Windfall Apple Galette

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I love autumn — the perfect warmth and cool as the light lays down a bit for winter. Apples and pears hang heavy on the trees and thud to the dewy ground at sunrise. Let me be there with my basket, filling it with golden sweetness. Let me be there with you, fully ripe with stories from the adventures of summer. Let us sit down with all that we are, and let us make pie together.

Not just any pie. Last fall, you may remember that Nancy introduced me to this rustic and flaky apple galette. I’m getting hungry writing about it. Making this pastry took me out on a limb. The dough recipe proposed a technique new to me of rolling the butter into the flour over and over, folding as I went. But that wasn’t all. The filling had a tablespoon of vinegar and teaspoon of salt in it. What?!

I put a slightly honeyed apple cider vinegar in mine, not exactly jumping into the deep end. But still I was nervous. Would the pie taste weirdly salty and tart? I can now give you a resounding no on that. Combined with the blissful tang of Gravenstein apples and a few sweet neighborhood pears, this pie was maybe the best I’ve ever made. A depth of flavor resided in the filling that I wouldn’t have imagined once the salty vinegar bubbled and steamed together with the juices of those fruits. Tartness lifted and melded to produce a richly sweet and earthy filling balanced with a light, mouthwatering tang. Stupendous.

When was the last time you made something by following instructions that you wondered about? Are you less willing to do that as you age, or do the opportunities just come more rarely now that your experience is broader?