Rustic Summer Fruit Galette, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the butter into the flour

   Whisk the gluten-free blend, xanthan gum, sugar, and salt together in a wide bowl. Drop in the cold butter cubes and toss them through the flour, then flatten each one between your thumb and fingers into a rough petal. Keep going until the bowl is full of flat, irregular butter shards no smaller than a fingernail. Those visible sheets of butter are what turn into steam pockets and flaky layers, so resist the urge to work them into crumbs.

2. 2

   Bring the dough together

   Stir the vinegar into the ice water and drizzle it over the flour a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork. Gluten-free starches drink up more liquid than wheat flour, so expect to use all 5 tablespoons and possibly another one or two — the dough should feel slightly tacky rather than dry and crumbly. There is no gluten to toughen, so you can press and gather it as much as you need to. Shape into a 5-inch disc, wrap tightly, and refrigerate at least 2 hours so the starches fully hydrate and the dough loses its grittiness.

3. 3

   Macerate and drain the fruit

   Toss the sliced stone fruit and berries with the granulated sugar, lemon juice, zest, cinnamon, and salt. Let it sit for 20 minutes, then pour the fruit into a sieve set over a bowl and let the juices drain for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cornstarch over the drained fruit and fold gently. Draining matters even more here, because a gluten-free crust has less structure to stand up to excess liquid.

4. 4

   Roll out the crust

   Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower third. Let the chilled disc sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before rolling — straight from the fridge it will crack badly. Roll between two sheets of parchment into a 13-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Patch any splits by pressing the dough back together with your fingers or a damp fingertip; it mends far more willingly than wheat dough. Peel off the top sheet and slide the parchment onto a rimmed baking sheet.

5. 5

   Build the galette

   Scatter the almond flour over the center, leaving a clean 2-inch border. Mound the fruit over it, keeping the pile compact. Fold the border up in overlapping pleats, pressing each fold firmly into the one before. Gluten-free pastry does not stretch, so make the pleats shallower and more numerous than you would with wheat dough, and seal every seam well.

6. 6

   Chill, wash, and bake

   Freeze the assembled galette on its pan for 15 minutes, then brush with beaten egg and shower with turbinado sugar. Bake 45 to 55 minutes. Gluten-free crusts need the longer end of that range and a genuinely deep golden color to be fully baked through — pale gluten-free pastry tastes raw and sandy. Lift a corner of the parchment and check that the underside is browned, and look for slow, thick bubbling at the fruit's edges. Tent loosely with foil if the pleats darken before the base catches up.

7. 7

   Glaze and cool

   Warm the apricot jam with a teaspoon of water and brush it over the hot fruit if you want some shine. Cool on the pan for a full 45 minutes before moving or slicing — gluten-free pastry is fragile while hot and firms up considerably as it cools.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Keep everything cold. If the butter softens while you roll, stop and refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes — warm butter melts into the flour and gives you a crisp, cookie-like crust instead of a flaky one.

• 2.

  Match the thickener to the fruit. Berries and peaches are wet and want the full 2 tablespoons of cornstarch; apples and pears are drier and do better with about 1 tablespoon.

• 3.

  The almond flour layer is swappable. Fine dry breadcrumbs, crushed amaretti, semolina, or a tablespoon of flour mixed with a tablespoon of sugar all soak up juice just as well.

• 4.

  Bake on the lower rack. The heat reflecting off the oven floor is what browns the underside of the pastry, and a dark metal sheet pan helps even more than a light one.

• 5.

  A split seam is not a disaster. Leaked juice caramelizes on the parchment and lifts away once cool, and the galette still tastes right — the free-form look is the whole point.

• 6.

  Dough freezes beautifully. Wrap the disc well and freeze up to 3 months, then thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling.