Crazy for Galettes

I love greens. Kale, collards, chard, mustard greens, I love them all. There are many ways to cook greens but putting them into a galette is my new favorite. A galette is a rustic, unstructured pie. It is easy to whip up and you can put almost anything inside them. The Oregonian had a great article about galettes back in 2003. They gave the basic dough recipes and included a chart with lots of filling combinations, both sweet and savory. I’ve always loved making pies so this was a natural step for me. 

I make the dough in my mini food processor in the morning, wrap it and put it in the fridge and it’s ready to roll out, fill, and bake at dinner time.To make the dough for one galette, put one cup of flour, one teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into your food processor. Pulse to mix. Add 6 tablespoons of cubed, COLD butter. Pulse till it gets crumbly. Add 3 tablespoons of ICE water and pulse just till it sticks together. Transfer to a floured work surface and just knead 2 or 3 times till it’s smooth and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and put in the frig for a couple of hours. The key to great dough is to keep it cold so don’t take it out of the frig until the very last minute. 

This rolling pin was a wedding present and it always makes me happy to use it.  Roll out your dough into a  12 inch circle that’s mostly round. Pile your filling into the center and then simply fold the edges of the dough over the filling. My filling here is swiss chard and beet greens cooked with bacon, onions and a dab of balsamic vinegar. 

I brush the dough with a little milk so it gets nice and flakey when it bakes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 – 45 minutes and you’ve got something wonderful to eat. 

So when you’re at the market this weekend, look at those peaches, greens, berries, squash and think about a galette.