So it turns out that my pregnancy cravings happen to be perfectly in season! Who knew that August was officially the month of the peach? I certainly didn’t, but I did start craving them about two weeks ago – specifically, tree-ripened Niagara peaches. Their sweet, golden flesh and their decadent nectar exploding with each bite are like nature’s candy to my palate.

Having posted my craving on Facebook one night in search of a good local market carrying the tree-ripened variety, I was totally shocked, amazed and delighted to get a knock on my door the next day from a lovely friend who – in a spirit of total kindness and generosity – had picked some up on her visit to the market that day and dropped them off for me and the little bean to enjoy. And enjoy them we did! So did Noah who probably ate half of them himself, and the truth is I didn’t mind one bit. That is one indulgence I will never deny him!

Well, inspired by Steph’s super-kind, door-to-door tree-ripened peach delivery, I decided to create a gluten free Peach Galette this week in honour of Peach Month. And yes, let’s be honest, also in honour of my ongoing cravings and Noah’s latest {healthy!} obsession.

OK, so here’s where “confession time with Sarah” kicks in for a moment. It dawned on me as we were enjoying the freshly baked galette how surprised I was at how good it tasted, because I once believed myself to be a terrible baker! Like, totally-incapable-and-should-probably-never-try-it bad! I’m not sure if it was the university roommates who would get up at 6am just to bake muffins for their boyfriends that did it, or perhaps having a British Auntie who is basically a Cordon Bleu chef and baker. Either way, I’ve realized that my confidence in my baking abilities {and subsequent willingness to experiment with baking} only caught up to my willingness to experiment with my cooking skills just this year. Ironic, as now the exploration is complicated by being gluten-free! I wonder if perhaps that wasn’t the impetus that pushed me over the edge from fear to freedom? Either way, I’m grateful to be in a place where I no longer stop myself from trying, because sometimes the results are actually even post-worthy.

OK, enough self-reflecting for now, on to the recipe! This one really is all about the pastry dough, and I’m happy to report that it’s super easy with just a couple of thoughtful steps. Basically, it’s all about good flour and good butter and keeping things really cold. My British Auntie once told me that the secret to being a good pastry chef is to have cold hands. I have a warm heart…does that count?

THE INGREDIENTS:

Dough:
1 cup organic, unsalted butter
1/2 cup filtered water
3/4 tsp salt {I used Maldon}
2 1/2 cups Cup 4 Cup flour
1 Tbsp maple sugar
Heavy Cream to brush the crust

Filling:
2 large, ripe peaches, sliced
4 Tbsp maple sugar, plus more for dusting the crust

THE METHOD:

Start by taking a cold, 1 cup block of butter {this is a half-brick} from the refrigerator and cutting it into small cubes. Place the cubes in a freezer-safe container and freeze for a minimum of 10 minutes {up to an hour}.

Measure the water and dissolve the salt into it and then pop that into the freezer as well for about 10 minutes to chill it. Once the butter is chilled, measure your flour and maple sugar into your stand mixer bowl and with the paddle attachment {the whisk is too messy} add the frozen butter chunks and blend until it resembles flour-coated peas or grains of rice. {This can be done by hand with a bench scraper, but I don’t have ones and my hands aren’t very cold.} Slowly add the chilled salt water until the dough combines into a ball {you may not need all of the water}.

At this point, the dough may not be perfectly combined. Being careful not to overwork it, roll it 2-3 times on a floured surface, then create a ball {or two if you are choosing to make two smaller galettes} and pop it in the fridge to chill again for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F and remove the chilled dough from the fridge. On a freshly flour-dusted surface with a freshly flour-dusted rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is 1/4-1/8″ thick. You don’t want it to be too thick or the dough will dominate the fruit. Trim the edges so you have a nice-ish circle, and then gently lay the dough into a buttered round cast iron pan.

{As a side note: I decided to make two galettes – one for now, one for later – so I only used half my dough and my small 8″ Le Creuset pan. You can also just bake your galette on a parchment-lined baking sheet.}

Next, slice your peach and arrange the slices to gently fill the crust with room to fold over the edges. Dust the peach slices with maple sugar and then carefully fold the edges in to nestle around the fruit.

Bake in a 375˚F oven for 30-40 minutes until the crust is a perfect golden brown. Allow it to cool {at least enough that the hot fruit won’t remove a layer of skin from the roof of your mouth and permanently damage your tastebuds – this is my measure of “cool enough”} and enjoy with maple-syrup-infused whipping cream. My small galette made 4 servings, so no doubt using all the dough for one large galette would serve 6-8 quite happily.

I hope this weekend leaves enough you time – amongst the errands and activities of real life – to savour nature’s bountiful goodness and the even sweeter company of the ones you love.

xo
s.