Kitchening: My First Galette

I've been wanting to make a galette of some sort for a while now and I was feeling adventurous the other day so I bought some plums and tried my hand at a recipe I saw on Honest Fare. I won't post the recipe, so if you're interested, just head over there and don't judge me because her plum galette is way prettier than mine.

Before I begin. I have to show you something very important. This past week we had numerous days in the low-100s. I say "low" because it makes me feel better. I'm sure it's hotter somewhere towards the center of the earth, but right now its difficult to fathom.

In my new apartment there's an invisible force that prevents the air-con all the way at the back of the adjacent living room from getting to the kitchen. I think the kitchen, beautiful as it is with its ruby red cabinet doors, is like a petri dish. Instead of growing bacteria, however, it multiplies heat like some infectious disease or toxic mold. This information will become particularly important later in the story. Doesn't look menacing does it? Force fields are very deceptive.

No doubt these purply plums will make you feel a little cooler. They're so juicy and round. More round than the bowl they're nestling in, actually. (Bowl made by yours truly.)

Here's my new zester being put to work. (It's really cute, ergonomic, and has a lemon colored handle!) I kind of like this shot. It's not so easy to take pictures while you're cooking and when you've only got two hands.

These plums were so easy to de-pit. I sliced the plums all the way around the fruit, pole to pole to pole, twisted, and they came right apart. Then I cut them in quarters and mixed them with nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon zest, sugar, and flour. When baked, this combined with the juices into a slightly sweet sauce.

Now here's where we get to the part about the heat because I completely blame it for the dough. I had mixed the butter crust the night before and I let it out, as told, 10 minutes before rolling it out so it wouldn't break during the process. I think I actually let it out 8 minutes because it was already a sauna in the kitchen.

The dough seemed to go from brittle to goopy in a matter of seconds. I cursed the lack of central heat and air and worked quickly to keep it from getting to sticky. I kept the dough on the plastic wrap it had been chilled in to make it easier to transfer to the sheet.

Once transferred, I took off the plastic, quickly poured in and assembled my plums, and started folding over the increasingly flimsy dough.

Galette is supposed to be rustic, it's from the French countryside, after all.
However, this is some kinda rustic. I brushed it with a water and egg mixture and popped it in the often before it completely disintegrated.


Once baked it maintained its rusticity but I'd say it's not too shabby. Non?

I whisked up some whipping cream with a little sugar and almond extract and dolloped it (a lot) with the stuff, which also immediately disintegrated. Imagine that. It tasted pretty good though. The plums were more tart than expected, but the cream rounded it out and the crust was nice and buttery. If you're in a humid climate (and when am I not in one) then its advisable to eat it all right away. I didn't though. I promise.