pieces (don't use salted butter! Feh!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 3 oz very VERY cold water
Mix the flour, salt, and butter together very lightly, so the pieces of butter remain visible throughout the flour.
Add the icy cold water and mix very fast with your hand, just enough so that the dough coheres. The pieces of butter should still be visible. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight. You can use it right away, but you're going to have to use more flour when you roll it out because the butter will already be getting a little soft.
Roll the dough between 1/8th and 1/16th of an inch thick. It should be about thirteen inches or so in diameter. Flour your board lightly, and your pin, so it doesn't stick. I like to use a pastry scraper (also called a bench knife) to help me handle it. You can either fold it gently in quarters to transfer it to your baking sheet, or roll it gently onto your rolling pin to transfer it.
Unfold or unroll onto your big ol flat baking sheet. I use a cushion-aire cookie sheet.
Now, for the apple filling. Here's what you need:
4 or 5 large apples
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
4 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 tablespoon Calvados or Cognac (optional, but highly recommended)
Take some really good FLAVORFUL apples (no cheating and using tasteless apples, this dish will not forgive you!). I use Golden Delicious, MacIntosh, or Cortlands. Peel and core, and then slice into circles. Then slice your circles into halves so they look like little crescents. Take the end pieces (which are runty and ugly) and chop them up, and pile them in the middle of your pastry; then take the pretty petal shaped pieces from the middle of the appleand distribute them in a pretty design in concentric circles from the middle of the pile of chopped stuff to about an inch and a half from the edge, so that it looks like a great big flower. Now, take the edge of the dough that's hanging, rough edges and all, and fold them up over the apples all the way around. You'll have exposed apples and covered apples; all is good.
Sprinkle the apple-y part with the sugar and plunk on the pieces of butter all over the apples.
Bake this thing in a 400 degree oven for 65-75 minutes, until it's well browned and crusty. (My oven's a convection oven, and about 60 minutes does it.)
When you pull it from the oven, slide it onto a wooden cutting board. Mix the apricot jam with the Calvados or Cognac and slop this alllllll over the apple galette, including the crust. It will make it extra sticky and naughty. Use a dabbing motion that follows the direction of the apples or you'll yank them loose. Not so pretty that way, yanno.
Serve it lukewarm, cut into wedges kinda like pizza. When you bite it you'll wonder how you lived so long and survived without this stuff.
First you have to make the pate brisee. That just means butter dough, but doesn't pate brisee sound pretty? When you do it right, you're going to see goobers of butter throughout the dough. This Is Good. You don't want to overwork the dough or the butter will melt into the flour when you bake it and make your dough tough; if it's little crumbs of butter to larger pieces, then your butter will melt to form long, brittle, flavorful flakes. Okay?
For the pate brisee you will need:
1 1/2 cups of plain ol' white flour
1 stick of very cold good butter, like Land O Lakes unsalted cut into lots of little pieces (don't use salted butter! Feh!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 3 oz very VERY cold water
Mix the flour, salt, and butter together very lightly, so the pieces of butter remain visible throughout the flour.
Add the icy cold water and mix very fast with your hand, just enough so that the dough coheres. The pieces of butter should still be visible. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight. You can use it right away, but you're going to have to use more flour when you roll it out because the butter will already be getting a little soft.
Roll the dough between 1/8th and 1/16th of an inch thick. It should be about thirteen inches or so in diameter. Flour your board lightly, and your pin, so it doesn't stick. I like to use a pastry scraper (also called a bench knife) to help me handle it. You can either fold it gently in quarters to transfer it to your baking sheet, or roll it gently onto your rolling pin to transfer it.
Unfold or unroll onto your big ol flat baking sheet. I use a cushion-aire cookie sheet.
Now, for the apple filling. Here's what you need:
4 or 5 large apples
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
4 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 tablespoon Calvados or Cognac (optional, but highly recommended)
Take some really good FLAVORFUL apples (no cheating and using tasteless apples, this dish will not forgive you!). I use Golden Delicious, MacIntosh, or Cortlands. Peel and core, and then slice into circles. Then slice your circles into halves so they look like little crescents. Take the end pieces (which are runty and ugly) and chop them up, and pile them in the middle of your pastry; then take the pretty petal shaped pieces from the middle of the appleand distribute them in a pretty design in concentric circles from the middle of the pile of chopped stuff to about an inch and a half from the edge, so that it looks like a great big flower. Now, take the edge of the dough that's hanging, rough edges and all, and fold them up over the apples all the way around. You'll have exposed apples and covered apples; all is good.
Sprinkle the apple-y part with the sugar and plunk on the pieces of butter all over the apples.
Bake this thing in a 400 degree oven for 65-75 minutes, until it's well browned and crusty. (My oven's a convection oven, and about 60 minutes does it.)
When you pull it from the oven, slide it onto a wooden cutting board. Mix the apricot jam with the Calvados or Cognac and slop this alllllll over the apple galette, including the crust. It will make it extra sticky and naughty. Use a dabbing motion that follows the direction of the apples or you'll yank them loose. Not so pretty that way, yanno.
Serve it lukewarm, cut into wedges kinda like pizza. When you bite it you'll wonder how you lived so long and survived without this stuff.
