Puff Pastry Plum Galette
Plum galette is a delicious French pastry. Galettes can be a savoury or sweet pastry depending on the filling used. However, this recipe will focus on using sweet plums.
In this blog post, you will learn how to make a Puff Pastry Plum Galette.
What is a Plum Galette?
A galette is a term used in French cuisine to describe a variety of flat, round, or free-form crusty cakes or tarts. The term “galette” encompasses different types of pastries and cakes, ranging from savoury to sweet, but they all share a rustic, unfussy appearance. Because this recipe used plums, it is a plum galette.
If you want to try making your own homemade puff pastry, try making my Puff Pastry Recipe. It yields a buttery and flaky pastry!
Can I Use a Different Fruit Instead for this Plum Galette?
Short answer, yes. Galettes can be made with all sorts of different fruits such as apples, peaches, pears, and berries. Savoury galettes are quite popular as well. Their fillings can include vegetables, cheese, meats, and herbs, which makes them suitable for meals throughout the day.
Try making my savoury Cheese Galette. Savoury galettes are great for breakfast or lunch.
How Do I Know if My Plums are Ripe?
You should ensure that your plums are ripe for this recipe. If they are not, baking the galette will not make them taste sweeter. They will still be quite sour. So they must be ripened. The easiest way to tell if you your plums are ripe is by tasting them. If they are sour, you may need to let them ripen more before making this recipe.
If you are in the grocery store and cannot taste the plums, here are a few other things to look for. Hard and unyielding Skin when you squeeze the plums can suggest that the plum is not ripe. The Colour of the plums should be a deep and vibrant red indicating ripeness. Sometimes the Weight can be an indication because the heavier the plum, the higher the juice content is. These are just a few things that you can look for when trying to purchase ripe plums.
Ripening Your Plums at Home
If your plums are not quite ripe, and you know when you want to make this galette, you can ripen them at home. However, if you try to make this recipe with non-ripened plums, they will most likely make the galette too sour to eat.
- Room Temperature: leave your plums out at room temperature away from direct sunlight. Then they should ripen in a few days.
- Paper Bag: to speed up the ripening process, place the plums into a paper bag. Adding a banana or an apple to the bag can help release ethylene gas, which can help to accelerate ripening.
Storage
- Ripe Plums: once your plums are ripe, store them in the refrigerator to slow down the ripening process. They should keep for several days to a week.
- Unripe Plums: keep unripe plums at room temperature until they reach the desired ripeness.
How To Make the Cream Cheese Filling (optional)
This is an optional step for this recipe. While the cream cheese filling does elevate the galette, you can omit this step.
Make a Cream Cheese Filling
Making the cream cheese base is incredibly simple.
- Prepare the Cream Cheese: Let your cream soften for at least on hour at room temperature so that it is ready to use and not hard. Alternatively, there are cream cheeses that are always soft and can be used directly from the fridge. I prefer those ones.
- Beat the Cream Cheese: In a mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add in the egg yolk. Beat again until the egg is just incorporated.
- Add Sugar: Gradually add the sugar. As you add the sugar, continue to beat until well combined and the mixture is smooth.
- Add Flavourings: Mix in the vanilla extract and the lemon juice or zest.
- Use or Chill: Depending on the recipe, the filling can be used immediately or chilled to firm up before using. For this recipe, it is best to return to the fridge and keep there until it is time to assemble the galette.
Putting it All Together
Here are the steps on how to put together your plum galette:
- Preparing the Plums: slice the plums and toss with a bit of sugar, cinnamon, and occasionally honey. Allow this mixture to macerate to let the flavours meld and the juices release.
- Assembling the Galette:
- Rolling Out the Puff Pastry: roll out the puff pastry onto a floured surface to the desired thickness and shape (typically a rough circle).
- Cream Cheese Filling (optional): place the cream cheese onto the puff pastry and evenly brush around the pastry. Leave an inch of pastry on the edges not covered in the cream cheese.
- Filling: arrange the plum mixture into the centre of the pastry (on top of the cream cheese if used), leaving a border around the edges.
- Folding: fold the edges of the pastry over the fruit filling, creating a rustic, free-form tart with the centre exposed.
- Baking:
- Egg Wash: brush the pastry edges with an egg wash to promote browning and add shine.
- Baking: bake the galette in a preheated oven until the pastry is golden and flaky, and the plums are tender and caramelized.
- Finishing Touch: drizzle the galette with some honey for added sweetness and gloss.
Ingredients
Plums: fresh and ripe plums are the main star of these ingredients. They should be pitted and sliced before use. Dried plums also known as prunes can be an option to use instead of fresh plums.
Puff Pastry: puff pastry forms the base of the galette. The puff pastry gives the galette its rustic and free-form shape that is characteristic of this dessert. The free-form shape makes this dessert easy to assemble and visually appealing.
Honey: honey adds a natural sweetness to help balance out the tartness of the plums. It can create a glossy finish when it is drizzled or brushed over the pastry top.
Granulated Sugar: granulated sugar is used to sweeten the plums. If the plums are too unripe, sugar will not be able to sweeten the plums.
Cinnamon: cinnamon complements the plums and the honey. It adds a spiciness that makes the dessert more aromatic.
Egg Wash: the egg wash is brushed over the pastry right before being placed into the oven. This gives the pastry a golden-brown finish. It is also an adhesive for any sugar that is sprinkled on top of the pastry before being baked.
Cream Cheese: cream cheese makes a smooth and tangy base for the cream cheese filling.
Lemon Juice: lemon juice coats the plums and can keep them from browning before use.
Vanilla Extract: vanilla extract adds a hint of vanilla to the filling.
Tips
- Make your plum mixture first and let it macerate as you prepare the rest of the ingredients for the plum pastry.
- Galettes are relatively simple to make, especially if using store-bought puff pastry or pre-made dough. This makes them a convenient option for a breakfast pastry.
- Do not cut apart the puff pastry and leave it whole. Prepare the galette normally, but with a bigger surface, and you will have a lovely galette in the shape of a pie!
Plum Galette
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry approx. 13"x8"
Plum Filling
- 6 plums stoned and sliced
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1/8 c. sugar granulated
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Cream Cheese Filling (optional)
- 8 oz. (226G) block of cream cheese, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 c. sugar granulated
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉/200℃/Gas Mark 6.
- Slice and stone plums. Put sliced plums into a medium bowl and mix in the sugar, honey, and cinnamon. Let macerate while preparing the other parts of the galette.
- Prepare the cream cheese filling. Beat the block of softened cream on medium until smooth.
- Add the egg yolk and beat until incorporated.
- Add in the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix together. Keep in the fridge until needed.
- Roll out the puff pastry and divide the pastry into 8 squares. Approximately 4”x4”.
- Spread the cream cheese in the centre of the pastry leaving half an inch empty at the sides of the pastry. Place the plums in the centre of the puff pastry leaving half an inch around the outsides as well.
- Fold over the sides of the puff pastry and brush the egg wash over them.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and let cool. Top with icing sugar if desired.