Peach Galette

The expression “life is a bowl of cherries” translates to life is wonderful or things are going very well. For the sake of simplicity, let’s change this slightly to “life is a bowl of peaches” so I have something to write about this week and can experience first hand how truly wonderful this new block editor is supposed to be.

Peaches in a Blue Bowl

This months recipe is a peach galette. Galette (from the Norman word gale, meaning “flat cake”) is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or free-form crusty cakes, with a combination of sweet or savory fillings. A fruit galette is a French tart made with one flat piece of pastry that is wrapped around a fruit filling. Being free-form it’s easier than pie and for those of us not adept at making rich flaky pastry, a store bought pie shell is perfectly acceptable. The aim is to make it look rustic, like something you would serve under the shade of a tree in Provence.

Photo from Victoria Magazine July/Aug 2018

As my favorite vendor is no longer at the Farmer’s Market, I made the trip to their farm to pick up a box of peaches for making jam. I’d ordered ahead and specified over-ripe seconds as I had already sanitized the jars in the dishwasher that morning. As in years past, the seconds were a bargain at $10 for a big box of peaches.

Canning Peaches

Except….I’d already paid for them and the clerk had put them in the trunk of the car before I realized they were small, cold and nowhere near being ripe. Where were their usual big juicy peaches? I might have gone back in to inquire but the storefront was crowded and there was absolutely no attempt at social distancing. (How much effort would it take to mark the floor with tape and only let so many people inside, especially with the higher COVID numbers in some of these agri-food areas?) So I grumbled and left and five days later they were starting to spoil and get soft and spotty on the outside while the insides were still not quite ripe, but cut up they were, and two batches of freezer jam produced, with extra sugar to make up for the lack of juicy peachy flavor. It hasn’t exactly been a stellar year for most fruit here, with everything behind due to the cold late spring and snow in May.

After making the jam I still had 24 peaches left so a small peach crisp was created and then some peach trifle, both with good results and more sugar (but no pictures as I forgot before they were consumed), and then the “piece de resistance”, the famous French galette, and there were still a few left over for eating. It was the box that kept on giving…..even if it wasn’t a vintage year.

Now the head chef (moi) was not above borrowing a recipe from another source, said source being the Lifestyle section of the local paper, so here’s the recipe.

The filling called for 5 peaches cut in half, pit removed and sliced, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and ground ginger. I doubled the sugar but it still could have used more. I left out the ginger as it had expired in the last decade. I made this at my mother’s and her spice rack is suspect and her oven temperamental, but she enjoyed peeling the peaches as it reminded her of life on the farm and canning every summer.

The Tenderflake deep dish pie crust I bought, did not look any too deep to me, as by the time the fruit was piled in the middle,

there was not much pastry left for crimping the border.

The pastry is folded over the fruit, aiming as I mentioned, for the rustic, not too perfect look.

The finished product was not pretty, the filling having bled a bit around the edges, and gotten rather burnt in spots while trying to brown the pastry, having to be scraped off by a kitchen knife before any photo-ops ensued. Plus the lighting in her kitchen is not good at all, not flattering to anyone, least of all a French galette. It did however taste better with some French vanilla ice cream.

It was by no means a Michelin five star job, but the best I can say is I tried and the end result was certainly rustic. Maybe next time with apples? The same can be said for the block editor. It’s certainly doable – but do I want to do it? I think I’d rather stay with the classic.

(This is the first post I’ve drafted in block and I seem to be using a hybrid of block and classic, with things popping out at me and the draft itself shifting from right to left to center for no discernible reason. If it was closer to Halloween I’d swear it was haunted.)

46 thoughts on “Peach Galette”

  1. Joni says:
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    Perhaps The Block might be useful for solving my “font” problem as I did not bold this one to make it easier to read on my actual website home page, the thin font is part of the Selma theme. Changing the font on the old editor meant changing ALL of the previous posts. A question for the Happiness Engineers……

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  2. Kate Crimmins says:
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    That galette looks lovely. I’ve made a couple pies from scratch during the lock down but I want to try something freeform. Most likely with apples when they are more plentiful. You can control the size. When I make a pie I get way too much for the two of us (any my husband doesn’t eat sweets). I could make something smaller just for me.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Joni says:
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      I’m sure you will find plenty of authentic galettes there! Not liking the block either, the last draft seemed to be a hybrid of classic and block, as the classic toolbar kept disappearing….so annoying learning something new, with so many features I’ll never use.

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Jo Shafer says:
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    So THAT’s what a galette is! I thought it was a Baroque dance, the music for which Bach composed, but the dance is called a gavotte. This baked thing is what I called Rustic Pie, from my French Dessert book. I make at least one pear version every fall, and I learned the hard way not to use my usual puff pastry recipe. Too soft and flaky to hold up, so I add extra flour to stiffen it. Otherwise, the fold-over flaps don’t stay put. Rustic fruit pies are perfect for fall evenings, especially with a blue bowl of fresh peaches or pears on the kitchen table!

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  6. www.rosesintherainmemoir.wordpress.com says:
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    The book is RUSTIC FRUIT DESSERTS by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson, 153-155 (2009). A galette dough must be stronger than for a pie because there is no pan to support the filling, and the filling will spill out. Still tastes good but makes for messy eating. In my next post on Invitation to the Garden (shortly), I’ll post the recipe — my first time to try this Block Editor thing. Watch for it in a while.

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    • Joni says:
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      Thanks Jo – I’ll look for it. I put my galette in a quiche pan, but the filling still leaked out, as you said the dough was not strong enough perhaps to support the fruit. Good luck with the Block – I ended up with a hybrid of block and classic because I never knew which toolbar was going to pop up at me?!

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      • Joni says:

        That’s the thing? I started in Classic, as WP had changed all my drafts over to classic when they switched me over, and I found that easier to use. It had a classic toolbar at the top….but if I typed too long a paragraph I don’t know where the toolbar went? I couldn’t seem to see it, even if I scrolled up to the top. But for the new draft I wrote from scratch, and choose the Classic Block. And it had a different tool bar, but it would sometimes disappear and sometimes it would just pop up when I started typing. That’s how I ended up with the hybrid of the two. You can’t tell once it’s posted, but when I went back in to edit. Some of the paragraphs say classic above them and I would use the classic toolbar to edit them? But some are block with the block toolbar which is partly at the top, and sometimes just pops up??? I really need to sit down some day and play around with it in a test draft…something I don’t care if I lose it or mess it up. There’s probably a method to it but it’s so frustrating, when the old editor was so easy.

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      • Jo Shafer says:

        That’s my idea, too, Joni — just sit down and play around with it. Also, I could simply work it as a Word document, then copy and paste the story into a WordPress page and go from there. That’s the way I first started out, anyway, as I was afraid I’d lose the text altogether. That did happen a lot in the beginning.

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  7. Dave says:
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    Breakfast or dessert? I could justify your galette at either sitting. Served warm or cold? I was raised on (warm) peach cobbler and it was the only way I enjoyed the fruit. Finally, I assume the French would approve of galette “a la mode” the way they would a pie. Looks delicious!

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Linda Schaub says:
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    The galette looks great – much more delicious than the recipe you showed of their galette. The peach goodies all looked good and I am sure your mom was happy to help out – it bought back nice memories of being the baker of the house back in the day. I like Mom’s painting too. You did well with the first stab at the block editor – I see no issues you might of had. This was a very peachy keen post Joni!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joni says:
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      “Peachy keen” I forgot about that one! I think I did this one more in classic, the one I was confused with is the draft for next week…..but when I went back into edit it, it was easier a the toolbar showed up right away. It’s mostly pictures. I think I just need more practice I guess…..

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      • Linda Schaub says:

        I didn’t catch on right away either – I was very frustrated … wait til I have to learn Windows 10 … I will have many frustrations I am sure. Every time I use that laptop, (just to keep the virus protection and Windows updates current), I just cannot stand that laptop – I feel like a fish out of water using it.
        I suppose I should be using it for my own use to familiarize myself with it but it is easier to just stay here on Win7. I have been working with Windows 7 since 2009. I love “peachy keen” – it reminds me of “Happy Days” – people used to say “you’re a peach!” Don’t hear that anymore either.

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  10. Anne says:
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    Mouthwateringly good! This has been an inspiring read. I have made a number of apple pies, and apple crumbles before but seldom get enough fresh peaches to ‘play with’ and tend to use canned. They are in a sweet syrup, so the effect is not the same. I am glad you showed off yours – and I enjoy the painting!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Jo Shafer says:
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    I did NOT like the new block editor but persisted anyway with yesterday’s post, a follow-up to Joni’s galette story. It was posting the pictures for me, too, then editing only to lose the site! I guess we regulars may not have any choice in matter, eh? Better stick with it.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Eilene Lyon says:
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    The only galette I’ve made is a savory one: leeks with goat cheese and grilled chicken. I should try a fruit one sometime. I make the dough from scratch. Your peach one looks delish!

    I admire you for giving the Block a go. I absolutely refuse to use it. I compose my posts in WPadmin. They did away with my shortcut version of footnotes and now it’s a bit of a pain, but the rest of it is easy.

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    • Joni says:
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      Your savory one sounds good…..kind of like a quiche which is one of my favorite lunch dishes. I used Block this time because I couldn’t figure out how to make the Classic toolbar stay without having to specify Classic block with each new paragraph or photo…..maybe it doesn’t? I’m too lazy to watch a tutorial so it’s just trial and error and swear!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. J P says:
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    The galette looks delish, I had never heard of one.

    My last post was all block. I decided to go cold Turkey and try to forget Classic. We’ll see how I feel about that in a week or two.

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