With fresh peaches and a hint of smoke, this grilled peach galette is a great way to use your grill to create dessert.
It’s summertime, and you’re probably grilling. And if you’re in a Texas summer, you definitely don’t want to be turning your oven on. But that definitely doesn’t mean you should be skipping dessert, so instead just make dessert grill-able!
This recipe is actually fairly easy, and if you make the dough in advance all you need are a couple of fresh, fragrant peaches (from Fredericksburg, if you’re in the Hill Country area!) to complete the setup. A galette is sort of like an open pie of sorts, and the best part is, it’s supposed to look super rustic, so you don’t need to be an expert pastry crimper to pull off a pretty finished product.
The direct grilling method is done over medium coals, which guarantees you wont end up with a soggy base.In fact, the dough should end up nice and crisp all round, which makes it even nicer to bite into those soft-cooked peaches. Two simple steps you can take to make this galette even easier: you can use frozen fruit, and you can use a pre-made pie crust as the dough.
You can also of course recreate this grilled galette with other fruit; strawberries, blueberries, apricots…even a summertime blend of a few different types. I also like to throw a handful of cherry or apple wood chips on the coals, it creates just enough smoke to be a hint of flavor on the finished galette. Oh and of course, don’t forget to top your slice with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Grilled Peach Galette (with a hint of smoke)
Ingredients
FOR THE CINNAMON DOUGH:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1–2 tbsp turbinado sugar (see note 1)
pinch salt
3/4 cup ice water
FOR THE FILLING:
6 large firm peaches, sliced into segments
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp corn starch
1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- cut the butter into small pieces, and place in freezer for an hour.
- In a food processor, combine butter, flour, cinnamon, white sugar and salt. Pulse about 10-12 times to combine, the mixture should still have some pea-sized butter pieces.
- Add 1/2 cup ice water and pulse again, adding more water if necessary. The dough should just come together.
- Empty dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, pressing together with your hands to bring any stray pieces together. Try not to overwork or overhandle the dough, you want it to stay as cold as possible. Form into a disc no thicker than 1″ (otherwise it’ll be hard to roll out) and place in freezer for at least an hour.
- Pre-heat your grill to a medium heat.
- In a bowl, combine sliced peaches, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and corn starch. Mix gently, but well, to ensure there are no starch lumps.
- Take your dough and roll out to 1/8inch thick. Transfer the dough to a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Lay peaches in a single layer on the pastry, leaving out any juice that has accumulated and leaving about 2″ clearance from edges.
- Fold edges of the dough just over the fruit, you will have some folds while you do this, so you can make a small cut with a knife to make it easier. Brush the top of the pastry with egg, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Throw a small handful of wood chips over the coals, and place the tray on the grill. Close the cover and allow to cook approx. 45 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.
Notes
Note 1: Turbinado sugar is larger crystals and has a nice crunch and appearance when sprinkled on the crust, but you can substitute for regular sugar if desired.
