Lemon & Apple Galette de Pérouges

Because who doesn’t love the fragrance of summer and the crisp of fall on a sunny spring day.

Think of this as apple pie meets lemon tart meets sweet pizza. Do you feel the vibe already?

Bread dough in the fridge is one constant of many during this quarantine and we fashion it into everything from flatbread to pizza dough. I make the dough without strong flavours so that we can go sweet or savoury. You could also go the sourdough route – choose your choice, I support you!

This ‘break’ has given me a chance to learn things I was too afraid to try, didn’t have time to try, didn’t have the patience for because I was ‘busy’ doing other things and on and on. I’ve learnt to make many an #avocadorose which have gone down a treat with some garri – I’ve even made a few batches of avocado garri balls.

And trust that once I was done with the avocado, I started thinking, what next. What other things can I create, in this pattern. This is one of the best ways to deepen your knowledge. Learn something, practice it a few times, then explore the same technique substituting the key ingredient with other ingredients. The opportunity to play with colour – like with these apples – I left the skin on and that created a beautiful pattern; my IG friends suggested tomatoes, kiwi, pineapple and a host of others. I’ve done mango ones before and might just do that but I’m also thinking onions :).

This was an enjoyable cook and bake.

I’ll come back with a recipe for the lemon sugar next. Excited?

Ingredients

• Dough (recipe below and here)
• Cinnamon sugar (1/2 cup granulated white sugar combined with 1.5 tablespoons of cinnamon powder)
• 2 red-skinned apples, fresh and firm, cheeks sliced off and cut into thin slices and tossed in lemon juice to stop browning
• 1.5 – 2 cups lemon skin puree (made by boiling juiced lemon shells till soft, removing piths and blending with sugar – best made with organic lemons) or lemon curd

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade
• Lightly flour your work surface and lay out the dough. Roll it into a 25cm/10 inch circle and place that on a lightly greased and floured baking sheet
• Make a lip all around – if you have the patience of the gods, fold over a 2.5cm/1 inch lip, if you don’t, it’ll be shoddy but delicious still
• Generously spread the lemon skin puree over the dough and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top
• Next, begin the work of making a rose with the apple slices. I start in an imagined centre and work my way out till I have the semblance of a circus rose
• Bake in the centre of the oven till the edges are golden – twenty-five to thirty minutes, or till the galette is cooked
• Remove from the oven and turn the broiler on. Brush on some butter and set under the broiler, 3 – 5 minutes, about 4 – 6 inches from the broiler
• Remove and let rest for five to ten minutes
• Cut wedges and proclaim of the goodness of the Lord

Galette de Pérouges, adapted from French Tarts by Jo Gosling

Ingredients

• 200g plain/ all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 75g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 scant teaspoon instant yeast 
• 1 egg, beaten
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon 
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus extra to top
• 1/4  – 1/2 cup warm water, plus extra 
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• Sugar, to top
• Optional: extra lemon zest, to top

Tips

• You could use any enriched bread dough as the base for this recipe
•  You could use orange or mandarin zest instead of the lemon zest
• You can add extra zest to the topping sugar, to strengthen the citrus flavours
• Caster sugar can  be used instead of the confectioners’ (icing) sugar

Method

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in bowl, and the softened butter and combine with your finger tips. Add the yeast, the egg and lemon zest and beat together, gradually adding the warm water till the dough comes together. You may not need all of it.

Knead the dough thoroughly until it comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 ½ – 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Alternatively, mix dough together till there are no flour patches, skip the kneading and leave to refrigerate overnight. Let come to room temperature before the next step.

Once the dough is ready, make your galette de Pérouges.

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Enjoy x