bring it!
Recipe: mixed berry galette
It’s the first day of spring! We’ve been experiencing a very warm last week of winter here in the Rockies, so the arrival of the spring equinox didn’t really seem all that out of place today.
kaweah has taken to snoozing in the sun on our warm deck
Jeremy and I went skiing at Mary Jane (Winter Park really, but we prefer the Mary Jane side because it’s steep and has lots of moguls) earlier in the week. Ice in the morning, slush in the afternoon = spring conditions. What stuck in my mind from that day was the damp smell of pine forest. I love that smell. I love it because it calls to me. It tells me it’s time to head into the backcountry for some spring mountaineering. After skiing, we went into Boulder to pick up my cousin who was visiting for a night before heading out to Vail with a ton of friends. We had a little time before her bus arrived and decided to upgrade some of our 15-year old gear with the new-fangled lightweight, durable stuff!
sweet: glacier rope and crampons
I’m ready for spring!! I am so excited since I was unable to do any mountaineering last year due to stupid chemo (mainly because if I got hurt, I would need immediate medical attention which is hard to do in the backcountry). Of course, what is in our forecast this coming week, but snow! That’s OKAY though, because I love snow, I love skiing on snow (as opposed to ice), and I still have days on my Winter Park/Mary Jane pass to use up (and unlimited on several other mountains). So winter or spring, take your pick, I’m ready for all of it. And since the university is on spring break now, Jeremy can play during the day and work at night instead of his usual work during the day and work during the night. Woohoo!
cannele at the kitchen
I had a nice social/working brunch at The Kitchen on Thursday and ordered my first cannele. I have read about them on several blogs such that I could not pass one up. I am in love. *le sigh* Oh, and I’ve been traveling around with a friend for the past week. He keeps me company and we’ve been showing him a good time in Colorado. Meet Flat Kevin, my buddy’s geography project.
flat kevin gets ready to rip the moguls
flat kevin meets dustin, head of whole foods boulder seafood
Jeremy and I have been especially careful with Flat Kevin because the last time we had Flat Stanley (for my nephew’s school project) we took him to New Zealand and accidentally ripped one of his arms off on the Rees-Dart Track. Oops! Nothing that cello-tape can’t fix (love the Kiwis).
making pâte sucrée
Well, seeing as it is spring, I decided to boot the recipe I had slated for tonight and post a more apropos recipe for the season instead. I’ve had weird issues with my cooking and baking this month, messing up several recipes and having to go back and redo them. This was one of those recipes. I’ve made a peach-raspberry galette before from Baking with Julia which was nice, but I wasn’t so fond of the dough.
rolling out a disc
So I saw that Helen (she is a known reference, you see) had made some galettes with a pâte sucrée dough last month. I had a pâte sucrée recipe from my pastry course and attempted some mixed berry galettes with that dough for a photo assignment. That dough turned out to be a crispier, sweeter cookie-like crust (great for tarts and petits fours) which spread a lot… too much, really. It tasted awesome, but wasn’t the right consistency I was targeting.
any excuse to use berries
I returned to Helen’s recipe and saw that her dough was very different from mine. Okay, why not give hers a go with some minor modifications. Afterall, the woman is brilliant and she never ever ever steers me wrong. Never. Ever.
pile berries in the center, sprinkle with sugar, dot with butter
Happily, this dough held its shape in the oven. I think I would like a cross between the two pâte sucrées. Something sweeter and crispier, but firm enough to maintain its structure during the baking process. I’ll probably up the butter and sugar a bit.
fold up the edges
No matter what, the filling is the star of the show. I love fresh berries, but these juicy nuggets burst in your mouth with a sweet, warm flow of sugar and acid and spring. The simplicity of it all is mind-blowing. I like simple.
brush the edges with water and sprinkle with sugar
I’m sure I’ll continue to futz around with the recipe some more as berries are flooding our stores and will appear in the farmers markets in a few months. I get a little impatient waiting for our farmers market to open in April because they were open year-round in that paradise of Southern California.
messiness, deliciousness
happiness
Mixed Berry Galettes
[print recipe]
adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan – contributed by Flo Braker
makes four 5-inch galettes
pâte sucrée
recipe adapted from Tartelette
2 cups flour
4 tbsps sugar
pinch of salt
4 oz. butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla mixed with 3-4 tbsps cold water
Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients to resemble coarse crumbs. Make a well in the mixture and add the egg. Mix the flour into the egg, incorporating more flour mixture and adding a tablespoon of water/vanilla at a time until the dough is moist enough to come together. I had to press mine into a ball, but it did stay. Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
filling
2 cups mixed berries, use fresh – frozen is too runny (raspberries, blueberries, black raspberries)
2 tsps sugar
2 tbsps cold butter, cut into 16 pieces
water
2 tsps turbino sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F (or for 8500 ft. 375°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into four pieces. Roll each dough ball on a lightly floured surface into a disk about 6-7 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch in thickness. Place the dough on the parchment and pile 1/2 cup of berries in the middle. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and dot with four pieces of butter. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the edge of the berries (but don’t cover them up entirely, they’re prettier with the guts showing). Brush water on the edges of the dough and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 minutes (23 minutes at 8500 ft.). Serve warm.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Oh no, I’m so tempted to make this! But berries are costly here. very very costly. And I think I have mentioned that awful fact before. Let me see if I locate decent-priced ones anywhere…
Flat Kevin is cute!
March 21st, 2009 at 1:21 am
Looks mouth-watering!
March 21st, 2009 at 5:21 am
I laughed out loud when you mentioned accidentally ripping Flat Stanley’s arm. Oops. Is that bad? ;)
Man, I love anything with berries…Happy Spring, Jen!
March 21st, 2009 at 5:49 am
Oh wow Jen gorgeous fruit.
March 21st, 2009 at 6:25 am
These galettes are delicious! I love anything made with berries, and especially that kind of wonderful treat!
Cheers,
Rosa
March 21st, 2009 at 6:33 am
Oh that looks awesome. I love a galette! So much fun, and the berries look amazing… I love fresh berries!
Yay for naps on warm decks! :)
March 21st, 2009 at 7:32 am
Yes your galette looks amazing! But what I really want to say is Kaweah looks soooo comfy in the sun–that’s exactly what I’m doing today after my jog: sitting my butt in the warm sun to soak up those warming rays.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:06 am
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yum. Im so happy you’re now able to get out and about more.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:19 am
yum! I know what you mean about the “damp smell” that signals spring. It’s one of my favorite things on earth. I just want to close my eyes and get lost in the feeling of something new and fresh coming along.
March 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have been licking my monitor again. Those berries tried to jump off of the page, but I got ’em with a swift bit of action. ;)
Oh, thanks so much for the lounging Miss K. 2SWEET!
March 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
I can’t wait for spring berries! YUM.
March 21st, 2009 at 11:00 am
Oh, I’m so jealous. I almost picked up fresh raspberries and blueberries at the store, but they’re *so* expensive. What a lovely galette! And thank goodness – spring is here!
March 21st, 2009 at 11:55 am
Wonderful pictures with your recipe. I’ve never tried making a galette before, but it looks like a fun challenge.
March 21st, 2009 at 11:59 am
Those mini berry galettes look really good!
March 21st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Count your blessings – our Farmer’s Market doesn’t open till the middle of July, and then we only get it every other week until September! Montana’s good for meat and mountains, but not so much for Farmer’s Markets….
I am drooling over your berries instead.
March 21st, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Beautiful. Although the tart pan’s fluted edge is great, I love a rustic tart for its free-form look and texture (also, it’s ridiculously easy). How fortunate you could find some fresh berries!
March 21st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
wow-this looks so good :) perfect for spring!
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 am
Mmmm, can’t wait for berries to come in season here! A month or so … just have to be patient …
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 am
I just planted three raspberry bushes and four blueberry bushes. So in a year or so…watch out! I’ll be making tarts out the wazzoo.
I also have a tender spot for Kiwis. So fun, yet so low-key. And great, great gardeners. Anyplace where I can dig my own mussels out of the beach before dinner gets my vote.
March 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The berry galette seriously made my salivary glands start going. Yum yum & so beautiful! Flat Kevin is much cuter than the Flat Stanleys I’ve met. I hope he remains unscathed through his adventures, although some adventures are worth minor, easily repairable arm tears.
March 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Flat Kevin haha. Adorable. You guys are good to the little ones.
I am not a baker – yet – but a galette is actually the first thing I ever wanted to try. A blueberry one. You give me hope. :)
March 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Those berries look AMAZING! and pictures of dogs make my heart melt…
NAOmni
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
More sugar? Sacrilege!! I admit I grew up where we don’t like our sweets too sweet (Kind of ironic…is it our way of rationalizing having pastries at each meal?!! Maybe!!) but I am glad the dough worked for you without spreadage. That happened to me before and although “scoop eating” was invloved and delicious, it was a big waste of time.
Nothing says Spring better than fresh berries and crsuty galette! Gorgeous!
March 24th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Mrs. E – hopefully you can find some affordable berries. They aren’t cheap here either :(
Kathy – thanks!
Amy – ha, well, I think it was funny how mortified we were with his little detached arm flapping in the wind. Luckily, my nephew didn’t notice a thing (we are very good at taping things together).
Barbara – pretty, huh? :) I can’t resist (even if they shipped in from California…)
Rosa – me too! Thanks!
Mollie – Kaweah is a professional napper. She can nap anywhere, anytime :)
Dawn – she’d join you if she could!
Charlane – thank you!
Macie – totally. What a great way to describe it.
Margie – Miss K wasn’t lounging much when I was arranging the berries on the dough! She was right next to me, waiting for a berry to fly her way.
Whitney – heeeeee!
Caitlin – yes, these were pricey :( But sooooo good. I can’t wait until they are at peak and they go on sale and you can’t eat them fast enough (well, I can!) :)
Tracy – it’s soooo fun and easy and really rewarding (that rustic look, you know).
Kevin – thanks sweetie!
Twila – oh, you poor dear! It’s all relative, but you guys have berries growing out the wahzoo over there in summer, don’t you? I dunno, if I lived in Montana, I think I’d be in the backcountry year round! :) I love it there.
Chris – I have to agree with you 100% – super easy!
Sammyw – thanks :)
Maja – yeah, it’s early here too, but I couldn’t resist picking these up from the store.
Fiona – wow, I am totally jealous. I just planted mint… for my windowsill! Our weather is a little too unfriendly for things that like to grow… and survive ;)
Kristin – ha ha, thanks! Flat Kevin was a much sturdier construction than Flat Stanley :) Thank goodness!
Melissa – you will totally rock the galette, lady :)
NAOmni – thank you.
Tartelette – thanks, woman. You are always the voice of experience and wisdom :) I think if these berries were super ripe (as in, sweeter) then more sugar wouldn’t have been added to the dough. That’s the problem with buying too early in the season (and being impatient… like me!) :)
March 24th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
i love berries! this looks fantastic…perfect for the brand new season.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Cindy – it tastes like spring/summer when you bite into a galette :)
March 27th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
So pretty! I love galettes, but for some reason mine always leak. I use Dorie Greenspan’s good-for-anything-pie dough, but every single time, the bottom of the galette is soggy and there is a pool of juices on the silpat :( Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong?
March 28th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Eesh – hmmm, try a different dough? Or maybe your dough is getting rolled out too thin?
March 29th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
You’re a genius! The pate sucree dough from your recipe didn’t leak! Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you for so much deliciousness.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:01 am
Eesh – awesome!
December 13th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Excellent recipe. I made one berry and one apple galette. It benefitted from convection baking.
September 6th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
[…] since it’s inexpensive and readily available. The recipe is easily adaptable with fruits like berries, pear and the stunning ruby blood orange which unfortunately are quite hard to find […]
August 28th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
This is my new favourite “go to” pastry recipe – THANK YOU!
http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/2012/08/tuesdays-with-dorie-berry-galette/
I’ve also been working on adapting it to be a savoury recipe using cornmeal in the place of the sugar – wonderfully buttery and crunchy/ flaky!
June 11th, 2014 at 6:32 am
[…] Mixed Berry Galette from use real butter […]