Pear & Berry Galette
Once the gardening is done and dusted for the day - including planting four nut trees and pruning the fruit trees - it was time for a little snack. I like to make this rustic style tart - galette - in winter from apples or pears and a handful of frozen homegrown berries. However, it also makes a fine summer tart using cherries and berries. I love making pies and tarts but don’t particularly enjoy the process of making pastry. This free-form tart has no fiddly tart case to line, no blind baking; simply roll, top with fruit, gather the edges and bake. I used spelt flour but standard white flour will work fine too.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups white spelt flour or standard white flour
- 1/2 cup ground walnuts or almonds or use 1/2 cup extra flour
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- Pinch of salt
- 150 g cold butter cubed
- zest of half a lemon
- 1 free-range egg
- handful of fine polenta for sprinkling
- 4 firm pears
- approx. 1/2 cup frozen berries I used homegrown blackberries
Instructions
- Put the flour, ground nuts, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and salt into a food processor bowl and pulse to combine. Add the cubed butter and process into a breadcrumb-like texture. Add the lemon zest and egg and pulse half a dozen times to come together into a ball. Lay a length of plastic wrap on the bench and tip the pastry onto this. Work quickly to shape into a flat disc. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven 180C. Peel the pears, core, and cut into thin wedges.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out between two pieces of greaseproof baking paper to make a 30cm diameter circle about 3mm thick. Slide onto a baking tray and remove the top layer of paper. Sprinkle the middle of the circle (about 25cm leaving 5cm for the edging) with fine polenta - this will soak up the fruit juices as the pie cooks.
- Arrange the pears evenly onto the circle of polenta and scatter with berries. Now rustically and lovingly gather up the edges of the pastry gently folding together to create a free-form edge. It should hold in the fruit while still leaving fruit visible in the middle. Sprinkle lightly with extra sugar. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden and the fruit is tender. Serve warm with natural yogurt.
Notes
*This versatile tart, can also be made into a savoury dish. Omit the sugar from the pastry and add a little chopped thyme or rosemary. Fold herb pesto through cubed roasted vegetables (pumpkin, parsnip, carrots, potatoes), pile onto the pastry and sprinkle with crumbled sheep feta. Fold up the pastry and bake as above.