Galette literally means ‘flat cake’ and in French cuisine it is often referred to the flat round, or freeform crusty cakes with sweet or savoury fillings. This is the most forgiving kind of bake and one cannot go wrong with it. The rustic imperfections are what set these apart from the rest.
The most common form is the fruit galette which usually uses seasonable fruits and can include one or more of apples; berries such as strawberries or blueberries; or stone fruits such as peaches, plums, nectarines, or cherries. Various spices, zests, or peppers can be added too.
The crust could be made of pastry or yeast risen doughs or even sweet pastry crust. In the recent times, I have come across gluten-free bases too but I’m yet to try them out.
How to make galette crust from scratch?
It is pretty much straightforward combination of flour, sugar, salt, cold butter and ice-cold water. Using firm cold butter and ice-cold water for making the dough ensures that the crust holds form during the process of baking and can handle the juices oozing out from the fruit filling without turning soggy.
How to make fresh fruit filling?
Fresh fruits are loaded with water content which means there is every possibility for any bake to turn soggy during the baking process. So, in order to keep that from happening, fresh fruits are cut into large segments and mixed with sugar and other desired spices. They are allowed to rest until the crust chills in the fridge and in this duration, they ooze out liquid which can be separated before adding them onto the crust. This method can be used for all the fruits.
Classic Strawberry Galette Recipe
Recipe makes an 8 inch galette
Serves 6 (Pictures shown below are for half the quantity)
1 Cup = 240 ml
Ingredients:
- For the filling:
- Fresh strawberries – 400 g, cut in halves/ quarters depending on their size
- Granulated sugar – 30 g (add 1 tbsp extra if the fruit is sour)
- Vanilla bean paste – 1 tsp (sub. vanilla bean powder)
- Black pepper powder – 1 pinch (optional)
- For the crust:
- Maida – 190 g
- Granulated sugar – 50 g (plus 1 tsp for sprinkling)
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Cold unsalted butter – 120 g, cubed
- Ice cold water – 60 ml
- Egg – 1, small, beaten, for egg wash (sub. milk/ butter)
Instructions:
1. Preparation for filling: Rinse and air-dry the fresh strawberries on a kitchen towel.
2. Cut them into halves or quarters depending upon their size or you may even slice them into thick rounds too. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
3. Add granulated sugar, vanilla bean powder and freshly pound black pepper powder.
4. Mix well with a spoon and let it rest. Keep aside.
5. Making the crust: In a mixing bowl, add maida, granulated sugar and salt. Give it a mix. Add diced cold butter.
6. Work the butter into the flour mix with your hand.
7. Make sure to break it down and mix until it forms crumbs and no cubes of butter are left.
8. Add water and knead well.
9. Form a ball.
10. Cover the ball of dough with a cling wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
11. Take it out from the refrigerator. It would have somewhat hardened by now. Gently dust the rolling board and the dough.
12. Roll it out into a 12 inch circle, 1/8 inch in thickness. If you find it difficult to roll out a circle, use a plate and score around it with a knife to form a perfect circle. Remove the excess dough.
13. Check on the stuffing. Adding granulated sugar to strawberries makes the fruit release most of its water content.
14. Pour the liquid into a small bowl and keep aside. Note: It can be used to pour over the baked galette before serving.
15. The strawberries released atleast 1/4 cup liquid.
16. Line the baking tray with parchment paper. Transfer the rolled out crust onto it. Spoon out strawberries onto the rolled out crust. Leave atleast 2 inch crust all around the filling.
17. Fold the crust over the filling, presssing well for better sealing. Sprinkle sugar over the crust.
18. Preheat the convection oven at 180°C. Bake in Convection mode at 180°C for 20-22 minutes. Note: The instructions are for a 900W microwave.
19. The galette baked well except for one spot where the edge was not sealed well… take care of this while you are making yours. 🙂
20. Using a pizza cutter, cut into desired number of slices. Enjoy as is or with a scoop of icecream and drizzle of the liquid set aside in Step #14.
If you happen to try this Classic Strawberry Galette Recipe; leave a comment, let me know how it turned out.
Click a picture, post on Instagram and tag @theredplatechronicles , I would love to see your creation.
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Have a great day!
Love
M❤️
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Reference: Anna Banana Blog
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