Another pie to add to my ever growing collection of pie recipes. If you were to breakdown the recipes on this site in terms of numbers, cookies and such would be first (I love cookies!) but then pies would certainly be a close second. And this recipe is great. Sweet cherries, tart currants, great combination. And I like galettes because they are rustic and free-form. Lovely summer.
Ingredients
for the pastry dough
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
4 cups bing cherries, pitted (about 2 pounds)
1 cup fresh red currants
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash
coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball, then divide and flatten into two disks. Wrap in plastic and chill 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375F. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit for about 10 minutes before rolling out. On a piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out to a 14-inch round (rough edges are ok). Transfer the dough on its parchment to a rimmed sheet pan and put back in the fridge for 15 minutes.
In a medium bowl, stir together the cherries, half of the currants, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt and almond extract. Remove the dough from the fridge and pile the fruit in the center, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border all the way around. Fold the border up around the fruit, letting it fall into creases naturally. Sprinkle the remaining currants on the exposed cherries. Brush the edges of the galette with the egg wash, and sprinkle the crust generously with the coarse sugar. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling in the center, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Be sure to bake until the juices are bubbling, otherwise the cornstarch won’t have activated and thickened the juices.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack. After that, transfer the parchment directly to the wire rack to cool completely before serving.
