Don’t be daunted by the beautiful galette – oh, you’re not? Great news. They’re quite easy (easier than pie, in fact) and fun to put together. I’ve been wanting to try one for a while now, and I finally got to with my mom when I went home last weekend. No recipe here, just procedure. You most likely have a preferred pie crust recipe in your arsenal. If not, you could easily find one.
  
The filling comes first. You can make sweet galettes OR savory. This is me, though, so I went with my preferred stone fruit: nectarines. So juicy and sweet. I cut three medium nectarines and placed the slices in a bowl. Sprinkled some sugar and flour. Here’s where you can add spices or herbs of your choice, but I kept it simple.

  
My mom made this crust. No white flour? No problem. Whole wheat is hearty and now your galette is even more healthy than it was before, which is fairly healthy if you do it right (in my opinion of course)…

Now comes the fun part. Lay out the dough onto a baking sheet. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle, but the rounder the better. Dump your filling in the center, and adjust according to your preference of galette thickness and width. I eyeballed the nectarines and it worked out pretty well. Reasonable height (an inch?) with just enough crust left for folding in. Don’t get too bogged down by how it looks while folding. Some galettes are fully covered, and others are barely covered at all. The pastry won’t be moving much in the oven, so don’t go crazy with coverage of you don’t want to.

 
Throw in the oven at 425° for 35-40 minutes. If the crust is soggy at first, it will solidify up after it has cooled.

Baking without a solid recipe or strict plan is exhilarating. We should all try it more often. Happy improving!