I came to the realization, a few weeks ago, that my old food processor was more duct tape than appliance. It served me well for the past decade; a gift from my sister after moving into my first apartment in college. And while I sometimes enjoy the rustic and time honored tradition of using a fork to cut butter into flour, I knew the food processor needed replacing. Good thing I just had a birthday! Enter my new KitchenAid -- 12 cups of food processing glory. I wanted to take this baby for a test spin and an Apple Galette from Cooks Illustrated (Sept 2007) caught my eye.
One additional piece of kitchen equipment that will make your life easier when dealing with apple dishes is an apple mill such as the one shown here. They're relatively inexpensive ($15-20) and in the time it would take me to manually peel an apple with a paring knife, I can have 5 apples peeled, spiral sliced, and cored with this device. The other great thing is that the apples are cut to uniform thickness, which makes for a more attractive final dish. If you have a lot of flat counters get a model with a suction cup base. If you have counters with overhangs, go for the C-clamp style (which I prefer as the suction cups tend of fall off after awhile -- but don't worry you can still hold it down securely with one hand).
Apple Galette
Although any apple will work in this recipe, a firm tart apple is best like a Granny Smith or Empire. If you don't have an apple mill, halve the peeled apples and then use a melon baller or paring knife to remove the core from each half. Make sure to cut the apples uniformly and no thicker than 1/8 inch, otherwise they will be hard to shingle. The dough can be made 1-2 days in advance although if it has chilled longer than 1 hour, let it stand at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes to soften. If the dough becomes soft and sticky while being rolled, transfer it to a baking sheet and refrigerate it for 10 to 15 minutes. Check the bottom of the galette halfway through baking-it should be a light golden brown. If it is darker, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Serve with vanilla ice cream, lightly sweetened whipped cream, or creme fraiche (as seen below). This dish is sturdy enough to eat with your hands so go for it! Store leftovers (if you're lucky enough to have any) in plastic wrap for 2-3 days.
Dough:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 5/8-inch cubes (1 1/2 sticks)
8-10 tablespoons ice water
Apple Filling:
1 1/2 pounds apples (3-4 medium or 4-5 small), see note above
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons apricot preserves
1 tablespoon water
Combine flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar in food processor with three 1-second pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour, pulse to cut butter into flour until butter pieces are size of large pebbles, about 1/2 inch, about six 1-second pulses.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water over mixture and pulse once quickly to combine; repeat, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulsing, until dough begins to form small curds that hold together when pinched with fingers (dough should look crumbly and should not form cohesive ball).
The following is a kneading technique called "fraisage" that helps to give the crust a flaky texture: Empty dough onto work surface and gather into rough rectangular mound about 12 inches long and 5 inches wide. Starting at farthest end, use heel of hand to smear small amount of dough against counter, pushing firmly down and away from you, to create a separate pile of dough (flattened pieces of dough should look shaggy). Continue process until all dough has been worked. Gather dough into rough 12 by 5-inch mound and repeat smearing process. Dough will not have to be smeared as much as first time and should form cohesive ball once entire portion is worked. Form dough into 4-inch square, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until cold and firm but still malleable, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
About 15 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, core, and halve apples. Cut apple halves lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices.
Place dough on floured 16 by 12-inch piece of parchment paper and dust with more flour. Roll dough until it just overhangs all four sides of parchment and is about 1/8 inch thick, dusting top and bottom of dough and rolling pin with flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Trim dough so edges are even with parchment paper.
Roll up 1 inch of each edge and pinch firmly to create 1/2-inch-thick border. Transfer dough and parchment to rimmed baking sheet.
Starting in one corner, shingle sliced apples to form even row across bottom of dough, overlapping each slice by about one-half. Continue to layer apples in rows, overlapping each row by half. Dot apples with butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake until bottom of tart is deep golden brown and apples have caramelized, 45 to 60 minutes.
While galette is cooking, combine apricot preserves and water in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium power until mixture begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Pass through fine-mesh strainer to remove any large apricot pieces. Brush baked galette with glaze and cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Cut in half lengthwise and then crosswise into individual portions; devour.
