Honeyed Fig Galette

 

I made this galette because I wanted to try out a honey sweetened shortcrust pastry (I loved it). Galettes are a sort of free form tart, for a better explanation visit Fine Cooking. I find galettes simple & easy to make - the best thing is that it really doesn't matter the shape of them. 

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.

Ingredients

Pastry*

250 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

100 g Honey

½ tsp Salt (approx.)

200 g Butter

1 Egg

20 g Hot water


Filling

250 g Cream cheese

5 g Vanilla bean extract

30 g Caster sugar 

50 g Honey

3 Ripe figs (finely sliced)

Egg wash for brushing dough 

Flaked almonds for sprinkling on dough

Extra honey

 

* - Only half the amount of dough will be used to make the galette. If you want to half the recipe whisk up the egg & only use 25 g. 
 

Method

Pastry 

Combine together the dry ingredients (flour & salt).

Melt the butter to the point when the fat & water separate. Add in the honey, egg & water & whisk with a fork to combine.

Pour the melted butter mix over the combined dry ingredients & stir to combine. Make sure you get rid of any lumps. It can be mixed by hand, fork or wooden spoon. Mechanical devices can over mix the dough very easily, it is best done by hand. At first the mixture will appear very wet - don't worry it will thicken. 

At this stage the dough will feel slightly greasy. Wrap the dough in plastic clingwrap or put it in a plastic bag & store in the fridge for approximately 1 hour. If you are in a hurry flatten the dough (~3 mm) & put it in the freezer for 15 mins. The dough can be frozen at this stage.    

Cooling the dough is important - after cooling the butter is absorbed, flexibility is increased & the dough is easier to handle.

Bring the dough out of the fridge, it will be quite hard. Halve the dough. The dough you are not using for the galette can be frozen or left in the fridge if you are going to use it for something else. I used my half to make Quince Cobbler. 

Prepare a clean work surface (silicon mat, baking paper) & knead the pastry until it is soft enough to roll out. As there is quite a lot of butter in the dough it will be quite soft - that is okay. 

Place dough in between two sheets of baking paper & roll out the pastry in a roughly circular shape to a thickness of 3 mm (see tip). The pastry shrinks slightly during baking as such when rolling out thinner is better than thicker. 

Rolling out tip To ensure the dough is an even thickness find 2 placemats (dinner setting - my placemats are ~4 mm thick) or two pieces of cardboard (2-3 mm thick) place one on either side of the dough. I have stainless steel spacers 1 mm, 2 mm & 3 mm thick - they are much easier to clean. When rolling out the dough ensure the rolling pin is wide enough to span the dough and part of the top of the placemats/spacers. My rolling pin is large – 61 cm from handle to handle.  Initially when rolling the pin may not necessarily rest on the placemats/spacers, however, when the dough is the same thickness as the placemats/spacers it will. At this stage the dough should be all the same thickness.

Prepare egg wash by whisking an egg with a little bit (~1/8th - 1/4 tsp) of salt. You don't need to brush the dough with egg wash however it does give the baked pastry colour & gloss and it is a great way to get the sliced almonds to stick to the dough.

Lift the top piece of baking paper off the dough, put it back down. Flip the dough between the baking paper over. Lift the top sheet off the dough and place it to the side.

Brush egg wash over the top of the dough. Sprinkle on the flaked almonds. 

Put the piece of baking paper back on top of the dough.

Holding on to both pieces of baking paper gently flip the dough over (a couple of loose almonds may come out). The almonds will now be on the bottom. If you are unsure that you'll be able to flip the dough put a baking tray on top of the top piece of baking paper. Holding the baking paper & the tray flip the lot. The baking tray should now be on the bottom. Depending on the size of the rolled out dough it may overhang the tray a little.     

Filling 

Turn oven on to 170 C.

Combine together the cream cheese, vanilla, honey & sugar. 

Place the cream cheese mix in the middle of the dough leaving a ~10 cm gap around the edge. Top with the fresh fig slices. Optional – cut the dough around the outside (this makes it easier to fold the dough in on top of the filling). 

Fold the outer dough in on top of the filling. I drizzled extra honey on top of the figs & dough. I think a delicious addition would be to boil the honey on the stovetop (~5 mins, it will depend on the amount of honey used) & then drizzle this warm honey on the galette when it comes out of the oven.   

Bake at 170 C for approximately 45 mins.

Serve hot or cold with cream and/or ice-cream. 

Simply enjoy!