This Cherry Galette with an Almond Buttermilk Crust has sweet, roasted cherries and the all-butter, buttermilk crust has a wonderful texture and just a hint of almond.
Cube your butter, re-wrap in the wrapper, and place in freezer. This is probably a bit much but I’m a touch superstitious about my pastries. Everything has to be done “just so” because I want them to be perfect. No more of this!
Mix flour, almond meal, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl.
Add the butter cubes to the flour and cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles course crumbs.
Slowly drizzle the buttermilk over the dough a little at a time and toss gently with a fork until the dough holds together. You can add up to an additional tablespoon of buttermilk if you need to. The dough should not be “wet”.
Form the dough into a ball (or two!) and gently flatten into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a plastic baggie and place in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 400F
Prepare the Filling:
Pit your cherries. [I read in Fine Cooking that you can use a straw, but this has yet to work for me. I use a potato peeler for the ones I am leaving whole and then on all the rest I slice around the middle with a paring knife, twist apart the halves, and then dig out the pit with my fingernail or the potato peeler. I really should just get a cherry pitter. ]Halve all but 1 cup of the pitted cherries.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar to the cherries and toss to coat evenly.
Assembling the Cherry Galettes
Take your dough out of the freezer and let it rest at room temperature if it is too hard (like, if you decided to go to the gym and left it in the freezer for more then 20 minutes.)
Line your flat baking sheet with parchment paper
Roll out your dough until it is just shy of ¼ inch thick, paying little attention to the jagged edges or cracks. Think of these things as giving your galette character!
Roll the dough over your rolling pin and unroll it on the parchment paper
Mix the cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of sugar together with a whisk and spread on the dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
Unceremoniously dump the filling into the center of the dough and spread gently, mounding slightly in the middle and leaving a 2-inch border.
Fold dough border over cherries, pressing gently to seal the edges. Overlap decoratively.
Brush the exposed crust with heavy whipping cream and then generously sprinkle cherries and crust with turbinado sugar.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 400F for ~35-40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.
Let cool on the cookie sheet at least 20 minutes before serving.