Apple & Blackberry Galette

Ingredients

• 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar, for sprinkling
• 320 g ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60 g caster sugar
• 3 eating apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 150 g blackberries
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 vanilla ice cream, to serve
• 2 tbsp apricot jam, warmed, for glazing

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Unroll the pastry straight onto the paper — once the fruit is piled on, you won't want to be lifting it across the kitchen.
2. Tip the apple slices and blackberries into a bowl with the caster sugar, cinnamon, plain flour, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. The salt isn't there to taste salty — it sharpens the cinnamon and stops the sugar going one-note. Toss gently with your hands for about a minute until every piece is glossy and evenly coated.
3. Taste a slice of apple from the bowl. It should taste bright and sweet with a clean cinnamon hum — if it tastes flat, add another small pinch of salt or a touch more lemon juice. Adjust now, because once it's in the oven it's locked in.
4. Pile the fruit into the centre of the pastry, leaving a 5cm border all the way round. Drain off any pooled liquid as you go — too much juice and the base goes soggy. Fold the border up and over the fruit, pleating as you go to make a rough rustic edge. Press each pleat lightly so it holds through the bake.
5. Brush the pastry border generously with beaten egg, then scatter the demerara over the folds so it catches in the pleats and gives you that crackly, sugar-crusted edge.
6. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the pastry is deeply golden and crisp underneath — lift the corner with a palette knife to check — and the fruit is bubbling thickly at the edges with the juices turning jammy and dark. A pale base means a soggy base; give it the full time.
7. While the galette is still warm, brush the fruit with the warmed apricot jam to give it a proper bakery-window shine. Let it settle for 5 minutes so the juices stop running.
8. Slide the galette onto a board, dust with icing sugar if you like, and serve warm in thick wedges with a scoop of vanilla ice cream landing on top so it slowly collapses into the warm fruit.