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salted caramel apple galette

It's the end of Thanksgiving week! You can find all my favorite holiday recipes here.

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Hi! Thanks for being patient while l figure out, by trial and lots of error, how to work within reason to produce consistent, good content. I appreciate it more than you know.

Well, the big day is right around the corner and it's time for the last #OOTThanksgiving recipe of the year: dessert. And since dinner is enough work as it is, the ideal dessert should be fuss-free but elegant. The humble galette, aka the lazy man's pie, delivers on both of these fronts, and this salted caramel version is a winner: a combination of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples nestled in a flaky pastry crust, covered in a caramel sweet enough for kids but salty enough for grownups. If that doesn't sound like a befitting end to a glorious meal, I don't know what does.


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This recipe calls for homemade pastry dough, which may sound intimidating but really couldn't be easier. You can use a food processor if you have one, but I prefer a pastry blender because it's crazy cheap and easy to store. It's also a lot harder to overwork a dough when you're making it by hand, and overworked dough = tough pastry.

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If you're pressed for time, a regular roll of store-bought pie dough will work, but as with most things, the homemade version is noticeably tastier.

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A couple notes before you get started:

  1. The key to any flaky pastry dough is to keep everything cold, so that the small pieces of butter marbleized throughout the dough are still solid before hitting the oven. These pieces of butter will then melt and steam, causing little pockets of air that make the end result flaky and tender. If the butter melts into the dough before it's baked, the pastry will be dense and chewy. Stick the dough in the freezer for a minute or two any time you feel like it's getting warm.
  2. I used weight measurement for the flour, because I want you to succeed, and having an accurate amount of flour is essential to that success. Even with specific instructions on how to measure flour by volume, there's a lot of room for error--1 cup of flour is different for everyone, but 125 grams of flour is always 125 grams of flour. 
  3. Sugar likes to caramelize slowly and then all at once. Be patient but attentive, and have all the ingredients ready before starting. Once the sugar starts to caramelize, the rest of the process will happen quickly and you don't want to be scrambling for your last ingredient while your sugar burns (I did this once at work and had to throw away a whole batch of fennel brittle).


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If you want to be all-American, serve this galette with vanilla ice cream and more caramel sauce. Thanksgiving's only once a year, people.

Salted Caramel Apple Galette
Recipe courtesy of Out of Thyme

Yield: 6 servings | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours

Make it ahead: The dough and caramel sauce can be made a day or two in advance and kept in the fridge to make day-of assembly even easier.

Flaky Pastry Dough:
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
125 grams (4 ounces) cake flour* (see note)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons ice water

Salted Caramel Apple Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons sea salt
3 apples** (see note), peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick slices
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 large egg
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, optional

For the flaky pastry dough: Line a plate with plastic wrap or parchment. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, lay them on the plate and place in the freezer for at least 5 minutes.

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cold cubes of butter over the flour mixture and carefully toss them with your hands so they're coated in flour. With a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until they're the size of uncooked lentils or oats. Add 1 tablespoon of the ice water to the mixture and incorporate it with the pastry blender. The dough will still look crumbly at this point. Add more ice water 1 teaspoon at a time, if needed, until the pieces of dough hold together when pinched. Turn the still-crumbly dough out onto a flat, lightly-floured surface and gently knead it with your hands until the dough comes together. It should look a tiny bit dry--as it rests, the moisture in the dough will redistribute and make it the perfect texture.  Form it into a ball, then flatten it slightly into a disc. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 48 hours.

For the salted caramel apple filling: Combine the sugar, corn syrup and 6 tablespoons of water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, moving the saucepan around if necessary to account for hot spots, until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is clear. Add the butter and carefully stir with a clean heat-proof rubber spatula. Continue to cook over medium heat, without stirring, until the syrup becomes a medium copper color, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the cream (step back--it'll bubble up a bit), remove from the heat and stir. Add the salt and stir over low heat until the salt is melted. Transfer the caramel to a heat-proof bowl and let it cool to room temperature.

Toss the apples in the lemon zest and juice.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-by-18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.

Let the refrigerated dough thaw at room temperature for 5 minutes. Lay it out onto a lightly-floured surface and sprinkle the top with more flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin or empty wine bottle into an 11-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick. Put your rolling pin in the center, fold the dough over the pin and carefully transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.

Warm the caramel in the microwave for 10 seconds if it's too hard to spread, then spread 2 heaping tablespoons of it on the dough, leaving a 2-inch margin around the edges. Starting from the edge and keeping the 2-inch margin, lay the apples in overlapping, cocentric circles until the entire surface is covered. Tuck in any apple points that are sticking out too much so they won't burn. Fold the edges of the dough over the apple filling. Beat the egg and cream together to make an egg wash and lightly brush it over the outside of the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the turbinado sugar, if using.

Bake the galette until the dough is golden brown and the apples are cooked through, about 40 minutes. Drizzle more caramel over the finished galette and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Notes:
* If you can't find cake flour, sub it with the same amount of all-purpose flour.
** For the best flavor, use a combination of sweet and tart apples.

2 comments:

  1. The picture makes me hungry... Have you try jelly gamat?

    ReplyDelete
  2. delicious
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    ReplyDelete