Apple Galette Recipe (Video)

This apple galette recipe is quite easy to make and it is easier to devour. The crust has a perfect citrusy delight and is very tender and flaky. Apples get caramelized a bit while baking and together with a beautiful crust it burst with so much flavor in your mouth.

I added a video recipe on top of the printable recipe. Hope the video will help with the steps of this amazing apple galette recipe. 

Galettes are notoriously easy to put together. There are several crust recipes for galettes, too. However, I’ve been making galettes using this particular recipe of mine for many years. It just adds a whole new dimension to your dessert. Anything can be wrapped in a galette. In fact, I have two other recipes using the same crust but different fillings. Apples are a little trickier to bake in a galette. Most often then not you either have to pre-cook the apples or follow the steps I will teach you today in order to have a dessert that is well baked and pretty to look at (as if you will have time for that!). Pre-cooking the apples is a hassle I do not want you to go through. Follow along to see what else you can do to have a perfectly baked, golden apple galette.

Note: Remember that the galette crust needs to be put together very quickly. You can also pulse the crust dough in the food processor. I prefer working with my hands. To find out more about how to make a perfect dough follow this link.

Ingredients for the crust:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 113gr chilled, unsalted butter (4 oz butter)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp cold milk

Ingredients for the apple filling:

• 3 large apples
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 20 gr chilled, unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp apricot or peach syrup
• a little bit of brown sugar (optional)
• 1 egg for an egg wash

Directions:

Place flour in a small bowl. Using a grater, quickly grate chilled butter onto the flour.

Quickly rub the butter with flour and obtain a breadcrumb-like mixture.

Add sugar, salt and orange zest into the butter mixture. 

Using a spatula mix everything together. You may need to break the orange zest up a bit. Add cold milk and give it a stir with a  spatula to spread the milk out and create larger clumps of dough.

Using your hands quickly knead out a dough. This process should take no more than 10 seconds.

Gather all the dough in one place, give it a circular shape and wrap it in a plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until apples are ready to assemble.

Peel apples, cut them in half and remove the inner core from each half.

Place the apple halves flat side down and slice them lengthwise at about 1/8 inch thick. Set aside until needed. Be advised that you cannot have apples sit on the counter waiting. They are going to change color. It will not matter much once they get baked. However, if you wish to preserve the color of the apples, move a little quicker.

Take out chilled butter from the refrigerator and cut it in small cubes. Set aside until needed.

Take out the dough from the refrigerator. Use a piece of parchment paper to roll out the dough. It will be much easier to transfer the parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Roll the dough evenly into a thin circle (about 1/8 inch or slightly less). The diameter of the dough should be about 12 inches. Lift the dough gently in between rolls to make sure that it is not sticking too much. The dough shouldn’t be too thin and shouldn’t be too thick. Too thin of a dough will rip. Too thick one will become cakeier. Neither of which we prefer. If the edges of the dough crack, gently pinch that side onto itself to remedy the situation. Some cracks are totally fine.

Leaving a 3-inch border on the dough, stack apple slices, one slice overlapping the other. I’d like to actually crowd the apple slices and not to leave much room in between them. Once the slices shrink during the baking process, the galette will look very rare and empty. Have the apple slices lay on each other with only quarter inch visible from the previous slice.

Once apples are stacked, turn the 3-inch empty edges of the dough onto the apples all around. Work gently and try not to rip the dough. The edges should lay flat, but they do not have to be super neat.

Note: If you leave less than 3 inches for the edges, during baking the edges will actually shrivel a little and will look more like a border than a nice flat wrap of a galette.

Randomly place butter cubes which we previously prepped on top of the apples. Sprinkle the sugar all over the apples (and butter).

Prepare the egg wash by simply fork-whisking the egg in a small bowl. Brush the sides of the galette with an egg wash and sprinkle the sides with a little brown sugar. Transfer the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and bake the galette at 400F until the crust turns golden brown. It may take up to 40 minutes. Don’t freak out and don’t take out your galette too pale. There are more than one reasons not to do so. First, the galette will not bake through. Second, the moisture which has accumulated from the apples will not evaporate enough and will make the galette very soggy. Third, the sugar will not caramelize enough and along with the moisture from the apples make the galette soggy. The color of the galette is a huge indicator!

This last step could be very optional. However, for me it is essential. I keep a bottle of apricot syrup in the refrigerator just for this purpose. This time I had one we buy from our local Colorado orchard. I’ve also heard so many great things on Wabry brand of apricot syrup. Whichever you can find, will work. Once the galette has baked through, while it is still hot, I paint the entire galette (including the apple part) with a little bit of apricot syrup. It doesn’t take a lot, 2 tbsp is usually enough. Let the galette cool down before serving and you are good to go to serve it.

Print Recipe

Apple Galette Recipe

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 113 gr chilled unsalted butter (4 oz butter)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp cold milk

INGREDIENTS FOR THE APPLE FILLING:

• 3 large apples
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 20 gr chilled unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp apricot or peach syrup
• a little bit of brown sugar optional
• 1 egg for an egg wash

Instructions

• Place flour in a small bowl. Using a grater, quickly grate chilled butter onto the flour.
• Quickly rub the butter with flour and obtain a breadcrumb-like mixture.
• Add sugar, salt and orange zest into the butter mixture. Using a spatula mix everything together. You may need to break the orange zest up a bit. Add cold milk and give it a stir with a spatula to spread the milk out and create larger clumps of dough.
• Using your hands quickly knead out a dough. This process should take no more than 10 seconds. Gather all the dough in one place, give it a circular shape and wrap it in a plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until apples are ready to assemble.
• Peel apples, cut them in half and remove the inner core from each half. Place the apple halves flat side down and slice them lengthwise at about 1/8 inch thick. Set aside until needed.
• Take out chilled butter from the refrigerator and cut it in small cubes. Set aside until needed.
• Take out the dough from the refrigerator. Use a piece of parchment paper to roll out the dough. It will be much easier to transfer the parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Roll the dough evenly into a thin circle (about 1/8 inch or slightly less). The diameter of the dough should be about 12 inches. Lift the dough gently in between rolls to make sure that it is not sticking too much. The dough shouldn’t be too thin and shouldn’t be too thick. Too thin of dough will rip. Too thick one will become cakeier. Neither of which we prefer. If the edges of the dough crack, gently pinch that side onto itself to remedy the situation. Some cracks are totally fine.
• Leaving a 3-inch border on the dough, stack apple slices, one slice overlapping the other. I’d like to actually crowd the apple slices and not to leave much room in between them. Once the slices shrink during the baking process, the galette will look very rare and empty. Have the apple slices lay on each other with only quarter inch visible from the previous slice.
• Once apples are stacked, turn the 3-inch empty edges of the dough onto the apples all around. Work gently and try not to rip the dough. The edges should lay flat, but they do not have to be super neat.
• Randomly place butter cubes which we previously prepped on top of the apples. Sprinkle the sugar all over the apples (and butter).
• Prepare the egg wash by simply fork-whisking the egg in a small bowl. Brush the sides of the galette with an egg wash and sprinkle the sides with a little brown sugar. Transfer the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and bake the galette at 400F until the crust turns golden brown. 
• This last step could be very optional. However, for me it is essential. I keep a bottle of apricot syrup in the refrigerator just for this purpose. This time I had one we buy from our local Colorado orchard. I’ve also heard so many great things on Wabry brand of apricot syrup. Whichever you can find, will work. Once the galette has baked through, while it is still hot, I paint the entire galette (including the apple part) with a little bit of apricot syrup. 

Notes

2. If you leave less than 3 inches for the edges, during baking the edges will actually shrivel a little and will look more like a border than a nice flat wrap of a galette.

2. Don’t freak out and don’t take out your galette too pale. There are more than one reasons not to do so. First, the galette will not bake through. Second, the moisture which has accumulated from the apples will not evaporate enough and will make the galette very soggy. Third, the sugar will not caramelize enough and along with the moisture from the apples make the galette soggy. The color of the galette is a huge indicator.