Pantry Peach Galette

I love baking with fresh fruit, but you always don’t have to wait for your favorite fruits to be in season to bake with them. You can use frozen fruit or canned fruit to make delicious desserts, too! This Pantry Peach Galette is an easy and delicious dessert that you can bake up with ingredients that are probably in your pantry right now.

A galette is a free-form pie that is shaped on a baking sheet, not in a pie pan. They are meant to have a rustic, handmade look to them – and they’re easier to put together than most traditional pies. Galettes can have all kinds of fillings, although fruit is usually the most common. This particular galette has a filling that is made with peach preserves and canned peaches, so you don’t need to make a trip to the grocery store or wait until peaches are in season to give it a try.

Jarred peaches that are packed in juice are my top choice for this recipe, although they should be drained of juice before using.. If you don’t have that, you can use canned fruit that is packed in syrup, so long as you completely drain the syrup first. Heavy syrup will make this pastry too sweet and can simply add too much excess moisture to the recipe. Jarred and canned peaches are usually already halved. For this recipe, you’ll want to cut each peach half into thirds or quarters.

I used a homemade pie crust for this recipe that is made with a blend of whole wheat and all purpose flour. The whole wheat flour gives the crust a nutty flavor that adds a nice contrast to the sweet, juicy peaches. If you only have all purpose flour, you can simply substitute it for the whole wheat flour in my recipe below – or use your own recipe, if you prefer! You can also use refrigerated or frozen pie dough, so take a peek in your freezer and see if you have any unused pie crusts leftover from holiday baking in there that need to be used up.

Bake the galette until it is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Unlike a fresh fruit tart or pie, the tenderness of the peaches is not a good indicator of doneness because jarred/canned peaches are usually already quite tender. If the crust appears to be browning too much, put a little bit of aluminum foil loosely over it.

The galette will be ready to eat as soon as it has cooled down. Serve it in generous wedges and pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if you have some. It is best on the day that it was baked, so don’t hesitate to indulge in a second slice!

Pantry Peach Galette
dough for 1 9-inch pie crust, chilled
1 cup peach preserves
1 cup chopped thinly sliced, canned peaches

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out chilled pie crust on a lightly floured surface until it is a round about 10-11-inches across (approx 1/8-inch thick). Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Spread peach preserves on rolled out crust, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Arrange peach slices evenly over the preserves. Fold the border of pastry up over the cut peaches to form the outer edge of the crust and prevent juice from the fruit from leaking out.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until galette is golden brown.

Serves 6-8

Whole Wheat Pie Crust
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp butter, cold and cut into a few pieces
3-4 tbsp cold water

Whisk together flours, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Rub in butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a very coarse, wet sand with no pieces larger than a pea. Pour in water and press dough together with your hands until it comes together into a ball. Add a bit more water if necessary.
Wrap dough disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 4 hours, or until ready to use (freeze for 1 hour for faster prep). Roll out on a floured surface and bake according to [the pie/galette] recipe directions.

Makes 1 crust.