Whole Wheat Apple Galette

This whole wheat apple galette is an easy way to celebrate fall’s bounty, but without all the work and time of assembling and baking a pie.

We all seem to have a weakness for desserts. If we didn’t, why would the food porn sites be full of these tempting, high-caloric treats?

I adore fruit desserts and have a special weakness for pie. But I won’t lie – I don’t enjoy making pies and fussing over the crust trying to make it look beautiful. I’ll settle for presentable!

Enter this whole wheat apple galette. Oh yeah, I’m about to change your life!

Why you need to make this

If you don’t know what a galette is, simply put, it’s a rustic pie. You take pie dough, roll it out flat, fill the center with fruit and sugar, fold up the ends and bake it. It’s kinda like a cross between a pie and a pizza.

The beauty of this recipe is that you are using whole wheat flour and wheat bran for the pie dough. In fact, you can use this recipe and shape it and bake it into a pie dish, if you want a traditional whole wheat pie crust.

Whole wheat dough has a wonderful nutty flavor and it pairs beautifully with apples, pears and almost any fruit you want to bake into it. Plus, you get the all the fiber and nutritional goodness of using whole wheat flour and wheat bran.

So slice it up and enjoy it for a healthier dessert option. Even better, have a slice with your morning coffee or tea for a marvelous breakfast!

See my Whole Wheat Apple Galette Web Story for a quick visual guide to making this recipe.

Ingredients you need

Some whole wheat recipes use a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. But this recipe uses 100% whole wheat flour. It’s not super dense like some whole wheat baked treats, and you’ll love the rich flavor of the crust.

• Whole wheat flour: Nothing super hard to find here. No whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour. The basic whole flour you find at the supermarket works great!
• Wheat bran: We only use a tablespoon of wheat bran for this recipe. Do you really need it? I think so, otherwise I wouldn’t include it! The wheat bran coats the outside of the pie dough and does not get worked in. It offers a bit of crisp to the crust that I love.
• Butter: Be sure to freeze your butter overnight. The cold cold butter means you’ll have a flakey delicious crust. If you are looking for a vegan option, you can also use vegetable shortening, but again, keep it cold.
• Apples: The star of this galette are apples. Which ones to use? I chose honey crisp apples, but you could also use gala, macintosh, or granny smith. You want a firm apple, not one that will melt when it bakes.
• Brown sugar: When I bake with whole wheat I love using brown sugar. The flavors work great together.
• Lemon: Lemon juice provides the acid we need to keep our apple slices from oxidizing and browning. I like to add lemon zest, well, just because it adds some wonderful bright notes to the galette. You can also use orange juice and orange zest.
• Egg: The egg is totally optional and only needed to brush on the pie dough before baking to offer a sheen. It is not necessary for the recipe.

Recipe Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Prep the butter. Again, you want super cold butter, so it should have been in the freezer overnight. Cut them into small pieces and keep in the freezer until ready to use.

2. Start the dough. Place the flour, 1-tablespoon of brown sugar and ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix.

3. Add the butter. Add half the butter to flour mixture and pulse a few times until crumbly. Add remaining butter and pulse again. You will have a coarse mixture.

4. Add ice water. While the food processor is running and the ice water, 1-tablespoon at a time until “wet sand” is formed. This means that you can squeeze the mixture together and it will stick and clump up.

5. Roll dough in wheat bran. Form the dough into a ball. Spread wheat bran onto a large sheet of parchment paper and roll dough ball into it. Do not knead the wheat bran into dough. Keep it all over the outside.

6. Refrigerate. Press dough ball into a flat disk and wrap in the parchment paper. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

7. Prep the apples. Peel and core the apples. Cut into thin even slices and place in a bowl. Mix apples with lemon juice, lemon zest, and 3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar (depending on how sweet your apples are).

8. Roll the dough. When dough has chilled, transfer it to a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Roll it out into a 9-10 inch circle.

9. Add the filling. Spread the filling into the center of the dough, within 1-inch from the edge. You can make it pretty and arrange the apples in a pattern, or just dump the fruit as is.

10. Fold the galette. Gently fold over the edge of the dough over your fruit filling, covering it up partially like a blanket. Make pleats in the dough, as needed. The shape of the galette is not meant to be perfect, so don’t fret if it is oblong.

11. Egg wash and bake. If you are using an egg wash, brush the edge of the dough now. You can also sprinkle coarse sugar or even salt over it, if you like. Bake at 375ºF for 30-40 minutes, until edges just turn golden.

Expert Tips and Recipe FAQS

The galette is a rustic pie. Its imperfections is what makes it special. Not like its fancy cousin, the pie, a galette can come in any shape you want. You can make one or a dozen minis. It is so easy to customize it to your own personal taste.

• Instead of apples you can use pears, figs or any of your favorite seasonal fruits. You can also add cranberries or grapes with the apples.
• For added protein and crunch, add some pecans, almonds or pistachios with the fruit.
• Dot the apples with a few tablespoons of butter before baking for extra rich flavor.
• Serve alone or with whipped cream or even vanilla ice cream. You can even drizzle some caramel or chocolate sauce over it.
• Fight the urge to overstuff your galette. Your pie crust can only support so much weight! Just like you can add too many toppings to your pizza, too much filling might create a soggy crust or a leaky galette.

PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback.

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