I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to get all those little tingly, happy feelings about Christmas coming up just around the corner! I’m a complete hapless fool for Christmas, considering I don’t particularly celebrate it religiously, yet I can’t help but get caught up in all the smugness and cheer of the season’s festivities.
Of course, this has everything to do with the delicious mountains of little nibbles, bites and bakes that appear this time of year. I used to love the transformations in all the little pastry shop windows as they get swamped in swathes of emerald holly and shiny red berries, with a flurry of snowflakes suspended daintily over heaps of mince pies and grand whisky soaked Christmas cakes! It’s all so cheerful and I have heaps of baking going on this time of year as we draw into December, all the more warmth needed in this frosty weather!
If this all feels too early for Christmas, then just use Thanksgiving as a perfectly wonderful excuse to create some homemade baked love!
This year, I’m definitely dabbling with versions of a traditional galette or what the Italians refer to as crostata. I love baking recipes like this, purely because of the simplicity and the non scientific approach in the method. There is no rising or proving or exact timing calculation of anything. This is rough and tumble baking and if you prepare the dough in advance (as I do and always have a batch in the fridge) this is something you can bake up in less than half an hour, filling your home with warming bakery scents of orange and almond. Particularly nice and rather impressive when you have guests staying over!
Now, I’ve added my own twist to the traditional recipes by adding a thin layer of custard. Somehow, this elevates the galette, or crostata, to a slightly more decadent pastry and who wouldn’t want a slice of breakfast pastry, come dessert, come teatime comfort bake, first thing in the morning with a freshly brewed aromatic cup of coffee? This recipe has holiday written all over it, but who’s stopping you whipping this up for a late, lazy Sunday breakfast? Please do give this one a try and you will NOT be disappointed.
Ingredients for the pastry
2 cups of plain flour
3 ½ heaped tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of chilled salted butter, cut into small marble size chunks
½ cup flaked almonds
2 tbs orange zest or 1 tbs orange flower water
4 tbs cold milk
1 egg white to brush the Gallete
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp almond essence
Ingredients for the filling:
1 ½ punnets strawberries
1 punnet blackberries
¼ cup sugar
1 tbs maple syrup
1 tbs pomengranate molasses OR 1 tbs lemon juice
1 heaped tbs cornstarch
For the Custard Layer
Ok, this is simple baking so for such a small, thin layer, you don’t need to make your custard from scratch. Simply make 1 cup of good quality sweetened custard from powdered custard as per the instructions or buy it ready made. I like to jazz up the flavor by adding 1 tsp almond essence to the mixture along with 1 tbs freshly grated orange zest.
Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are combined.
Now add the orange zest or orange flower water, the butter, the flaked almonds, almond essence and the milk. Pulse with intervals until you have a mixture that resembles large fat breadcrumbs.
Tip out onto a clean surface and start to bring the dough together, squeezing and moulding together until this forms a large ball. You don’t knead this dough, as this will make it hard and brittle instead of a scone type of texture. Wrap up in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.
Now prepare your filling…simply slice up your strawberries into quarters. Toss in your blackberries, and gently fold in the sugar, the maple syrup, the cornstarch and the pomegranate molasses or lemon juice.
Half an hour before you want to serve your galette, preheat your oven to 180degrees centigrade.
Take the dough out of the fridge and place on a silicone baking sheet or everyday greaseproof baking paper. Roll out into a 12 inch diameter circle.
Spread approximately 4 -5 tbs (but no more) of the custard in a thin layer over the pastry, leaving a 2 inch rim
Carefully pile the fruit mixture into the centre of the circle, spreading out evenly till the 2 inch rim. Now fold over this rim as shown.
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the rim to give a caramelised sweet edge to the pastry and sprinkle the remaining flaked almonds over the filling.
Bake your galette for 25 minutes or until the pastry lifts as a whole, when you place a spatula underneath it and tilt it up. This is such a quick tip for testing perfectly cooked pastry. There should be no or very little slouch in the pastry.
Serve this piping hot, with a very large jug of thick, slightly maple syrup sweetened double cream. Please don’t forget the freshly brewed coffee to make for a perfectly sweet start to the day!
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