Winter Galette - Crustophobe Friendly.

Ok, I admitting this now. It’s a secret I’ve held to myself for quite some time now, but I think I’m ready to come out with it: I’m a crustophobe. Yes—it’s true…I’m terrifed of baking pie crust from scratch. Pie crust made from scratch is like the Olympics of baking. Who cares how perfect spiced the filling is or how juicy the cherries are, if you’ve got a soggy crust, the game is over…at least for the baker. For the eater, like my husband, it’s a win-win scenario.

I suppose my phobia was born when one year I attempted to make a “healthy” pie crust with margarine. Needless to say, the dumpster ate that pie while my family and I reached for the emergency Entenmann’s. 

As the years progressed, my determination became more and more fervent while my results became less and less stellar. Soggy crusts, flat crusts, burnt crusts…you name it, I baked it. But then, I received a God-send and from there, the miracles began.

I received a pie recipe book for Christmas last year (ok, hint taken!). In it were loads of recipes for delicious pies that I could not wait to try, but not only were there pie recipes, there was pie trouble-shooting articles and a whole chapter dedicated to successful pie-making tools one of which is the pie bird.

Yes, a pie bird. They are little ceramic funnels that let out the steam from a fruit pie with a top crust, thus enabling the top crust to bake until tender and flaky; not sodden and flimsy.  It also doesn’t hurt that these birds are absolutely adorable and therefore had become another addition to my list of obsessive collections that are slowly taking over my house. Pie birds come in all shapes and sizes ranging from classic black birds with yellow beaks to grey geese to white elephants to modern functioning funnels. They are rare to find and therefore are gaining in their value. I found some on ebay for close to $100. Obviously, my collection is a very slow-growing one.

There are now two pie crust recipes that are “go-to” doughs for me: one is a flaky, cake-like recipe from Ina Garten (perfect for making a fruit crostata as previously featured in Mangia!) and the other is from legendary baking diva and culinary columnisy Dorie Greenspan. Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours was another one of those God-send cookbooks that I believe will very well change my life once again (hint, hint, Santa!). But I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see until after the holidays before I can attest to such things (::cough:: get me this for Christmas ::cough::).

The following dough recipe is fast and easy to make and if I can bake them successfully, anybody can! I chose to make a galette with this dough which is like a free-form pie. Filled with apples and fresh cranberries and it’s the perfect warm winter treat. Enjoy!

Apple Cranberry Galette

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Crust

1.5 c. all purpose flour

2 Tblsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

10 Tblsp (1 ¼ sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes.

2 Tblsp chilled vegetable shortening, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 Tblsp (or more) ice water

Filling

3 Red Delicious apples (peeled, cored, cut into small chunks)

2 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, cut into small chunks)

1 ½ - 2 c. fresh cranberries

4 Tblsp sugar, divided

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

Directions

Crust

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor.  Add butter and shortening; pulse until course meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry.  Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk and wrap in plastic.  Chill two hours.

Filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix apples, cranberries, 3 tablespoons of sugar and spices in a large bowl to coat.

Roll crust out between two large sheets of waxed paper to 13 inch round. Place sheet of parchment on baking sheet; spray parchment with nonstick spray. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from crust. Invert crust onto parchment, then peel off second sheet of waxed paper. Spoon filling onto crust, leaving 2 inch border around edges. Fold crust border up and over filling, folding and pleating occasionally.

Brush edges lightly with water. Sprinkle damp crust lightly with remaining sugar.

Bake galette for 50 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Loosely cover filling with small sheet of foil. Bake until crust is deep golden and filling is tender, about 20 minutes.

Slide knife or offset spatula under galette to loosen from parchment. Cool galette slightly on sheet on rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with some homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.