Pear Almond Galette Food

ALMOND-PEAR GALETTE

Steps:

• Pastry:
• Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor 30 seconds to combine. Add butter. Pulse until butter pieces are the size of peas. Add buttermilk and almond extract; pulse until dough just comes together. Form dough into a disk, dusting lightly with flour. Cover in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Cream:
• Whisk egg white and confectioners' sugar in a bowl until frothy, about 1 minute. Add almonds, butter and almond extract. Whisk. Refrigerate.
• Filling:
• Peel and core pears, then cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; toss in a bowl with lemon juice and zest.
• Galette:
• Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour; place dough on top and lightly dust with flour; top with another sheet of parchment and roll out dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Peel off top layer of parchment. Invert dough onto a baking sheet lined with third sheet of parchment. Trim around edges of dough. Spread cream over dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Arrange pear slices in concentric circles over cream. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Fold edges of dough over pears, crimping dough to enclose ends of pears. Evenly scatter bits of butter over top of filling. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until pears are tender and crust is golden. (Cover top with a sheet of foil if it begins to overbrown.) Remove; cover edges of tart with foil. Heat broiler. Glaze top of pears under broiler, about 6 inches from heat, 1 minute or until pears are golden brown. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer (on parchment) to rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

PEAR ALMOND GALETTE

Steps:

• Make crust. Whisk together flours, sugar, and salt.
• Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour until it is pea-sized.
• Add in the cold water. Use a pastry fork and work dough until it comes together. Gently knead with hands to incorporate any loose pieces. Do not overwork dough. If dough is too dry, add more water until it just comes together. Shape dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour. This can be done ahead of time.
• Make filling. Cut pears in half. Remove the core, stem, and bottom. Flip pear over onto the flat side (skin side up) and thinly slice down, keeping the pear in its original shape. Discard (eat!) the outer slices (the slices covered in peel).
• In a small bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
• Prepare the galette. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat; set aside.
• On a well floured surface, roll the crust into a circle, until just enough overhang to fold over the pears. Crust will be on the thin side. Carefully move crust to the baking sheet by folding in fourths. (If crust has been in the fridge for awhile it may need a bit of time to soften before rolling.)
• Crumble almond paste on the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle half the sugar mixture on top.
• Place the pear halves on the crust with the widest part of the pear facing inwards. Fan each half out.
• Carefully fold the crust around the pie. Brush the crust with cream or egg. Sprinkle with turbinado. Pour remaining sugar mixture over top of the pears. (If your pears are on the sweet side, use your good judgement and reserve some of the sugar mixture.) Crumble pat of butter over top.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Remove and serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or plain. Galette can be made up to 1 day in advance. Reheat in oven on broil, watching carefully not to burn.

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl cream butter with sugar until fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in egg. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Mix in brandy and vanilla. Add almond and all-purpose flours. Mix until creamy. Cover and refrigerate. Place almond filling into tart shell, spread level. Cut poached pear halves crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Reshape pear halves and arrange 8 halves around the top of each tart, "spoke" fashion. Press pears lightly to fan out. Bake for 40 minutes or until top is well browned and filling is springy to the touch. Cool and serve at room temperature.
• Note: To poach pears, peel, core and halve pears, place in a pot with 1 3/4 cups white wine, 3/4 cup water, 4 ounces of sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, vanilla bean split, and 4 black pepper corns. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes or until pears are tender when pricked. Cool in liquid.
• In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt, cut in butter until it resembles small pebbles. With a mixer running add vanilla and slowly drizzle in water until dough comes together in a sticky mass. Roll into a ball, wrap and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours before rolling. Roll shell to fit into a 9-inch tart pan. Set aside.;

PEAR GALETTE

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
• Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll out dough to a 14-inch round, about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 1 hour.
• In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch, sugar and salt. In a large bowl gently toss together pears and cornstarch mixture until evenly coated. Mound pear mixture on top of dough, leaving a 4-inch border all the way around. Fold dough over pear mixture, overlapping where necessary and gently pressing to adhere the folds. Transfer galette to refrigerator and let chill, 20 to 30 minutes
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat egg. Brush edges of dough with egg, and sprinkle edges with sanding sugar. Dot top of galette with butter. Transfer to oven and bake until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, place apricot jam in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until heated through; strain through a mesh sieve set over a bowl. Remove baking sheet from oven and transfer to a wire rack; brush heated jam over pears. Let cool briefly before serving warm or at room temperature.