Peach Galette: The Free-Form Summer Tart That Forgives Every Mistake

A galette is what you make when you want pie but not the fuss of it. There is no dish to fit, no lattice to weave, no crimped edge to fret over. You roll out one round of dough, pile fruit in the middle, fold the sides up in a loose, imperfect ring, and bake. The rougher it looks, the more right it looks. That is the whole appeal, and it is why a galette is the summer dessert I reach for when peaches are at their best and I cannot be bothered with anything fussier.

Ripe peaches carry this. Look for ones that give a little when you press near the stem and smell like a peach from a few inches away. Hard supermarket peaches will bake up sour and mealy, so give them a couple of days on the counter if they are not there yet.

A Few Things That Matter

Keep the dough cold. A galette crust bakes crisp and flaky only if the butter is still firm going into the oven, so if your kitchen is warm, chill the assembled tart for fifteen minutes before it bakes. Warm dough slumps and turns greasy instead of shattering into layers.

Draw the fruit's water off, too. Sliced peaches weep juice as they sit, and too much liquid makes a soggy center and a leaky crust. Tossing them with a little sugar and cornstarch soaks up that juice and thickens it into something glossy rather than watery.

Ingredients

How to Make It

1. Roll the dough into a rough circle about 12 inches across and slide it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
2. In a bowl, toss the sliced peaches with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Let them sit for 10 minutes so the juices release and thicken.
3. Pile the peaches in the center of the dough, leaving a border of about two inches bare all the way around. Leave most of the pooled juice behind in the bowl.
4. Fold that border up and over the edge of the fruit, working your way around and pleating the dough loosely where it overlaps. The center stays open.
5. Brush the folded crust with the beaten egg and sprinkle it generously with sugar. Dot the exposed peaches with the small pieces of butter.
6. Chill the assembled galette for 15 minutes if the dough has softened, then bake at 400F for 40 to 45 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the fruit is bubbling.
7. Let it cool on the sheet for at least 20 minutes so the juices set before you slice it.

Serve It Warm, Not Hot

Give the galette time to settle before cutting, or the filling runs everywhere. Slightly warm is how you want it, ideally with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting into the cracks of the crust. It keeps at room temperature for a day and reheats in a low oven, though the crust is at its crispest the afternoon you bake it. Swap the peaches for plums, apricots, or berries as the summer rolls on, and the method never changes.