Easy Berry Galette + The Perfect Pastry Dough for Tender, Flaky Crust
This delicious berry galette is perfect for afternoon tea, but it’s raw, rustic beauty holds up just as well among the usual array of desserts for any occasion. Best enjoyed with many scoops of vanilla ice cream!
Can I confess that I have been spending a lot of time swooning over pictures of berry galettes?
And it finally took a trip to my fruit vendor to find out that most of my favourite berries were going out of season, to get me into baking one.
You see, I’ve been freezing batches of berries over a couple of months now. In fact, so many that my berry-packed freezer bags are starting to slide off my freezer shelves.
So it was time for a super berry therapy with this easy to make and delicious berry galette!
How to enjoy a berry galette
Add scoops of vanilla ice cream and a berry galette becomes a dessert to die for!
You can enjoy this berry galette oven-warm and deliciously cold at the same time. The fruity, tart notes of baked berries pairs beautifully with the sweet flavour of vanilla.
And the tender, flaky pastry makes a scrumptious contrast against the smooth and velvety mouth-feel of ice cream. What’s not to love, really?
Naturally, you can make a galette with your favourite choice of fruits. Stone fruits like peaches, pears and nectarines are delicious as well.
If you’re using citrus fruits such as berries, it might be a good idea to taste your berries. This way, you can adjust the amount of sugar especially if you have a batch of berries that’s quite sour.
I used whatever berries I had on hand, but my favourites usually end up with a blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry mix.
What is a galette?
Basically, a galette is a free-form pie. Think of it as making pie the lazy way.
And this is exactly what I love about galettes. They’re tantalising and wondrous works of food art to me.
Galettes look so unpolished and so deliberately unintended in form. Like something you would put together on the fly, or don’t need to give much thought to.
Yet for a treat that looks like it was meant for a casual tea affair, it’s raw and rustic beauty holds up just as well among the usual array of desserts for any occasion.
Why bake a berry galette
What I love about a berry galette is its utter simplicity. Here’s why:
- There’s no need to press the dough into a pie dish. Just roll it out and fill the centre with your choice of fruit fillings. Then, all you need to do is pleat or fold the edges over the fruit, leaving the centre exposed. And you don’t even have to be super neat doing this. That’s all there is to it!
- You won’t need to cook the berry filling, so you’ll save time and effort. This might not be the case for all fruit fillings, which is one of the reasons why berry galettes are my choice 99% of the time!
- You won’t need a baking dish, because galettes are free-form. Seriously, not having to put one more dish in the sink is reason enough! What you do need is a baking tray to set your berry galette on.
Even if you’re not into berry galettes or galettes made with other fruits, I do highly recommend that you try the shortcrust pastry dough recipe.
It is really, really good! It’s tender, flaky and buttery, and yes, you can have it all in this one shortcrust pastry dough recipe here.
The key to a tender and flaky pastry? Start with cold ingredients (chilled butter and ice-cold water) and avoid over-working the dough.
You just need to have the dough come together, and stop there. The more marbled or patchy it looks, the more flaky the pastry will be when baked!
You can use it for tarts, pies, or in place of anything that calls for shortcrust pastry. The only exception being puff pastry, which isn’t the same thing as shortcrust pastry.
If you prefer making traditional pies, check out this blueberry crumble pie or apple pie here on the blog.
Ingredients for making a berry galette
For the shortcrust pastry dough:
- Plain or all-purpose flour
- Butter, unsalted
- Water, ice-cold
- Salt
For berry filling:
- Assorted berries of your choice (I used blackberries, blueberries and lingonberries here)
- Lemon juice
- Light brown sugar
- Plain or all-purpose flour
- Egg, for egg wash
- Turbinado or demerara sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
- Icing sugar, for dusting
This recipe yields enough dough to make 3 galettes, 9-inch (20-cm) in diameter.
The leftover dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. It also freezes well and can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Useful tips when baking galettes with fruit
- You can fill galettes with your favourite berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, fresh cranberries or lingonberries).
- If you’re using citrus fruits, do a taste test so that you can adjust the amount of sugar.
- It might also be a good idea to have some sweet-tasting fruit to balance out the tartness of more sour-tasting fruit, especially for assorted berry combinations.
- Other stoned fruits such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and apples, make delicious fruit fillings as well. You will have to tweak sugar amounts, depending on the fruit or mix of fruits used.
- The flavour of fruit galettes can be enhanced by adding spices like ground cinnamon, nutmeg and others, if desired.
- Certain fruits may release lots of juices, and become runny when baked. To thicken the juices, increase the amount of flour mixed in with the fruits. For instance, use 4 tbsp instead of 3 tbsp, depending on the water content of the fruit fillings used.
Here are more sweet bakes you might enjoy:
- Delicious Coconut Tarts, Chinese Bakery-Style
- Scones – Buttery, Flaky, Crumbly Goodness
- Pineapple Tarts – Treats for Festive & Everyday Occasions!
Tried this recipe? I’d love to see! Remember to share your pics on Instagram and tag @foodelicacy or #foodelicacy.
Pin this recipe!
Berry Galette
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry dough (makes extra):
- 4 cups plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 380 g chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes
- ¾ cup ice-cold water
For the berry filling:
- 4 cups assorted berries blackberries, blueberries, raspberries
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ – ⅓ cup light brown sugar or to taste
- 3 tbsp plain flour
For egg wash and sprinkle (optional):
- 1 egg mixed with 2 tsp of water for egg wash
- Some turbinado or demerara sugar for sprinkling
- Some icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
Make the shortcrust pastry dough:
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour and salt in on low speed (speed 2 on a Kitchen Aid mixer) for about 1 minute.
- With the paddle still turning, scatter the butter cubes over the top of the flour. Continue to blend until the mixture forms coarse crumbs, about the size of peas.
- Drizzle the ice-cold water over the flour-butter mixture, until the dough just starts to come together. It should be quite clumpy.
- Finish up bringing the dough together into a ball with your hands. Do not over-work the dough.
- Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide into 3 equal portions. Flatten each into a flat disc.
- Wrap all 3 discs in plastic or cling wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. You will need only one disc of dough (read the Notes below on how to store/freeze the extra dough).
Roll out the dough:
- Preheat the oven to 215°C (425°F). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place one disc of pastry dough on a lightly floured surface. Sparingly dust the surface with as little flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Roll out to make a 13-inch round sheet. Fold the rolled out dough sheet in half over the roller. Transfer to the baking paper on the baking tray and unfold.
Fill and bake the galette:
- In a large mixing bowl, lightly stir together assorted berries, lemon juice, sugar and flour. Spoon the filling onto the rolled out dough, leaving a 2-inch (5-cm) border uncovered around the edge.
- Fold the edge up and over the filling, forming loose pleats. Brush pastry dough with egg wash, and sprinkle turbinado or demerara sugar over the dough .
- Bake in the centre of the oven until the filling is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown, about 25 to 35 minutes.
- When done, remove from the oven and transfer the galette to a cooling rack. Let cool slightly.
- Dust with icing sugar, slice into wedges and serve. Best eaten warm with generous scoops of vanilla ice-cream.
Notes
Choice of fruits:
- You can fill galettes with your favourite berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, fresh cranberries or lingonberries).
- You may also fill with other fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums, and apples, which are delicious as well. Adjust sugar amounts accordingly and add spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, if desired.
- If you prefer the juices to be less runny, increase the amount of flour mixed in with the fruits. For instance, from 3 tbsp to 4 tbsp, depending on the water content of the fruit fillings used.
- If you’re using citrus fruits, it might be a good idea to do a taste test so that you can adjust the amount of sugar.
- It might also be a good idea to have some sweet-tasting fruit to balance out the tartness of more sour-tasting fruit, especially for assorted berry combinations.
- This recipe yields enough dough to make 3 galettes, 9-inch (20-cm) in diameter.
- The extra dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. It also freezes well, if kept well sealed in freezer bags, for up to 2 months.
