summer dessert discovery- strawberry galette

Wednesday felt like summer.  Thursday didn't.  The rain meant bad things for tennis, so after giving a piano lesson in the morning, I stayed inside.  But...the fact that I had so much extra time without tennis gave me the chance to make this

   delicious strawberry galette!


It took me a little time to find a crust I liked the looks of that didn't call for shortening.  Even when I try to lighten things up I still like to use real butter, because the flavor and texture will be better.  And butter is just good :)

The reason for the galette was that there were exactly 15 aging strawberries in the fridge that couldn't wait to be used.  There were a few little sections I had to trim off, but the super-ripe berries made for a great galette.

This makes for a fabulous dessert or breakfast, and I imagine you can use just about whatever kind of fruit you want.  I'm thinking I'll try peach next :)

Strawberry Galette


from The Comfort of Cooking

1 pie crust (recipe below)
10-15 strawberries, sliced
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle sugar and cornstarch on top.  Gently stir until the berries are coated.

Roll out pie crust on parchment paper.  Layer the berries overlapping each other, starting about one inch from the edge of the crust and working in.  Fold the edge of the dough over berries.  Brush crust with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake 35-40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool a bit before slicing.

 A note: like I mentioned, my berries were particularly ripe and juicy.  When I first took it out of the oven, the crust was a bit soggy and there were some juices running on the pan.  I tipped these off and the crust crisped up a bit on top.  The bottom was not soggy when we ate it.


All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies


from Simply Recipes

1 1/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling
1 stick cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar (for a savory recipe, use 1/2 tsp.  I used about 1)
4 to 6 Tbsp ice water, very cold

1.  Place butter cubes in the freezer so that they become thoroughly chilled, at least 15 minutes.
2. In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar and pulse to mix.  Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea-size pieces of butter.  Add water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together.  If you pinch some of the dough and it holds together, it's ready.
3. Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface.  Carefully shape into a disc without over-kneading.  You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough.  These are what allow the crust to be flaky.  Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least one hour.
4.  Remove crust from refrigerator.  Let sit at room temp 5-10 minutes.  Roll out with a rolling pin, using more flour as needed, to a circle about 1/8 inch thick (or as big as you want your galette to be, plus an inch or so).
5.  For galette, arrange fruit and bake following Strawberry Galette recipe.

Happy Friday!