One of our favorite ways to highlight ripe summer berries—second only to eating them out of hand—is to tuck fresh fruit into a flaky pie crust for an easy-breezy strawberry galette. But baking with strawberries is notoriously tricky, due to the fruit’s high moisture content and low level of pectin. To compensate, macerate fresh sliced strawberries in sugar to coax out their juices (avoid frozen strawberries here as they’d release too much liquid). You can discard most of the sweet syrup that results from the process—though we recommend saving it for another use, like cocktails. You’ll add a measured amount back to the strawberry filling, along with some cornstarch, to thicken it just enough to hold things together without any seepage.
As for the galette crust, the tricks are much the same as in any pie dough: (1) use ice-cold ingredients, and (2) handle it as little as possible. A few tweaks here make things easier: First, freeze the butter and cream cheese (which keeps the crust tender) to buy yourself some time, and use very cold water. Second, chill the dough in the fridge for at least two hours so it has time to fully hydrate. And third, while you’ll want to roll the dough out to an even thickness on a lightly floured surface (we love a French rolling pin for this), don’t worry too much about its shape. A galette is meant to be free-form. Leave a 2" border around the edges when filling the galette, then fold the edges around the fruit, brush with egg wash, and dust with a little extra sugar. If you’ve got raw sugar on hand, you can use it to add some crunch, but white sugar will do just fine. Top slices with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream.
Want to play around? Feel free to swap up to half the fresh strawberries for another in-season gem. Try adding rhubarb in late spring, blueberries or raspberries at the height of summer, or sliced plums toward the end of summer.
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What you’ll need
French Rolling Pin
$37 At Amazon
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Food Processor
$70 At Amazon
Silicone Pastry Brush
$11
Microplane
$17 At Amazon
Paring Knife
$12 $11 At Amazon
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Recipe information
Yield
8 servings
Ingredients
Dough
Filling and Assembly
Preparation
Dough
Step 1
Place ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½" pieces, and 3 oz. cream cheese, cut into ½" pieces, in 2 separate small bowls and freeze 15 minutes.
Step 2
Pulse 1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour and ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a food processor just to combine. Add cream cheese and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add butter and pulse until pieces are no larger than the size of a pea. Remove top from food processor and evenly drizzle 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar and 2 Tbsp. ice water over flour mixture. Pulse until butter is in slightly smaller pieces and a small amount of dough pinched between your fingers holds together. (The dough will still look quite sandy and dry at this point. If it doesn’t hold together when pinched, add more ice water by the teaspoonful, pulsing a couple times after each addition, until it does.)
Step 3
Transfer dough to a large piece of plastic wrap. Knead dough with your knuckles and the heels of your hands, using plastic wrap to help bring it together, until most of it is in one piece. Shape dough into a rough 8"-diameter disk, wrap in plastic, using your hands to work it into corners to eliminate any air bubbles. Chill at least 2 hours.
Do ahead: Dough can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled, or freeze in a resealable plastic freezer bag up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before rolling out.
Filling and Assembly
Step 4
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 400°. Let dough sit at room temperature until slightly pliable, 5–10 minutes (this will prevent the dough from cracking as you roll it out). Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, turning over and rotating often and dusting surface with more flour as needed, to a 13" round. Carefully transfer dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill while you prepare the filling.
Step 5
Using your fingers, rub zest of 1 lemon into ⅔ cup (133 g) sugar in a medium bowl until very fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add 1½ lb. fresh strawberries, hulled, thinly sliced, and gently toss with your hands to coat, taking care not to smash berries. Let sit until berries are very juicy, about 20 minutes.
Step 6
Drain berries, reserving 2 Tbsp. juice. Combine juice and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch in a small bowl and stir to dissolve cornstarch. Add to berries and gently stir to combine.
Step 7
If chilled dough is a little too stiff to easily fold, let sit at room temperature until pliable again, about 5 minutes. Mound berry mixture in center of dough, piling high in the center (it’ll level out as the galette bakes) and leaving a 2" border. Fold edges of dough up and over fruit, pleating as you go and taking care not to tear (if it does, patch with scraps and pinch to seal). Lightly beat 1 large egg in a small bowl and brush over dough. Sprinkle remaining 1½ tsp. sugar over dough.
Step 8
Bake galette, rotating halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and juices are bubbling, 40–50 minutes. (It’s okay if some juices leak out.) Let galette cool at least 2 hours before serving.
Step 9
Top galette with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to serve if desired.
Do ahead: Galette can be baked 1 day ahead. Store loosely wrapped at room temperature.
