For me, fruit pies and tarts are the quintessential summer dessert. While ice cream is a great treat when the temperatures are soaring, ice cream is available year-round. But summer fruits? If only they were available year-round! Last week my boyfriend and I were visiting his family and I wanted to bake something special, since it’s always more fun to bake for a bunch of people than just for two.
My very attentive kitchen companions
I was eager to take advantage of rhubarb being in season, not to mention the super-sweet strawberries I had spotted, so I decided to make this strawberry rhubarb galette! A galette is basically like a pie, but in a more rustic, less fussy form: you fold the extra dough in toward the center with whatever imperfect, asymmetrical edges naturally occur and bake it on a regular baking sheet. I love a good fruit pie as much as the next person, but sometimes you want something a bit rougher around the edges (literally!), you know? Enter…the galette.
This strawberry rhubarb galette is the perfect ending to a spring or summer meal. The crust is an adaptation of the French pâte brisée, which is a pastry crust made from five ingredients: flour, butter, salt, sugar, and water. This version incorporates a little bit of vodka as well. The vodka adds moisture to the dough, making it easier to work with, but without rendering the end product too heavy or tough. The result is a lovely flaky crust with a rich buttery flavor, which, when combined with fragrant strawberries and tangy rhubarb, makes for a divinely refreshing and deeply satisfying dessert. Enjoy!
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1-2 tablespoons vodka
- 1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 4 stalks rhubarb (about 2/3 pound), ends trimmed and cut into 1/3-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup tapioca
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons strawberry jam, melted
- Combine flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined. Cut butter into cubes and add to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely crumbly.
- Add the ice water, processing until the mixture holds together when pressed – it should not be overly sticky or moist. If you have already added a full 1/4 cup of water and the mixture is still crumbly, add up to 2 tablespoons of vodka. Remove the dough from the food processor and divide in half. Shape each half into a flattened disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to overnight).
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together sliced strawberries, rhubarb, cinnamon, cardamom, 1/2 cup sugar, and tapioca. Let sit 15 minutes.
- On a well-floured piece of parchment paper, roll out each disk of dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Slide the circles, along with the parchment paper, onto rimmed baking sheets.
- Divide the fruit mixture in two and spoon half into the center of each dough circle, leaving about 1.5 inches on either side for folding. Fold the edges of the dough inward, pinching together as needed to form a seam.
- Brush the outer edges of the dough with beaten egg and sprinkle up to 1 tablespoon of sugar on the dough of each galette.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes; after 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 25 minutes. If the galettes are browning too much for your liking, cover with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.
- Remove galettes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. As the galettes cool, brush the exposed fruit with melted jam to keep the fruit from appearing dried out. Serve warm.
- You can use dairy-free margarine in lieu of butter. It will yield a satisfactory crust but the flavor won’t be quite as exquisite. Of course, for some (myself included), that’s a perfectly acceptable trade-off in order to make this dessert dairy-free.
- Pâte brisée recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
Love this! My rhubarb bushes produce waaay more than I know what to do with, but I will keep this recipe in my back pocket for harvest time. I am terrible at making pie crust, but a galette seems less daunting…
Thanks! Galettes are much more forgiving than pie crusts, so I definitely recommend giving it a go! The vodka also really helps – I’ve had much more success with vodka crusts than with more traditional recipes. Let me know how it goes if you try it out! 🙂
I love this! I was just thinking of making a strawberry rhubarb crisp this weekend. I’m going to use your filling and link back here 😀
Ooh, strawberry rhubarb crisp sounds awesome! Looking forward to seeing your post! 🙂
I need to go out and encourage my rhubarb plant to start producing so I can try this!
Oh wow, you have your own rhubarb plant? I bet homemade rhubarb will increase this galette’s awesomeness factor twofold!
Yummmm. This is one of my favorite ever desserts. I love strawberries & rhubarb together, and I also really enjoy them in galettes (mostly since they are way easier to make, and often prettier I think, than pies). 🙂
Galettes ARE way easier, and I agree – their imperfections actually make them more interesting and beautiful in a way. That said, I do love pie! 🙂
Your kitchen companions are freaking adorable.
I’ve never cooked with rhubarb! Ack! Must try. I love galettes, too. I think I’ve only ever made two–one with caramelized onion, and one with mushrooms. I need to get on the sweet train.
Haha, aren’t they?! I’ve heard that shelties are typically somewhat aloof toward strangers, so I think my puttering around in the kitchen helped me endear myself to them.
This was actually my first time cooking/baking with rhubarb, too! I should try savory galettes sometime – the caramelized onion one sounds especially tasty. Thanks for stopping by!
I love galette’s, strawberry and rhubarb are so perfect together, Love your kitchen companions, they are too cute!
Strawberry and rhubarb are a match made in culinary heaven! In addition to being pretty adorable, the shelties were very patient, too!
Ohhh your dogs are fricking cute :O I have to try out that vodka in the dough thing, I’m always in search of a better dough since mine never come out the way I’d like them to…
Very cute dogs, but not actually mine – they’re my boyfriend’s family’s dogs! I definitely recommend trying vodka in the dough; it makes it much more pliable! Let me know how it goes if you try it 🙂
I have been cravingggg Rhubarb for months now, I can’t find it in the stores yet, but when I do… I’m getting some for THIS- your pictures look amazing, and this dish is so pretty 🙂 Almost too pretty to eat but not really because it looks wayyyy too delicious 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much!! I’ve been having a tough time finding rhubarb, too – I had to go to four different stores before I had any luck!
Oh no way! That’s good to know actually-I might have to work a little harder rather than waiting for them to appear at my go-to store 🙂 Thanks!
Beautiful recipe! Love it 🙂
Thanks, and thanks for stopping by! 🙂
What a cute companions! I do like such galettes-with strawberries,apples or ham&cheese, they turn out so good most of the time 🙂
Galettes really are wonderfully versatile, aren’t they? Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Beautiful.
Thank you!
Love the old fashioned look this has 🙂
Thanks! And thanks for stopping by 🙂