Rustic Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette

I'm sharing my Rustic Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette recipe with you, today.  Who could want a better breakfast?!  It also makes a wonderful dessert and is always a favorite at potlucks!

Don’t you just love this time of year, when the beautiful berries and gardens are producing and, finally, the prices have come down? I absolutely love this!! Mornings are still cool enough to bake or do some canning. Yes, I am old school and would prefer to make my own versus buying store-bought. It is the only way I know exactly what is in the food I eat. Well, I am lucky enough to have 2 booming crops of rhubarb with plenty ready now to take advantage of the strawberry sales and get a head start...Yummy.  So I decided, this morning, to make one of my faves…A Rustic Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette!! 

 I have worked on this recipe over the years, so I am quite pleased with how all the “tweaking” I’ve done turns out. I thought you might enjoy the results of my hard labor…lol.

 1^st of all I made sure I could find strawberries on a great sale before I decided to go harvest some of my Rhubarb. (Did I mention that since the Gophers, in my backyard, killed one of the plants, not to mention a whole summer's garden, my wonderful Mum has been kind enough to grow my rhubarb in her backyard for me for the last three years?) 

I found the strawberries 2/$3.00!! That is an incredible deal where I come from and they are just perfect. I washed and hulled them and slice them to a bake-able size. Then I went over to My Mum’s and pulled about 14-15 nice firm stalk of rhubarb… washes and cur the rhubarb up. 

Here's one of those tricks I’ve discovered after making this recipe over and over ( My family LOVES it, and would have me make one daily, if possible) Because Rhubarb’s density and cooking time can vary, I want to make sure that it will cook and be tender in the baking time. And, after several ok tries, with a few too many super tart bites, I came up with this trick, putting my cut rhubarb in a Pyrex, lidded dish, squeezing the juice of some fresh orange over it ( you can use lemon, both work). And Microwaving for approximately 4-5 mins. The rhubarb comes out about half cooked and yet, still holds its form. 

I drain off some of the liquid and put the strawberries and rhubarb in the refrigerator, separately to chill, this prevents your crust from absorbing too much juice from your filling being prepared before the dough is rolled out and the oven is preheated, so you can combine all and put it directly in the oven. If you’re using a different fruit, that doesn’t juice the minute you add sugar, this step won’t be necessary.

Okay, so now you’re ready to make it!!

I like a very fruity Galette!  More fruit than usual, but it is up to you how you like yours!

Filling:

2 cups cleaned, sliced strawberries, chilled

2 cups par-cooked rhubarb, cooled in the fridge.

1-1/2 cup white cane sugar

1/2 cup flour

¼-1/2 Tsp. cinnamon

1 tablespoon of pure Vanilla

Just stir lightly to combine, don’t be too vigorous here.

Crust:

1 cup white flour

½ cup wheat flour or 1-1/2 cups AP flour 

½ cup butter, frozen then cut into cubes

1-1/2 Tblsp. Sugar, white

½ Tsp. Salt

Ice Cold Water

1 Tblsp melted butter

** combine dry ingredients and cut in butter (you know how recipes for pie dough say until it resembles cornmeal? You don’t want that for this dough! Just cut the butter in until the pieces of butter are about pea-size…you want to see little pieces of butter, this is what will make your crust flakey) 

(I added this photo of the dough so you can see that you will have and want to see little pieces if the butter)

You can use a food processor here, but if you do, I suggest you pulse only you do not want to overwork your crust.  Add in enough of the cold water to just make your dough come together. Gently form into a ball and wrap In plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about ½ hour. This step is a must, to let the glutens relax.

Preheat your oven to 375F

Prepare your counter. I like to place a large piece of parchment paper on the counter; I will roll my crust out on it and assemble my Galette there, then you can easily slide parchment paper and galette onto your cooking pan. Unwrap your dough and roll out into a large round disk approximately 14-16”

Now drain any liquid off your strawberries and rhubarb and combine them, add flour, sugar, cinnamon and Vanilla, just fold mixture 4-6 times and then dump into the center of your dough round, spread out until it is covering all but 2-2-1/2 inches from the side, start pulling sides up and pinching them together all the way around until you meet.. Gently pull your parchment paper with Galette onto a large cookie sheet.  

 Brush tops of dough with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with sugar, put immediately into your preheated oven. Make sure not to let your fruit filling sit out until you are ready to put it in the oven!! You don't want to see any juices until the baking process, otherwise, you risk your pastry getting soggy.  Cook until fruit is cooked and bubbly, checking the bottom of your Galette for a nice deep golden brown, you don’t want to overdo. Juices’ leaking over the sides is normal and Yummy!!

My Dad came over and enjoyed some of this with me!! So happy to see him enjoy it.   I'm off to make two or three more! You can freeze them, raw, wrapped, take out and pop in the oven to enjoy them later in the year!! But, I really don't think much beats fresh!  Enjoy and God Bless!