Recipe -- Peach galette

Did you know that yesterday was National Junk Food Day?  I think it's kind of gross that we have an official day for that.  Don't get me wrong: I am not against sugar and fat; I would just rather eat them in the form of homemade desserts than in shrink-wrapped balls of preservatives.  Take this recipe, for example.  It is not health food by any means, but it sure tastes better than a Twinkie.

My mom gave us a huge bag of sweet Missouri peaches recently, and while we have been eating them plain for snacks, it became apparent there was no way we were going to get through the batch before they started going bad.  So I made a couple galettes to use up a few peaches.  This recipe is for one galette, but you can easily double it.  If you're going to be rolling out the dough and slicing peaches anyway, it's not that much harder to make two galettes.  Also, feel free to substitute other types of fruit (berries, apples, pears, etc.).

Fruit Galette

For the dough:

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

10 Tbsp. butter (or 8 Tbsp. butter + 2 Tbsp. shortening)

3 - 4 Tbsp. ice water

Stir together flour, sugar, and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are pea-sized.  Add 3 tablespoons water and cut into mixture quickly with a spatula.  If the mixture seems too dry (dough doesn't stick together), add 1 more tablespoon of ice water.  Use your hands to press dough together until everything seems mixed thoroughly; form into a flat round and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Put in refrigerator for 30 minutes - 2 days.

Roll out dough on a floured surface until you have a 12- to 14-inch circle.  Center circle on a cookie sheet and top with filling (below).

For the filling:

1 1/2 - 2 cups of fruit (peeled and sliced if you're using apples, peaches, or pears)

2 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. cold butter

Milk

Spread the fruit in the middle of your dough, leaving about 2 inches around the edges.  Then sprinkle 2 Tbsp. sugar and the pieces of butter over the top of the fruit.  Fold the edges of the pastry up onto the fruit, pleating as you go.  It doesn't have to be perfect; galettes look pretty rustic by design.  Brush the top of the dough with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp. sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Apologies for the dark pictures.  I finished up the baking at 9:00 p.m., after my husband looked at the little rounds of dough resting in the refrigerator and said longingly, "It sure would be nice to have a slice of that galette for breakfast tomorrow..."  Yes, technically, this is best eaten the same day it's baked, but I am not that much of a food snob that I will turn down homemade pastry just because it's a day old!  :)

Enjoy!