Strawberry Galette

Don’t you just love summer? Warmer weather, a little bit of sun bathing, a lot of summer reading, time spent with friends and family, and gorgeous summer produce to make into yummy treats. I’ve had a wonderful summer so far, and I hope yours has been just as great.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking (but not a lot of blogging, oops!). Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, plums, and blueberries have been made into jam, pound cakes, pies, cupcakes… you name it.

Strawberry season here is long gone, but thankfully there are still plenty of strawberries available at the grocery store and the best part is that they are on sale during the summer. I’ve made about 4 batches of strawberry rose jam, and had a few gorgeous strawberries left over.

I’ve always dreamed of making strawberry pie, but it seems messy and not worthy of delicate, sweet, gorgeous strawberries. I found this recipe for a strawberry galette, and it seemed like a happy compromise. It showcases strawberries in a rustic super flaky crust. I added some ground hazelnuts to the bottom of the crust, to give it a little nutty flavor. You could use any nuts you have. Almonds, walnuts, or pistachios would also work well. Just make sure you toast them and cool them before grinding. I like to serve a wedge of the strawberry galette with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a generous dollop of soft whipped cream.

Rustic Strawberry Galette
(Adapted from this recipe from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

Dough
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced (or use half butter and half lard)
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water

Filling
• 1 teaspoon sugar (to mix with ground hazelnuts)
• 2 tablespoons toasted hazelnuts, finely ground in a food processor (optional)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (to sprinkle over edge of galette)
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Procedure
1. For the dough: Place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add diced butter, and pulse until you obtain a crumbly mixture. Slowly add the cold water, and pulse until mixture starts coming together. Turn dough out into plastic wrap and form into a disk. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Flour your counter, roll out dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Cut out a 10-inch circle from the dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
3. Prepare the galette: Mix together ground hazelnuts with 1 teaspoon sugar. Sprinkle this over the dough, leaving a 1 inch border. Mix together ¼ cup sugar with the cornstarch and toss the strawberry slices into the mixture. Arrange slices on the dough overlapping slightly over one another, leaving an edge of about 1 inch. Fold the edge over the strawberries. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes to chill the galette before baking. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F while the galette chills.
4. Prepare egg wash: whisk the egg yolk and water together. Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle turbinado sugar over it.
5. Sprinkle the butter pieces over the strawberries.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the edge is golden brown.

Note: I like a sweeter crust, if you prefer a crust that is not so sweet, use only 1 teaspoon of sugar in the dough. I also like to replace half the butter with lard if I have any on hand.