Fran Gage is a wonderful pastry and bread maker as well as a cookbook author. She shares her special recipe for a marvelous fruit tart here. It is simple to make and quite delicious with its classic French apple and prune filling. Fran’s recipe for a sweet crust is wonderful and can be used for other fruit tarts.
Recipe information
Yield
makes one 12-inch galette; serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare a hot fire (450°F) in a wood-fired oven or cooker.
Step 2
To make the dough, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Stir with a whisk to blend. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, rub or cut the butter into the flour until some of the butter is in flakes and the rest is the size of peas.
Step 3
Stir in the water 1 tablespoon at a time to moisten the dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball. It will still look a little rough with some streaks of butter. On a floured board, divide the dough into 2 pieces, flatten each piece into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. Freeze the extra disk of dough for up to 1 month.
Step 4
To make the filling, cover the prunes with hot water and let soak for 15 minutes. While the prunes soak, peel and core the apples and cut them into 1/8-inch slices. Drain the prunes. Put them in a bowl with the apples and toss with the sugar and liquor.
Step 5
On a floured board, roll 1 disk of the dough out into a 14-inch round. Transfer the disk to a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel. Mound the fruit in the middle, leaving a 2-inch border of exposed dough. Fold the dough over the fruit, pleating it to close as you go around. Sprinkle the folded-over dough with the 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Step 6
Slide the galette from the peel directly onto the hearth of the wood-fired oven. Bake until the crust is brown and the apples yield to the tip of a knife, 25 to 30 minutes.
