This time of year the blackberries are so abundant near our camp that we have been picking them by the bucket full. It’s a bit of a blood sport the thorns are so rough but we hardly mind the scratches when we have galette to eat for dessert.
I love pastry and pies but am not much for fiddling with crust so the freeform galette suits me well. I sometimes make this recipe without ground nuts in the base so my children can pack it in their school lunch. But the ground nut mixture, you’ll find, helps keep the tart from being runny. This recipe works with fresh or frozen fruit. Sweeten fruit as required.
Pastry:
2 1/2 cups flour (whole white and whole wheat pastry flours are nice together, or spelt)
2 tsp sugar
¾ t salt
1 cup cold butter
½ cup ice water
Add dry ingredients & cubed butter to food processor. Process just until it resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle in ice water and process until mixture starts to hold together. (Be careful not to over mix.) Pat into a disk & chill for at least 30 min.
Filling:
~5 cups of fruit (tossed with sugar, as required)
4 tbsp ground almonds or walnuts
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp sugar
Roll out pastry and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Combine almonds, flour and sugar. Spread evenly over pastry, leaving 3 inch border all around. Arrange fruit over the mixture and sprinkle with sugar.
Fold pastry border in over filling. Sprinkle a tsp or so of sugar over the pastry border.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour. Cover loosely with foil for the last 30 minutes if it looks like the pastry is getting too brown.
Tip:
This works with any kind of fruit, including apples and peaches.
Ground walnuts are nice as the nut in the base, especially when paired with plums.
I sprinkle my galettes with fine maple sugar that I buy through my Speerville Flour Mill buying group.
