I am the queen of non-recipes (read: culinary improv), so this whole endeavor has been difficult for me. While baking has long been considered the more technical and hard science to the creative and artistic craft of cooking, at a certain point in a baker's life there is a level of confidence reached to simply "wing it." This is the point when, as you're making bread with a new recipe, you say "hey, this doesn't look right," or "I think this just needs a few more minutes of kneading," or even "I'm gonna add more ___." The confidence to riff in baking is one that can definitely hurt you, but also can make you feel like you're one of the bakers on the Great British Bake-Off. Some days, some things just don't work right. Others, they really work out so well.
Anyways, all that rambling to say: when I do go "off-book," I tend to make excess components. It is better to have too much than not enough. So for my spicy apple pie, I cut too many apples, and wound up with some excess gruyere pie dough.
So, in my truest no-recipe recipe, here we go!
PREP TIME: 15 min.
COOK TIME: 25 min
TOTAL TIME: 45 min
Serves: 4-6 slices
INGREDIENTS:
shredded gruyere cheese
apples, cored and sliced (I half my slices)
ground cloves
ground nutmeg
fresh rosemary
yellow onion or shallot, minced & sautéed (optional)
~1 tsp honey (optional)
leftover pie dough
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 °F.
Roll out your pie dough to about 1/3" thickness. If you haven't incorporated cheese into it but want to, I like to throw a small handful in there and combine until just loosely combined and set. Don't worry about cleaning up the edges.
Sprinkle the cheese on the dough, with about 1-2" margin from the edge of the cheese to the edge of the dough.
If you are using onions, sprinkle them lightly on top of the cheese. If not, skip to step 5.
Lightly toss your apples in cloves with the honey if doing so. Otherwise, sprinkle with some ground cloves and nutmeg to taste.
Place the apples, starting from back to front, in a linear pattern.
Take the edges of the crust and slowly fold it back onto the edges of the apples. When you first start, it might help to pinch overlapping bits of dough onto itself.
Brush the pastry lightly with beaten egg.
Bake the galette for 15-25 minutes, depending on the size. Check the pie crust's brownness at the 15-minute mark. Once browned, cover with some foil until you see the juices from the apple bubbling up around the slices and thickening. You want the apples to be thoroughly cooked.
Remove from oven. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary as soon as possible for the heat to awaken some of the aroma of the rosemary.
Hope you enjoy! This galette has a mild flavor without the onions, but relies on the delicate apple flavor. It's not as sweet as any apple pie and is so easy to make. It serves as a wonderful breakfast or snack and doesn't let any ingredients from my pie go to waste!
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