Peach Season has arrived. These juicy fruits usually peak around July and August into September. To celebrate this month’s harvest, I have made a peachy wild galette inspired by the bounty of the season with tasty peaches from the local market in Antigua.

This peachy wild galette recipe as featured at Soulbase Magazine is one of my favourites as it makes for a really beautiful light and flaky open crust pie. Rustic and wild and really easy to make. You can adapt this recipe and use any other fruits such as apples, pears and plums guided by what the market gifts us with. As always, I would love to invite you to think wild, to follow your taste buds and feel empowered by imperfections. I added some little wild tips and tricks at the bottom ~

INGREDIENTS

makes 2 pie crusts

Crust
225 g unsalted butter
6 tbsp cold/iced water
2 tbsp cold apple cider vinegar
350g cake or all-purpose (‘soft’) flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt

one egg yolk

Peach Filling
6 peaches, cut in half and pitted
1 tbsp cornstarch
generous pinch of salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
50g caster sugar

Thyme

METHOD

Chill all your ingredients before using including the flour ~

Add flour, salt, sugar, vinegar, water and the cold butter into a mixing bowl and knead together well with your hands until all is well incorporated and you can easily form a ball in your hands. Ad a little more water if you feel the dough is too dry
Cut the dough into two, flatten it a little and wrap each part in separate ziplock bags or similar. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour
In the meantime, slice each peach half and then into 2-3mm thick slices. Place them neatly together into a large bowl. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, salt and cornstarch on top of the peaches and cover with a cloth and set aside

When the crust in the fridge is firm, remove one portion and let it soften a little for you to be able to work with it

Roll out the crust on a lightly floured surface until the dough measures about 12 inches across

Place the rolled out crust gently on parchment paper and lay out the peach slices on top into the middle. Allow them to fit tight together, slightly overlapping each other forming a wild patterns and leaving a 2-inch border from the edges
Sprinkle the extra sugar and a little thyme over the peaches and fold over the pie dough edges. Cut off any bits that are too long as you want a generous amount of peaches to look through the middle
Preheat (your cast iron pan if you have in) the oven to 400°F (220°C) and generously brush the crust edges with the egg yolk ash for it to get beautifully golden all around

Bake on parchment paper in the preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown and the peaches caramelised
Serve the galette while warm, or at room temperature, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

WILD TIPS & TRICKS

~ chilling the ingredients prevents the butter from melting and interacting with the gluten in the flour which we do not want. Chilling all the ingredients results in a beautifully flaky pastry crust

~ adding vinegar helps tenderise pie dough because it slightly inhibits gluten development, leading to a crust that is flakier and easier to work with

~ adding a little cornstarch to your pie filling will ward off a soggy pie crust after baking as the juices of the peaches will be nicely absorbed to stay in the middle and not drip through

Peachy Wild Galette