Pear Galette
Instructions:
- This free-form tart is not made in a pan. Instead, you roll out the crust, top it with the fruit, fold the edges over, and bake on a sheet pan. Makes 1 free-form tart (about 6 servings)
- 11â„2pounds ripe fresh pears, such as Anjou, Barlett, or Comice, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1â„2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1â„2 cups all-purpose fl our, plus additional for dusting
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1â„4 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons cool unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1â„4 cup (4 tablespoons) solid vegetable shortening
- 2 to 3 tablespoons ice water
- 1â„4 teaspoon cider vinegar
- Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Toss the sliced pears, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a large bowl; set aside.
- Mix the fl our, 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) sugar, and the salt in a second, large bowl. Cut in the 4 tablespoons butter and all the shortening with a pastry cutter or two forks, pressing the fat and flour together through the tines repeatedly until the mixture looks like coarse sand with no chunks of shortening or butter visible.
- Stir in 1 tablespoon ice water and the vinegar with a fork. Then stir in the remaining ice water in two additions until a soft dough begins to form.
- Sprinkle a few drops of water on your work surface and lay a piece of wax paper on top of them. Sprinkle the paper lightly with fl our, gather the dough together into a ball, and place it on the wax paper. Press down gently to make the ball look like a deflated tire, then dust lightly with fl our and top with a second sheet of wax paper.
- Roll the dough into a circle about 14 inches in diameter, starting in the middle and always rolling on the radius (not the diameter), rotating the pin after each roll to create a fairly even circle.
- Peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Pick up the dough by picking up the underlying sheet of wax paper; invert both onto the prepared baking sheet. Center the dough circle on the baking sheet and peel off the wax paper.
- Spoon the pears and juice into the middle of the tart, fanning the slices in a decorative pattern, but leaving a 2-inch border all the way around the perimeter of the tart. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the pear slices, then dot them with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter.
- Fold up the sides of the dough over the pear slices, pressing and pinching the edges together so that they fold over the fruit and form an uneven circle with a cutout hole in the middle where the fruit is visible. Make sure there are no holes in the crust dough; if so, patch them with dampened fi ngers by pulling the dough over itself.
- Bake until lightly browned and the fi lling is gently bubbling, about 45 minutes. Cool the baking sheet on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then transfer the galette to a serving platter to continue cooling. Once fully cooled, store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.