The apple galette is a humble French favorite. It’s artisanal, it’s rustic, and it’s absolutely delicious!
This classic pastry is an apple pie in open-face form, offering you the chance to beautifully decorate the top with bold layers of cinnamon-coated apple slices while enjoying the crunchy puff of the shortcrust pie pastry.
We’re big fans of the French galette, and in this article, we’ll show you the simplest way to prepare a rustic apple galette from the comfort of your home kitchen!
What is a galette?
But what exactly is a galette? The galette is a crusty, French pastry, a delightfully rustic dish prepared in a wide variety of forms and flavors, from apple and apricot galettes to potato flavored galettes!
The defining feature of a galette isn’t its toppings but its shape and style. Galettes are round, like a pie, but unlike a traditional pie in the US, galettes are open-faced (there’s a pie base, but not a pie top.) Galettes are commonly prepared with shortcrust pastry to give them that flaky, crunchy, pie-like appeal, but they are intended to be free form and artisanal in every other respect.
An apple galette, then, is very similar to an apple pie- it’s sweet, yet the cooking apples ensure it’s slightly savory and tart. It’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, coffee breaks, afternoon snacks, or as a dessert!
How to make a galette
Consider two main components: the pie crust and the filling. In this case, our filling is going to be an apple-pie style filling.
Galette crust
Traditionally, it’s a shortcrust pastry that gives the galette its authentic, flaky feel. Shortcrust pastry is puffy and crusty, too, and it adds that hearty, filling aspect to an apple galette.
For our recipe, we suggest using a premade pie crust or roll of shortcrust pastry. You can find ready-made pie pastry either frozen or refrigerated in all good stores. Premade dough cuts down your preparation time massively and ensures that even the most novice bakers can bake an unforgettable apple galette.
Of course, it's pretty easy to prepare your own shortcrust dough at home if you have time. Either way, you’ll need enough dough to fill a 12-inch pie dish for this easy apple galette recipe.
Apple galette filling
Galettes can be sweet or savory, but we’re taking the sweet and fruity direction in this recipe.
For our recipe, you’ll need about 4 large Granny Smith apples. These are great cooking apples, as they are tart (and the tartness balances out the sugar in the recipe,) but they also hold their shape exceptionally well under high heat - they don’t turn to mush when baking, which is exactly what we want.
Alternatively, you can try other types of apples too, or a combination of apple varieties. Many bakers like to cook with Granny Smiths and a sweeter Red Delicious or Honeycrisp, for example. Peel your apples with an apple peeler or with a knife. Then core the apples and cut them into slices.
The apples are then mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and a little salt before being coated in sugar and cornflour. We also like to finish the filling with a glaze of apricot jam (trust us, it’s delicious!)
Best apple galette recipe
The following recipe makes 1 large 12-inch apple galette; enough for about 8 slices/servings of galette!
Ingredients
- 12-inch pie dough
- 4 Granny Smith apples, sliced
- ½ c of sugar
- 1 Tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
- ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp of lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- Dash of salt
- Egg wash
- ¼ c of apricot jam
Directions
- Set your oven to preheat to 400° F while greasing a 12-inch pie dish.
- Remove your ready-to-go pie crust from the fridge, roll it out into a 12-inch circle, and place the dough into the pie dish.
- Peel, core, and thinly slice your apples. Add the slices to a large bowl, and mix with lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a dash of salt to taste.
- Coat the apples in sugar and cornstarch, and ensure the filling is well mixed.
- Once mixed, begin adding the apple filling to the dough. Spread evenly to form layers of apples in the center, but leave a small border of dough, about 2-inches wide, around the edges.
- When you’re happy with the filling, fold the 2-inch border of dough over the edge of apple filling to form a rustic galette-style crust.
- Give the dough a coating of egg wash, then sprinkle more sugar over the dough and the filling.
- Place the galette into the preheated oven to cook for 40 mins.
- After the timer goes off, remove the apple galette from the oven and allow it to cool.
- Serve with additional toppings like whipped cream, ice cream, or caramel drizzle, and enjoy!
Apple galette recipe FAQ
We know you want to get this recipe just right! Occasionally we get a few simple questions, so we thought we’d answer the most common questions for you here!
Is there a difference between an apple galette and an apple pie?
The French-style galette does seem remarkably similar to a pie, and there’s no doubt that these two desserts do have many similarities! Both designs encase a yummy filling, both use a pie crust, and both are delicious!
The galette is open-faced (or occasionally has a pastry lattice), and it’s never fully enclosed. However, an apple pie is enclosed top and bottom in a crust.
What’s the difference between a galette and a crostata?
The galette might also seem very similar to the crostata, and that’s because they are almost entirely identical. The crostata is an Italian pastry, and it’s more or less just an Italian name for the same dish that the French call a galette.
The crostata is also a free form pie that’s open-faced and most commonly served with a fruity filling (one great Italian variation, though, is the ricotta-filled crostata!)
How do I know when my galette is cooked thoroughly?
A galette won’t take more than 40 minutes to bake in the oven, and you can tell it’s done by the golden brown finish and the bubbly filling.
Make sure the oven is preheated to 400° F before you start baking the galette, and be sure that you allow it to cool sufficiently before slicing and serving!
Apple galette recipe: Grab a slice!
That’s a wrap for our apple galette recipe! This rustic, French-inspired pastry pie is a delightful dish to bake at home - particularly when you already have that easy pie crust ready to go!
With a bold apple and cinnamon filling, and the all-important apricot jam glaze, this is one recipe that your friends and family are guaranteed to love.
If you’re looking for new desserts to bake, then give our apple galette recipe a go!