Galettes are a wonderful shortcut alternative to homemade pie. This juicy, jammyginger pear galettecombines slices of pear and bits of crystallized ginger with a super flaky, golden brown all-butter pie crust. Assembling it couldn’t be easier, and there’s no need to wait hours for it to cool before slicing. Vanilla ice cream always adds a lovely finishing touch on this warm dessert.
If homemade pie is the celebrated diva star of the show, the galette is the understudy waiting for its moment in the spotlight. It may not have as many hours of experience under its crust, but the audience would never know it. The humble galette is ready for its time to shine!! 😉
Galettes are a low-maintenance, approachable dessert fit for bakers of any skill level. You get all the goodness of a traditional pie like a flaky, buttery pie crust and juicy fruit filling, but with half of the effort AND in half the time! Who wouldn’t love that?!
Everything You’ll Love About This Ginger Pear Galette
- All the deliciousness of homemade pie, without the time commitment
- Cozy seasonal flavors of sweet pear and warm ginger
- No complicated shaping required for the buttery, flaky crust
- You can make it ahead of time, and let it sit at room temperature before serving
- You can slice & serve warm from the oven without it completely falling apart (unlike most fruit pies)
- Absolutely exquisite topped with vanilla ice cream and/or a dollop of fresh whipped cream
Free-Form Pie: It’s Hard to Mess This Up!
I love galettes because they are so easy and don’t require a ton of time, but still look and taste like you put in a lot of effort. And they’re a perfect stepping-stone recipe for baking beginners who are feeling a bit pie-shy.
I like to call these rustic beauties “free-form pies” because there’s nothing complicated involved—you don’t even need a pie dish. If you can fold dough over a filling, you can make a galette.
Plus, you only have to wait about 10 minutes before slicing and serving. (Compared to waiting hours for a peach pie or this caramel pear pie to set up before serving.) So many perks!
Here are the ingredients you need for pear galette, including what you need for the crust:
How to Make Your Easy Galette Crust
The base of today’s galette is a buttery, flaky crust made from basic ingredients like flour, butter, and water. It’s a super easy crust to make, and it tastes fantastic. You can use the crust for pies, too.
Have you ever tried my all butter pie crust recipe? This galette dough is similar, but it only yields 1 crust—very convenient. I use a little less sugar in this than in my blueberry peach frangipane galette and apple galette recipes. You could also use the buttermilk cornmeal crust I pair with this berry galette. Or you can use one of the crusts from my flaky pie crust recipe (that recipe yields 2 crusts). Whichever you use, the dough must chill in the refrigerator per the recipe’s instructions before rolling it out.
Make sure the butter in the dough is cold and cubed before starting. Work it into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter. Feel free to use a food processor for this step, but I find it easily overworks the dough. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, just use 2 forks to mash up/combine the butter and dry ingredients.
Chill the dough for 1 hour before rolling it out.
Best Pears to Use for Galette
I like to use Anjou (red or green), Bartlett (red or green), or Bosc pears in this pear galette, the same I usually choose when making this puff pastry pear tart. To avoid a mushy filling, look for pears that are slightly firm. Your best bet is to purchase 5 firm pears, then let them sit in a paper bag at room temperature for 1–2 days to slightly ripen. Much longer than this and they’ll be too soft. You only need about 4 pears for the galette, but I suggest picking up an extra in case any develop soft spots.
Peel the pears, then cut them into (roughly) 1/4-inch-thick slices—the same thickness you’ll want when making apple pie, too.
You also need the following for the easy ginger pear filling:
- Granulated Sugar: Also used in the crust.
- Crystallized Ginger: For impeccable flavor. The crystallized candied ginger also slightly melts down to help create a jammy filling—so delicious! Feel free to leave it out if you want a plain cinnamon-spiced pear galette. I also love using crystallized ginger in these lemon ginger cookies and chocolate ginger cookies.
- Flour: Also used in the crust.
- Orange or Lemon Juice: A touch of citrus adds a little freshness to the sweet filling. Plus, it helps prevent the pears from turning too brown.
- Ground Cinnamon + Ginger
- Salt: Also used in the crust.
Combine all of your filling ingredients in 1 big bowl, and then spoon or arrange in the center of your rolled-out dough.
No intricate lattice weaving today! Simply fold the dough edges up over the ginger pear filling, leaving the center of the filling exposed. It’s all part of its rustic appeal!
Ginger Pear Galette Success Tips
It’s almost impossible to mess up this dessert, but let me share some quick success tips that will turn your pear galette into the BEST pear galette:
- Chill the shaped galette for at least 15–20 minutes before baking to ensure it holds its shape. I usually do this as the oven preheats.
- Roll out the crust and assemble the galette on a lightly floured parchment paper sheet or silicone baking mat. This makes transferring the galette from your work surface, to the refrigerator, to the baking sheet & the oven easy—you can just pick the whole thing up. Also makes for easy cleanup, always a plus!
- Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Sally’s Pie Week
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Never miss a new recipe by subscribing on the pie week page! Other galette and pie recipes include apple galette, chocolate chess pie, and bourbon sweet potato pie.
Ginger Pear Galette
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 10 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 galette; about 8 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Description
This juicy, jammy ginger pear galette combines slices of pear and bits of crystallized ginger with a super flaky, golden brown all-butter pie crust. Assembling it couldn’t be easier, and there’s no need to wait hours for it to cool before slicing. Prepare your dough at least 1 hour ahead of time, so it has time to chill in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1and 1/2 cups (188g)all-purpose flour(), plus more for work surface
- 2 Tablespoons(25g)granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoonsalt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) cold unsalted butter, cubed*
- 1/4 cup (60ml) ice-cold water, plus more as needed
- egg wash:1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: coarse sugar
Filling
- 4–5 cups (about 500g) pear slices (about 4 pears, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons crystallized ginger, finely chopped*
- 2 Tablespoons (15g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or orange juice)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Make the crust: Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse pea-sized crumbs. Add the water and stir until the flour is moistened. Add 1–2 more Tablespoons of water if the dough seems dry. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using your hands, work the dough into a ball. Flatten it into a thick disc. Wrap the dough disc in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.
- Meanwhile, prepare the pear filling: Gently toss the filling ingredients together in a medium bowl until combined. Cover and refrigerate until step 4.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Clear some shelf space in your refrigerator because the shaped galette must chill in step 6. (See recipe Note below.)
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle—it doesn’t have to be perfect. Transfer dough to the prepared baking sheet. (You can also roll the dough out right on the parchment paper or silicone baking mat that you are using to line the baking pan. If doing so, lightly flour the parchment paper or baking mat.)
- Spoon the fruit and any juices into the center of the dough, leaving a 3-inch border of dough all around the filling. You can simply spoon the filling on, or arrange the pear slices in a more deliberate design, such as concentric circles. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the filling, overlapping the dough as necessary. Press gently to seal the edges. Brush the crust edges generously with egg wash and sprinkle the crust with coarse sugar, if desired.
- Refrigerate the shaped galette for at least 15–20 minutes as the oven preheats (next step), and up to 8 hours. If refrigerating for longer than 1–2 hours, cover it lightly. The galette will lose its shape if it’s not cold when it hits the oven.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Bake galette until the crust is golden brown, about 30–35 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Tastes wonderful served warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
- Cover and store leftover galette in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Both the dough and filling can be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months after preparing it in step 1. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out and filling.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Pastry Cutter | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush
- Butter: Make sure your cubed butter is very cold. I like to chill it in the freezer for about 15 minutes ahead of time.
- Crystallized Ginger: This can also be known as candied ginger. Feel free to reduce the amount or leave it out completely. If you skip it, I recommend keeping the ground ginger in the recipe. And you can increase the ground cinnamon in the recipe to 3/4 teaspoon for a little extra flavor.
- Pears: Feel free to leave the peels on the pears if you’d like. Peeling is optional. I like to use Anjou (red or green), Bartlett (red or green), or Bosc pears in this galette. To avoid a mushy filling, look for pears that are slightly firm. Feel free to swap the pears for apples, to make a ginger apple galette. To make a pear cranberry galette, remove 1 cup pears and add 1 cup fresh cranberries.
- Chilling shaped galette before baking: Chilling the shaped galette in the refrigerator in step 6 helps it maintain its shape in the oven. I usually refrigerate it for 15 minutes as the oven preheats. If your refrigerator doesn’t have room for your baking sheet, or you’re nervous about transferring a cold metal baking sheet to a hot oven (which can cause warping), try this: Assemble the galette on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then lift the parchment/baking mat with galette as a whole directly onto a shelf in the refrigerator. After chilling, when ready to bake, carefully lift up and place the entire parchment/baking mat with galette onto the baking sheet.
