Kitchens Are Monkey Business: Rosie Makes A Very Berry Galette.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Rosie Makes A Very Berry Galette.

What is a galette, you ask?
A galette is a French term referring to various types
of round, flat, thin-crusted, free-form cakes of pastry.
A galette can be sweet or savory.
Today, I'm going with sweet,
since I have fresh peaches, strawberries, and blueberries.

I thought the picture might get your attention.

First, the galette dough.
3 TB buttermilk
1/3 cup ice water
1 cup flour
1/4 yellow cornmeal
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
7 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into maybe 10-12 pieces
Stir the buttermilk and ice water together and set aside. Put flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in a large bowl, and stir with a fork to mix. Drop the butter pieces into the bowl, and toss to coat with the flour. Using a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour. You do not want the butter pieces all the same size. Aim for pieces of butter that range in size from bread crumbs to small peas. The smaller pieces make the dough tender, the large ones will make it flaky. Sprinkle the buttermilk and water mixture over the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork to evenly distribute the liquid. The dough should be moist enough to stick together when pressed. You want a soft, malleable dough. Gather the dough together and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and press each piece into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Combine ice water and buttermilk.
If you don't have buttermilk,
you could substitute yogurt or sour cream.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt.
The cornmeal gives the dough a bit of a crunch
and makes it strong enough to be rolled to extreme thinness
and crisp enough to stand up to soft and syrupy fillings.

Mix well.

Drop in the butter pieces and ...

... toss to coat.

Start working the butter pieces with a pastry blender.

You don't want a homogeneous mix.
You want it to range from bread crumbs to peas.

Mix in buttermilk/water a tablespoon at a time.

Gather into a ball on a lightly floured surface.

Cut in half, form into flat disks, wrap in plastic,
and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

After a two hour rest (for the dough, not me),
I lightly floured my board and ...

... rolled the dough into about a 12-inch circle.
When rolling the dough, lightly flour both sides
and flip the dough over to roll out both sides.

When you have a scraggly circle of dough, roll it up with your pin and ...

... transfer it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

I used two peaches, a handful of blueberries, and some strawberries -
about 1 1/2 cups of fruit.
Peeled soft fruits like peaches and apricots work well
or tart apples and sweet pears would make a nice combination.
I'd go easy on the strawberries, since they're very watery,
but the syrup they make is delicious.

Pile the fruits in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-3 inch border.

This is natural cane turbinado sugar, grown and cut in Maui, Hawaii. It is not bleached or over-processed. It is the result of slow boiling layer upon layer of high colored cane - allowing the golden crystals to retain their natural molasses. The natural molasses remaining in the crystals produces a distinctive taste and a natural golden color.

I sprinkled a tablespoon or so over the berries.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of honey over the fruit.

My mouth is watering as I type this.

Buttah makes everything bettah.

Next, fold the border of dough up over the filling,
allowing the dough to pleat as you lift it up
and work your way around the galette.
I spooned on some apricot preserves for good measure.