Fun with pie dough! Some of you may have noticed that I posted pictures of both a pear galette and a cherry turnover in December. Many of you asked for the recipe. Here is a quick tip: in November, when I planning my holiday baking, I make about 10 pie doughs (your favorite dough recipe will work great) and roll them out. Then I put them between waxed paper with a little flour (so they don't stick on defrost), wrap them in freezer paper, label them, and freeze. You can take them out a day ahead of time before you fill them and shape them into turnovers, pies, or galettes for the holidays. I find they last about 3 months in the freezer.
My galette recipe is based on this recipe from Walnuts.org. I am not fond of caramel topping, so I substituted 1/3 cup sugar and mixed it in with the ricotta and it turned out great! The secret to a galette (as opposed to a pie) is to not have a runny filling. You need to be able to free form the crust up around the body of the fruit. So this recipe with ricotta is great with pears, apples, peaches, and other stone fruits. With Colorado sour cherries, I like to make a thicker filling with corn starch or tapioca, but even then, it's a little runny for a galette - so put it in a turnover! Leave 1.5 inches without filling, wet 0.75 inches of the edge (with a finger dipped in water), close the dough over, and pinch or crimp. If you don't want any leaks in baking, fold the edge of the two sides back on its self (0.5 inches) before pinching.
