Top Culinary Honors for The Salty Tart Chef

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn.--  Today Michelle Gayer joined us from the Salty Tart to share one of her favorite recipes.  Michelle is currently a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award.  She will find out later this month if she has won the top honor.

The Salty Tart is located at the Midtown Global Market, 920 East Lake Street in Minneapolis.  For more information, visit www.saltytart.com.

Pear Galette

Puff Pastry:
1 lb Bread Flour
1 lb Pastry Flour
2 lbs Cold Butter
½ oz Salt
8 oz Cold Water

Cut cold butter into small cubes.  Dissolve salt in water.  Mix the butter into the flours leaving butter in large chunks.  Add salted water to flour/butter mixture and mix until the water is absorbed.

Form dough into a flat square and let rest at least 15 minutes.   Dust table with flour and roll out the dough into a rectangle.  Give the dough a book-fold and let rest and least 30 minutes.  Repeat rolling out, folding and resting until the dough has 3 book-folds.  The dough is now ready to be rolled out and cut.

Almond Cream:
8 oz Almond Flour
1 oz Sugar
4 oz Butter
1 oz Cake Flour
4 oz Eggs

In mixer with paddle attachment mix almond flour and sugar at low speed until evenly blended.  Blend in butter.  Blend in flour.   Blend in eggs until smooth.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut fruit in half (Pears, Apples, Nectarines work best) and remove seeds or pit.  

Roll out puff pastry and cut into circles that are about a half-inch larger on all sides than your fruit.  Place a small scoop of almond cream in the center of the puff pastry circle and then place the fruit half, cut side up, on top of the almond cream. 

Egg wash the top of the exposed puff pastry dough, sprinkle with sugar and bake approximately 20-30 minutes rotating halfway through baking until dough is golden and flaky.

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