When in doubt, wrap it in pie crust

Or how to make everything better

I’d love to try and make “when in doubt, wrap it in pie crust” into a little tidbit of life advice, relevant beyond galettes and baking. Something like “when life gives you lemons…” or “don’t cry over spilled milk” or “bigger fish to fry”. But, no, this week’s newsletter really is about pie crust. And in particular it’s about the free-form, intentionally rustic pie known as the galette. Plus, of course, the latest food and cool Recs™ below the fold.

If you’re new here, this newsletter was once basically a galette fan account. If you’re back, well… happily, so are the galettes.

This recipe is completely adaptable. I have made it more times than I can count and with more variations than I can remember. The most important takeaways here are 1) yes you can make your own pie crust, I promise AND 2) almost anything can be improved by being wrapped in said pie crust.

Bad pic, good chunks

The name of the game is cold butter chunks. (That’s also my new nickname.) You can fix a dough that’s too wet and sticky or too dry, you can patch up cracks as you’re rolling it out, but you cannot fix butter that’s already softened and melted into the dough. Keep those chunks cold.

The recipe below is for my fall-favorite: miso apple galette. But, again, the filling is entirely up to you. Some of my other favorites are strawberry or mixed berry; savory tomato basil; nectarine with blueberry; thinly sliced root veggies. I could go on and on. This is also the crust we’ll use for my all-time favorite garam masala pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving, so may as well start practicing now.