Spoiler alert: The galette is actually in the over right now as I am typing this and OH does it ever smell applicious! Concentrate! Focus!
written by Heather Zubiate Today ended up being cloudy, and it's a Saturday. Well you know what that means right? It's a baking day - oh yah baby! But what to bake? The choices are endless...the sky's the limit...you get the picture. But there is a limiting factor to what I can bake, since I'm not the only one who will be consuming the fresh baked good - - rats! So I need to bake something everyone in the Zubiate clan will enjoy. And that means apple pie! Mmmm, on second thought, today I'll be making a galette. It's the same thing really, except it's more rustic. That means it's easier and I'm all for easier. No, really I am. Besides, I have an abundance of apples in the fridge and some in a bowl from our little Dorset trees. Spoiler alert: The galette is actually in the over right now as I am typing this and OH does it ever smell applicious! Concentrate! Focus! First, I make the pastry so it can chill in the fridge while I whip out the filling. The pastry is simple enough, it's mostly butter with a little lard. Yes. I said LARD. I don't want to hear it, ya know why? Because it has been recently found out that saturated fats, like lard and butter, are not as bad for our heart health as once believed. The evil culprit to all kinds of cardiac issues is inflammation, which is brought on by highly processed foods, refined sugar, and even sodium. On a side note, I wonder what happens to the chloride, ya know? Table salt is sodium chloride, right? So what does the body do with the chloride part? Anyway, this is proof positive that Mary Cooper was right when she told the TBBT gang that doctors don't know what is good or bad for you. My opinion is that if God made it to be eaten, then it's good for you. God didn't make highly processed or hydrogenated anything, mankind does that stuff. So now I don't feel one bit of guilt making and consuming a good butter/lard pastry! Thanks Dr. Lundell (and others) for having the guts to come clean. I can just hear my mother say, "I knew it!" The filling is straight forward and easy to do, heck you can get you kids to help. Butter knives are sharp enough to cut apples into slices (adult supervision required) and it's a good way for your children to start honing their knife skills. Ha ha! Then I get out the pastry from the fridge and start rolling it out. I keep the center of the dough a bit thicker than the edges, which will be pleat folded up onto the apples. The thicker center of the crust allows for structural integrity when it comes time to serve, and the folded edges will not be so thick. I put the pasty into a pie pan rather than onto parchment and a cookie sheet. It's just my preference. I also put the pie plate onto a dark cookie sheet to catch any potential spillage, and to help brown the bottom crust. I then mix together the spices, sugars, and cornstarch in a small bowl and dump them over the apples, give it a couple of folding turns and then dump the sugary apples into the waiting blanket of pastry. After I evenly distribute the mound, I start gently folding up the dough. Once that is done, then I brush on some more cholesterol and saturated fat in the form of heavy whipping cream. If you want to use milk or an egg wash, be my guest. You can sprinkle sugar onto the edge, but this time I omitted that step - - trying to limit circulatory system inflammation, and every little bit helps! Then I place it into a preheated 400 degree oven on the center rack position for 3o minutes...then I check it. If it's getting too brown I lower the oven temp to 375. If all is well I leave the temp alone and check it 15 min. later and make adjustments. Most of the time, the 400 degrees is fine for the whole hour of baking. And then when the timer finally sounds, this is what you get! Isn't it lovely hmmmm? Smells fantastic too. It will be VERY hard to wait until after dinner to dig into it too. I serve it with some more cholesterol in the form of vanilla ice cream or real whipped cream, since the fake stuff causes... you guessed it-- INFLAMMATION! And we don't want that do we? Here's to your health!
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Hello!Welcome to my blog, dear reader. My name is Heather, and I am a full time housewife and mom living in Whittier Ca. with my wonderful husband of 26 years, and our two sons. I welcome you and hope you enjoy reading what is on my mind. Subscribe to
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