Sour Cherry & Campari Galette From Rebecca Firkser
I typically prefer to save alcohol for glasses (especially poured over ice) but there are a few instances where spirits excel in desserts. This Campari-spiked galette is one. The herbal aperitif, tart cherries, and floral citrus zest all point to the fact that this is a pastry for those who prefer bitter to sweet. Scarlet-red sour cherries—completely different in flavor from their sweet magenta counterparts—tend to pop up at grocery stores and farmers markets for a month or so in summer. When you find them, buy as many pounds as your tote bag can fit, round up a few friends, and get to work pitting.
Photo by Jessica Marx
INGREDIENTS
Makes 6 to 8 servings
⅓ cup (65 grams) sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 tablespoon grated blood orange or grapefruit zest
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal or ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1¾ pounds (565 grams) pitted fresh or frozen sour cherries (about 4 heaping cups)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons (40 grams) Campari or Aperol (or fresh blood orange or grapefruit juice)
1 standard disk A Good Crust (recipe below)
Egg wash: 1 large egg, beaten
METHOD
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, zest, and salt and rub with your fingers until the sugar is slightly moistened and fragrant. Stir in the cherries. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat and cook, stirring often with a spatula to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn (try not to smush the cherries), until the cherries have softened and the released liquid is bubbling, 8 to 12 minutes.
In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of the Campari until it forms a smooth slurry. Stir the slurry into the cherry mixture and reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue to cook, stirring often, until the mixture gets very thick and jammy, 4 to 6 minutes. You should be able to drag a spatula through the mixture and cleanly see the bottom of the pot as the filling slowly oozes over. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon Campari.
Meanwhile, set up a large bowl of ice and water for an ice bath.
Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl placed over the bowl of ice water and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. If not making the galette right away, refrigerate the mixture in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with a rack positioned in the center. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into a round and set it on the lined sheet pan.
Spoon the filling into the crust, leaving a 2-inch (5 centimeter) border. Fold the edges of the crust over the filling toward the center, overlapping and pleating as desired. Freeze the galette on the sheet pan for 10 minutes.
Remove the galette from the freezer and brush the egg wash over the exposed crust. Sprinkle more sugar over the crust.
Bake until the crust is starting to turn golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C) and continue to bake until the crust is deeply golden brown and the filling is bubbling, another 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through.
Remove the galette from the oven and cool, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes and up to 8 hours.
Slice and serve.
Leftovers can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to 2 days. Reheat on a sheet pan in a 350°F (180°C) oven until warmed through, about 10 minutes.
A Good Crust
INGREDIENTS
Makes 2 standard disks
½ cup (115 grams) water
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2¾ cups (345 grams) spooned and leveled all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal or ¾ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
2½ sticks (10 ounces/285 grams) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch (13 millimeter) cubes, chilled
METHOD
In a liquid measuring cup or a small bowl, combine the water and the vinegar. Place this in the freezer while you work on the next steps.
In a large bowl, use your fingers or a fork to combine the flour, sugar, and salt.
Add the butter to the large bowl and use your fingers or a fork to gently toss around the butter to coat it in the flour mixture. Use your fingers to smash and rub the butter into the flour mixture until it forms flat pieces mostly the size of cannellini beans (about ¾ inch/2 centimeter) with some smaller (think chickpeas and lentils; about ½ and ¼ inch/13 and 6 millimeter). The mixture should still look dry and crumbly.
Remove the water-vinegar mixture from the freezer. Drizzle half of the water-vinegar mixture over the flour-butter mixture. Working from the bottom of the bowl up, use your fingers or a fork to gently toss the mixture together, as if you were tossing a salad. Drizzle over another splash of the water-vinegar mixture and toss. Continue to drizzle and toss until a shaggy, chunky mixture forms. It should not be completely combined yet, but there also should be no totally dry areas of flour (look for pebbles of moistened flour, not pure powder).
You may not need the full amount of water-vinegar mixture. When in doubt, err on the dry side: You can always add liquid, but you can’t take it away.
Here’s how to know if you’re in a good place: Pick up a handful of the mixture and squish it. It should mostly hold its stuck-together shape; if not, drizzle an additional 1 teaspoon water-vinegar mixture on the driest areas and toss again, repeating until it holds together.
Dump the mixture onto a clean work surface and use your hands to pat it together into a rectangular mass about 1 inch (2.5 centimeter) thick. If you find any more areas that look totally dry, drizzle them with another 1 teaspoon water-vinegar mixture.
Use your hands or a bench scraper to fold the mass of dough over itself. Press down the dough until it’s about 1 inch (2.5 centimeter) thick again. (The dough shouldn’t be moist or sticky, but if so, sprinkle it with a bit of flour as you fold.) Repeat folding and pressing down the dough two or three times. As you fold the dough over itself, the shaggy mass will form into a cohesive dough (this is also going to help the crust bake off extra-flaky). The butter should not blend all the way in, and the surface of the dough should look like marble or wood grain.
Divide the dough in half, placing each half on a piece of plastic wrap.
Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap, then press it into a round or rectangle (see Note) about ¾ inch (2 centimeter) thick. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 5 days. (Alternatively, freeze for up to 3 months; when you’re ready to bake.)
NOTE: Shaping your dough into the approximate shape of your galette (round, rectangular, etc.) will be helpful when rolling it out, but it’s not imperative to achieve success. In fact, I typically shape my dough into squares for easy stacking in the freezer.
From . Excerpted by permission of Artisan Books.
