Why did I ever waste my time trying to make perfect pies? Rolling out the dough, cutting strips of pastry, moving it all to a pie dish, adding the filling, trying to arrange the strips of pastry perfectly all the while they are getting gooey from the filling and starting to fall apart… Why put myself through that torture? I am much too impatient for all of that work, just for a tasty dessert. But then I learned how to make a galette. 
What is a galette, you might ask? It is the French term for a flat crusty cake. You start out with a pie crust dough, roll it out, add filling, and bake. The end result has the buttery crispiness of a pie dough mixed with the sweet fruit filling. It is delicious, for half the work of a regular pie. I have tried a lot of pie crust recipes, and my favorite is the William’s Sonoma recipe. It always turns out perfect for very little effort. I make my pie dough in the Cuisinart because that is how my mom taught me to do it.
One thing I would recommend would be to move wrap your pie crust around your rolling pin and move it to your baking sheet before adding the filling. The galette can get pretty heavy with all of the filling inside and you don’t want to risk spilling the filling or poking a hole in the bottom when transferring (definitely didn’t do that….).
You may remember that I have a surplus of sweet cherries laying around (https://lifeoffite.com/2017/08/19/cherry-limeade-smoothie-bowl/). They made the perfect filling for my summer galette. I added less sugar than most people would, because my husband does not like sweet desserts. A small dollop of whipped cream or ice cream was enough to sweeten it up for me.
Easy Rustic Sweet Cherry Galette
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
For the crust (Adapted from Williams Sonoma Pie Crust)
- 1 1/4 cups All Purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon Morena sugar
- 3 tablespoons ice water
- egg white
For the filling:
- 3 1/2 cups sweet cherries, pitted and halved
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup Morano sugar (depending on your taste buds)
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
Instructions:
- Add all purpose flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor. Pulse 2-3 times to combine. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between until mixture starts to come together. Be sure not to add too much water, as the dough will be sticky. Wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Mix together the cherries, sugar, lemon, and corn starch.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough on a floured surface until approximately 1/8 inch thick. Wrap around rolling pin and transfer to a baking sheet. Add filling to the middle, taking care to just add the fruit, without the juice. Too much juice will make the crust too soft. Fold in the ends, pleating as you go.
- Brush with egg white and bake for 35-45 minutes until fruit is bubbly and crust has browned. Enjoy!
