Summer Berry Galette; sweet and juicy berries wrapped in a rustic cradle of crisp buttery pastry.
Pie. A universally loved foodstuff, sweet or savoury. Countries all over the world have their own versions of tasty-things-wrapped-in-pastry.
In my experience living in mainland Europe and in the UK we absolutely adore a sweet pie. Something about fruit or other sweet treats enveloped in a buttery pastry is just irresistible.
However much we enjoy eating it though, a pie or tart is not always the simplest confection to create. Specific equipment, precise measurements, and correct timing all play important roles in making a dessert that doesn’t look like it just fell into a pond from a great height.
Just this week I wanted to make a classic Italian-style crostata di marmellata, a pastry encasing jam, fruit preserves, or just crushed seasonal fruits. Having only recently moved, I found myself without a rolling pin or a tart tin to use. I’m sure you can imagine that this was less than ideal. However, all was not lost.
A few years ago I tasted my first fruit galette. It was in a cafe in my hometown, consisting of vegan pastry filled with fresh peaches and ground almonds, and it was bloody heavenly. Since then, I have published a galette recipe of my own – this Cherry Almond Galette – and become a bit of a galette diehard.
The galette is a French creation, as many delicious sweet things are. It appears to be a name given to a range of handmade freeform creations with a visible filling. Applying to cakes, tarts, and pancakes, it is also a term used for savoury stuffs too. Most commonly, it seems to be applied to rustic tarts encasing a baked fruit filling ready to be served warm with ice cream or custard, or sliced up cold and fresh. That very kind is what you see before you today.
This summer berry galette is a celebration of this rough-and-ready yet rapturous dessert, as well as a nice and easy recipe for time-pressed pie lovers. I can personally attest that this one can be made with minimal ingredients, little baking experience, and with no special tools or equipment.
Would you like to watch how this summer berry galette is made? Click here for the video on my YouTube channel!
Crisp buttery pastry with just a whisper of sweetness. Soft and tangy summer fruits. This summer berry galette is a beautiful blend of tastes and textures.
The sweet shortcrust pastry requires only 3 ingredients, and as long as you have some seasonal fruit to throw inside it, you’ve got a galette. While this particular recipe uses a mixture of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries, feel free to use any berries that are cheap and delicious in your area. Furthermore, if you’re reading this outwith the summer, or from a part of the world in which berries aren’t abundant, feel free to get creative! This recipe also works well with sliced peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, and more.
You can also make this recipe with frozen fruit if that suits your budget better. Just make sure to thaw them and drain off some of the excess liquid they can carry before assembling the galette!
Serving this summer berry galette warm on a cool summer evening is every bit as delicious as serving it chilled on a hot afternoon. This dessert is wonderfully versatile. It may not look like it’s fresh from a patisserie window, but it has that handmade charm and natural flavour that’ll keep everyone coming back for a second slice.
I hope you love this one as much as we have. Happy baking!
If you want to save this Summer Berry Galette for later, you can pin the image below:
To make this Summer Berry Galette, simply follow the recipe below!
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 200g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 125g (8 tbsp) cold salted butter, cubed
- 2 tbsp caster or granulated sugar
For the fruit filling:
- 300g (roughly 2 cups) mixed fresh berries such strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp caster or granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the pastry:
- In a large bowl, weigh out your flour, cubed butter, and sugar.
- Use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles buttery breadcrumbs.
- Add 2-3 tbsp of cold water.
- Bring the mixture together into a smooth dough. If the dough becomes a bit too sticky, simply add a little extra flour.
- Once you have a smooth dough, wrap it in clingfilm or place into a clean bowl and chill it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your fruit filling.
For the fruit filling:
- Wash and dry your berries. Feel free to halve or quarter any larger berries to try and make sure they are all roughly the same size.
- Place the berries into a bowl with the flour, sugar, and vanilla and stir to mingle everything together. Set aside.
To bake:
- Remove your chilled dough from the fridge and roll or flatten it out on a sheet of greaseproof paper. You want a flat wide dough circle of roughly ½ a centimetre thickness.
- Lift the dough and paper onto a flat baking tray.
- Pile the prepared berries into the centre of the dough circle, leaving 5-7cm of bare pastry at the edges.
- Fold the edges of the pastry toward the centre, covering some of the berries but leaving a glorious beaming centre open. Don’t worry about being particular or neat here, galettes are not about precision!
- Place the assembled galette back into the fridge for a further 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven – 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4.
- Bake the galette in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes by which point the pastry should be a lightly golden and crisp-looking on top. Feel free to sprinkle some extra sugar over the pastry edges before baking.
- Remove the galette from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Enjoy!
BE A MAVERICK: why not try a version of this recipe using peaches, nectarines, or pears instead?
This Summer Berry Galette will keep well cooled and in the fridge for up to 2 days but is best enjoyed fresh!
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