Monday, July 14, 2008

Apricot and cherry galette


Though it's counterintuitive, my CSA farm box has caused a softening of the middle as of late. I currently sport a small innertube of fat that wasn't there before I started receiving weekly shipments of gloriously sweet and juicy fruits that were so ripe they needed to be used within a day.

Inspired by summer fruits, I turned to the two cookbooks that are more likely than any others to the root of my diabetes diagnosis in a decade or so. Tartine and Macrina.

This apricot and cherry tart featured a flaky crust and fruit that required very little sugar so the fruit flavors could really shine through. I love what happens to the flavor of apricots when they're baked. They go from being sweet but timid to bold and complex. Like getting a shy art history student drunk.

I started with the Tartine flaky tart dough recipe, which relies on a very simple ingredient list of a teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cup of very cold water, three cups plus two tablespoons flour, and one cup plus five tablespoons cold unsalted butter. Incorporating these ingredients requires strong arms and a big rolling pin, and then there are various pauses for chilling the dough, but the end result is great. Flaky and delicate, though I did have a slight problem with crust shrinkage.
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