Fresh Cherry Galette

A flaky, homemade pie crust piled high with fresh cherry filling makes the perfect cherry crostata (or galette). This Cherry galette  are rustic yet elegant free-form pies. It’s simpler to make than a pie, but just as tasty! The perfect dessert to make all summer long!

 

It has been a few days now since my last post..ok a couple weeks if I’m being honest. I was on vacation in New Hampshire, relaxing by a lake, eating, drinking, and being merry. There is something about being unplugged from the world for awhile that is truly refreshing. It gets you back to center. Know what I mean? I highly recommend it. 

This cherry crostata was also quite rewarding. My culinary counterpart has been asking for a cherry pie for awhile now. A co-worker had told me about the cherry pitter she got and how much fun it was. Seriously, she wasn’t kidding. A cherry pitter can relieve a lot of tension. I highly recommend it. My pitter pits four cherries at once, making the job ridiculously easy and mess-free. 

I decided to turn those plump, juicy, pitted cherries into a galette. If you’re afraid of making a homemade pie then a galette (or crostata), is a free form pie that is just much more forgiving and easier to assemble. Like my apple crostata in the Fall, or this blueberry crostata during blueberry season!

What’s the difference between a crostata and galette?

They are essentially the same thing, but a crostata is Italian and a galette is French. Both are rustic versions of a pie, with a free-form piece of dough piled high with a fruit topping (or savory topping!) and baked to perfection.

It’s a great introduction to pie-making if you’re the word “pie crust” has you hiding behind your biggest kitchen bowl. It’s a rustic looking dessert, which is another way of saying it doesn’t have to look pretty! *Sigh*. 

This recipe came from a newly purchased cookbook, Pie, by Ken Haedrich. I LOVE this book. If you love making pie, want to know more about making pie, or have that huge fear (I’m speaking to those that still haven’t come out from that big bowl you have been hiding under) then get this book.

Ingredients for Cherry Galette

• All-purpose flour – Just regular, all-purpose flour for the pie crust. 
• Salt – You can use table salt or kosher salt to balance the sweetness of the cherries. 
• White granulated sugar – Use a little in the crust and the filling to sweeten the crostata. 
• Unsalted butter – Make sure the butter is super cold for the pie crust. 
• Ice water – The colder the better! This will help your crust be tender and flaky. 
• Fresh cherries – Choose ripe, sweet cherries for the best flavor. 
• Dried cherries – Just a few dried cherries add a variety of texture and flavor to the cherry filling. 
• Almond extract – A little goes a long way to add a subtle almond flavor throughout the crostata. 
• Orange juice – Orange is a great complement to cherries. Definitely use freshly squeezed juice rather than juice from a carton. 
• Cornstarch – The cornstarch will help the filling bind together, preventing a runny filling and soggy pie crust. 
• Egg – A lightly beaten egg will be brushed on top of the crust before baking to produce a beautifully golden brown crust. 
• Turbinado sugar – This is a great sugar to sprinkle on top of the crust to get a slightly caramelized and golden texture on the crust. So yummy! 

How to Make a Cherry Galette- Step by Step

Make the pie crust

1. In a food processor or by hand, stir together the flour and salt.
2. Sprinkle very cold butter over the top and pulse for a few seconds or cut the butter with the pastry cutter/fingertips until it is about the size of split peas.
3. Sprinkle half of the ice water over the flour mixture and mix gently to dampen flour.
4. Add the remaining water in two stages and continue to pulse or stir until a dough forms. When enough water has been added to allow dough to hold together, gather it into a ball and transfer to lightly floured surface. Press dough into a flat disk, then place in large zipper bag. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour or overnight. 

BAKING 101: You want to use very COLD butter and water to make pie crust. You can even pop your flour and food processor blade in the freezer for 30 minutes before starting! You need the ingredients cold so the butter stays solid, and doesn’t melt and become absorbed by the flour resulting in a gummy crust, not a flaky one. Cold butter will then melt in the oven, and the water in the butter turns to steam pushing apart the flaky layers of flour creating a flaky pie crust!

Make the filling

1. Pit the cherries. Get yourself a cherry pitter that pits multiple cherries at a time, like this cherry pitter. It’s a game changer! Most cherry pitters only pit one cherry at a time. But a cherry pitter that pits multiple cherries at a time makes super fast work of this pesky job and is super easy to do!
2. Add pitted cherries to a mixing bowl.
3. Combine the fresh cherries, dried cherries, sugar, almond extract, and orange juice in a large bowl. Set aside. 
4. Stir everything together!

Assemble the galette

1. Gently roll out the crust to a 12-inch circle.
2. Pour the filling into the center of the crust.
3. Bring up the sides of your pie dough around the filling, leaving the center of the crostata exposed.
4. Scatter the butter pieces on top of the filling, then brush the crust with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar and almonds. 

HEATHER’S Tip: Once the dough is rolled out, transfer the dough to your baking sheet BEFORE you start assembling the crostata. Otherwise you will have to attempt to move the whole assembled pie and it’s tricky! I forgot to do this as you can see in the photos, and was able to move it using my cake lifter!

Tips on Making Perfect Pie Crust

• Do not overwork your dough. You can totally make your dough by hand (you’re less likely to overwork it if you do) or with a food processor. Just be sure when using the food processor, to pulse the dough together. If you just let it run for too long it can result is overworking your dough, causing that gluten stuff to act up resulting in a tough dough. 
• Use butter. There are many debates about using half shortening/half butter to achieve the perfect flavor/flakiness ration. Shortening is a little sketchy though. Trust me, use all butter and you will still get that great flavor to flake ratio. 
• Use very, very cold butter. I like to cut up my butter into small chunks and then re-freeze it afterwards. Just the warmth of the knife can soften it too much. 
• Use ICE cold water. Sensing a theme here? Pie crust is all about the COLD. If the water is too warm it will melt the butter. So ice cold water! I like to put a few ice cubes in my water and chill it down. Just don’t add the ice 😉

Tips on Making Cherry Galette

• Use fresh orange juice. When it comes to citrus in baking, freshly-squeezed juice always results in better flavor. You won’t regret the extra minute to squeeze it fresh. 
• Choose good cherries. Since cherries are the main ingredient, choosing sweet, ripe cherries is important. Bing and Rainer cherries both work well for this recipe. If you use sour cherries instead, you may need to increase the sugar in the filling. 
• Don’t aim for perfection. The whole point of a crostata is a rustic, simple dessert. It doesn’t have to look perfect to have the right effect… quite the opposite actually! 

Recipe FAQ’s

Other Great Recipes to Try

• Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Scones
• Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies
• Apple Crostata
• 20 Pie Crust Tips