Galette (Panless Pie: Any Flavor!)

A Galette is basically a freeform pie without a pan. It’s the epitome of rustic summer dining if you ask me. It’s SO easy. You whip up a pie crust (in less than 5 minutes) fill it with any kind of fruit you have around and in about an hour you have a gorgeous, scrumptious, impressive, and filling dessert that will win the hearts of everyone at your table. While I sometimes fail at pie, galettes are pretty much foolproof! I love how simple they are and I love that they’re meant to be rustic so nothing needs to look perfect.

galette with ice cream on a white tray and denim place mat

Ingredients Needed

This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.

All Butter Pastry Crust

  • All-purpose flour
  • Butter – Use real butter here and make sure it’s cold straight from the fridge. This helps keep the fat separated from the flour in the pastry dough, which is what produces the light, flaky pastry texture we’re after when it goes in the oven.
  • Salt
  • Ice water – Very cold water helps the butter stay cold and separate from the flour as you mix up and work your pastry dough, resulting in a perfect, flaky crust.

Fruit Filling

  • Fruit of choice – Prepared (peeled, pitted, diced, etc.). Try it with apples, peaches, pears, blueberries, raspberries, cherries…you name it!
  • Granulated sugar
  • All-purpose flour
  • Butter
  • Optional add ins – Almond extract for a cherry pie or a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of cinnamon for apple, pear, or blueberry pies.

How to Make a Galette

Step 1: Prepare the Pastry Crust

See Recipe Tips section below for alternative crust options.

  1. Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Cut cold butter (straight from fridge) into small chunks and throw on top of the flour.
  2. Cut the butter into the flour until butter is in small crumbly pieces. It’s okay to use clean hands here and crumble the butter up by squishing it into the flour. You do want to leave chunks of visible butter, like in my photos below.
  3. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time while stirring dough mixture with a fork. It should look crumbly and shaggy, it should not turn into a wet cohesive dough with the fork.
  4. Use your hands to bring it all together. It should form a ball as you press it together with your hands- that’s how you know there’s enough water.
  5. You’re done! See? Less than 5 minutes. Pat it into a disk shape, wrap in plastic, and place in fridge. It’s very important that your dough is cold!

Step 2: Prepare Fruit Filling

  1. Now pick a fruit. I’m using cherries, here. Sprinkle with some flour to help thicken the juices as it cooks, and some sugar to enhance the sweetness of the fruit. You are welcome to adjust the amount of sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit, but sugar does add for flavor, and some thickness to the syrup. At this point you can also add any additional spices or extracts. I love adding a little almond extract to anything with berries or stonefruit, and things like cinnamon and cloves are delicious on apples.
  2. Stir it all up.

Step 3: Assembly

  1. Roll out your pastry dough on a lightly floured surface. You want it to be at least 12″ in diameter. TIP: I prepare my galette directly on a piece of parchment so I can just pick it up easily and place it on my baking sheet after.
  2. Use a paring knife or pizza cutter to trim edges if you need to so you have a circular shape, but don’t worry about it being perfect- that’s the beauty of a galette– it’s supposed to be messy looking!
  3. Dump your fruit mixture piled up right in the middle, leaving at least 2 inches of dough border.
  4. Now take the edges of the dough and pull them up, pleating as you go.
  5. Dip your fingers in some water and moisten in between the pleats to seal them a little better. When it’s all wrapped up, press lightly with your fingers all around it. Optionally you can brush the dough with a little cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar, which creates a lovely sweet caramelized edge after baking.

Step 4: Bake and Enjoy!

  1. Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes. The fruit should be bubbling and the crust golden brown. It’s okay if some bubbles out over the edge- it’s actually kind of a hallmark trait of a gallette! When finished remove from oven and place pan a cooling rack. Cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.
  2. Cut into wedges and definitely serve with a big scoop of ice cream on top!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use multiple types of fruit in the same pie?

Sure! Here are some fruits that pair especially well together: peach and blueberry, plum and blackberry, apricot and raspberry.

Can I use a store-bought crust?

Yes, this will work with a store-bought crust if you have one you need to use up. If given a choice, however, I 100% recommend homemade. It comes together so quickly and will look and taste much better!

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yep! Prep your pastry dough up to 48 hours ahead of time. Wrap tightly and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to roll it out to assemble and bake. Alternately, you could prepare the entire galette ahead of time and reheat in the oven at 350°F. Place the refrigerated pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover loosely with foil. Heat for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on it. The crust should crisp up and the filling should be warmed through. Remove the foil in the last 5-10 minutes for more crispy crust edges.

Can I use canned fruit? What about frozen fruit?

Readers report great luck with canned peaches! Just be sure to drain them well. You can also use canned fruit filling if you’d like. Frozen fruit will work, just let it sit out for 15-30 minutes to thaw before mixing with sugar and assembling your galette.

Galette (Panless Pie: Any Flavor!)

5 from 9 votes
This impressive, rustic pie is deceptively simple, and you likely already have the ingredients. It comes together quickly using nearly any fruit you have on hand!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings8 slices

Ingredients

All Butter Pastry Crust

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 11 tablespoons butter
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4-5 tablespoons ice water

Fruit Filling

  • 4 cups prepared fruit peeled, pitted, diced, etc
  • ½ cup granulated sugar feel free to use a little less depending on the sweetness of your fruit
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter for dotting on top
  • ½ teaspoon extract of choice optional, almond is a delicious addition to most fruits

Optional Ingredients

  • squeeze of lemon juice and/or sprinkle of cinnamon optional, these are great additions to apple or pear pies
  • a little milk or cream to brush over finished crust
  • 2 tablespoons coarse sugar for sprinkling over finished crust

Instructions

All Butter Pastry Crust

  • Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Cut cold butter (straight from fridge) into small chunks and throw on top of the flour.
  • Cut the butter into the flour. Until butter is in small pieces but still clearly visible.
  • Add ice water a tablespoon at a time while stirring dough mixture with a fork.
  • Use hands to bring it all together and pat into a ball. Wrap in plastic and put it in the fridge until ready to use. It's best if it can chill for a minimum of 30 minutes, but at the very least, chill while you prep your fruit.

Fruit Filling and Assembly

  • Preheat oven to 375℉.
  • Prepare your fruit of choice and add sugar to taste, up to ½ cup, as well as any optional extracts or spices you desire. Sprinkle flour in evenly and stir it all up.
  • Place a piece of parchment paper that's large enough to cover your baking sheet on your work surface. Lightly dust your parchment and place pie dough down. Lightly dust the top as well.
    Roll out in a circle (it's okay to have rough edges!) You want it to be at least 12″ in diameter. Use a paring knife or pizza cutter to trim edges if you need to so you have a circular shape, but don’t worry about it being perfect- that’s the beauty of a galette– it’s supposed to be messy looking!
  • Pick up parchment and place on a baking sheet.
  • Dump your fruit mixture right in the middle of your pie dough.
  • Take the edges of the dough and pull them up, folding over the fruit by aout 2 inches, pleating as you go.
  • Dip your fingers in some water and moisten in between the pleats to seal them a little better. When it’s all wrapped up, press lightly with your fingers all around it. Cut your 2 tablespoons butter in small pieces and dot the fruit.
  • Brush the folded over edges of the dough with a little milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.
  • Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes. The fruit should be bubbling and the crust golden brown. When finished remove from oven and place pan a cooling rack.
  • Cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving. This helps the fruit to set up. Cut into wedges and definitely serve with a big scoop of ice cream on top!

Notes

  • Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
  • If you’d like some other crust options, check out this Shortening Crust, this Cornmeal Crust, or this Pastry Style Pie Crust. All of them will work beautifully here.
  • Note that the crust recipe is quite generous. It gives you a little wiggle room to really get your galette the size you want. You can likely make one large galette and one small on with the crust recipe as written, or 4-6 mini galettes.
    You can make the crust ahead of time and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
  • Nutritional information was calculated using cherries and 1/4 cup sugar. 1 slice is 1/8th of the recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 355kcal, Carbohydrates: 43g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 49mg, Sodium: 220mg, Potassium: 195mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 15g, Vitamin A: 613IU, Vitamin C: 5mg, Calcium: 20mg, Iron: 2mg
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: Baked Goods, French
Keyword: Galette {Panless Pie: Any Flavor}
Calories: 355kcal
Cost: $5
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. seriously beautiful! Hmmmm I think I need to go pick some more berries and make one

  2. This looks pretty easy!! I should try it with my favorite filling of blueberries. Nothing better than blueberry pie, unless, of course it's apple pie.

  3. Yummmmm…I'm thinking apples with the almond glaze from the apple streusel bars drizzled on top!

  4. Yum. It's 1.30 in the morning, but I'm home alone and bored. Seriously considering doing some late night baking… 😀

  5. Whoa… That is super neat! I had no idea you could do such a thing! Looks delicious, too 🙂