Strawberry Galettes

Most of the time when I bake at home, I look for easy, fuss-free recipes. I like whatever I bake to have this homey, rustic feel while leaving the artistry for special occasions or to the professionals. These galettes tick all of the above boxes. Galette, for the uninitiated, is nothing but a fancy, French term for a free-form tart. In simple words, you don't need to have tart moulds to make these!

The pastry used for these tarts is your basic short-crust pastry, or since we are feeling rather French today, we refer to it as pate brisee. Short-crust pastry is much easier to make than you imagine and the recipe I turn to yields a delicious, buttery and flaky pastry. Whilst making the pastry does not take much time, if the pressures of work and time overwhelm you, I'd even recommend that you turn to store-bought pastry just so that you don't miss out on these beauties.

The star of the show is, of course, that luscious, strawberry filling that achieves a jam-like consistency after baking with the hit of the lemon juice helping to accentuate the freshness of the fruit.

Fifteen minutes into baking and your kitchen will be invaded with the warm, buttery aroma of the pastry. But nothing prepares you for the the visual treat that awaits you when you pull these galettes out of the oven. The strawberry filling will be bubbling and some of its vibrant, sticky juices might even over flow and stain that beautiful, golden pastry. At that moment, you'll understand why I love baking!

Strawberry Galettes

Recipe adapted from the "Joy of Baking"

Cook time: 25-30 mins

makes 4 individual galettes (the recipe can easily be doubled to make 8 galettes)

Ingredients

Short-crust pastry (Pate brisee)

• 1 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup cold water

Strawberry filling

• 1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 3 tbsp granulated white sugar (add more if the strawberries are tart)
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Cooking Directions

For the short-crust pastry (pate brisee):

• In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt until well combined.
• It is important to remember that the butter and water should both be cold.
• Add the pieces of chilled, cut butter to the flour mixture and with your fingertips, rub the butter with the flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
• Slowly,add the cold water in small intervals to help bring the mixture together. Don't make the dough too wet.
• Take the mixture and wrap it in clingfilm and refrigerate the dough for 30-60 mins. This is a very important step and should not be omitted.
• Remove the refrigerated dough and divide into 4 equal parts.
• Roll out each, individual part into a rough 7-inch circle. No need for perfect circles!
• Refrigerate these circles to firm up while you prepare the strawberry filling.

For the strawberry filling:

• Place all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and mix until evenly combined. Taste to check whether you would like to add more sugar.

Assembly of the galettes:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C.
• Take out the refrigerated dough circles and leaving a one-inch border all round the outer edge of the circle, spoon the strawberry filling equally onto the center of all four circles.
• Gently lift the border and fold it over the filling, leaving the center of the filling open.
• Pinch the folded edges so that it sticks together.
• Put in the refrigerator for 15 mins to firm up.
• Bake them in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 mins until the dough is golden brown and the strawberry mixture is bubbling.
• Leave them to cool on a wire rack.