Blueberry Galette

Blueberry Galette. Fresh blueberries baked in an all butter pie crust comes together so easily, it will change your mind about making homemade pie! crust. This really is easy as pie! You're basically just mixing the dough, rolling the dough, refrigerating the dough, then filling and baking it.

Servings 8 Servings

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
5-6 Tablespoons ice water more if needed

For the filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries washed and drained
6 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
zest from one lemon
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For the topping:

1 egg fully beaten
raw or coarse sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter pieces and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or two knives until butter is in various sizes no larger than peas.
Fill a cup with iced water and using a measuring spoon, drizzle a tablespoon of water over the flour mixture. Toss with a fork to distribute the moisture. Repeat this process adding a tablespoon of water at a time and tossing the mixture until your mixture looks shaggy and there's no dry piles of flour at the bottom of the bowl, but it shouldn't look wet. You should be able to grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze it in your hands and have it hold together. For me, this took about 5-6 Tablespoons of water. (See photos in post for examples of this stage.)
Bring the mixture together in a ball.
Tear off two sheets of plastic wrap and over lap them to make a large square. Mine was about 18". Place the ball into the center of the plastic.
Tear off two more sheets of plastic wrap and cover the ball of dough, overlapping the plastic so that you have another big square of wrap sandwiching dough. Lightly press on the ball to flatten it into a disk.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12"-13" circle. Mine was about 12 1/2". Roll from the center out, easing up on the pressure as you near the edges so that you don't roll them too thin. Your rolling pin should not roll past the edge of the dough and back onto your counter. That would squeeze your dough into paper thinness. Think of the circle of dough like a clock and roll out to the 12 then pick it up and go back to center to roll down to the 6. Use the plastic wrap to pick up and rotate your dough to help you roll out to the different points on the circle. Always roll from the center out and resist the temptation to roll your pin back and forth. For this recipe, you don't have to worry that your dough is a perfect circle, but you do want it to be rolled out to a uniform thickness so that it bakes evenly.
When you've achieved your 12-13" circle, or whatever shape you've rolled, keep the dough sandwiched in between the plastic wrap, pick it up and transfer it to a baking sheet. Refrigerate for about an hour or two or overnight.
When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
Once the oven is ready, combine all of the filling ingredients stirring to thoroughly combine, but being careful not to smash your berries. You can adjust the sugar to taste. I usually use about 5-6 tablespoons, but it depends on how sweet my berries are. If you like an even sweeter filling, you could increase the sugar to 1/2 cup.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator, then peel off the plastic wrap and place the circle of dough onto your parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes so that you can work with it without it cracking. It should still be cold, but moldable. If it gets too warm, place it back in the refrigerator to firm up again.
Pile your berry mixture in the center of the dough leaving about a 2 1/2" border of dough.
Fold the dough edges up and over the berries, pleating as you go. Do not stretch the dough or press it into the berries. Just pleat it up and over the filling in whatever fashion you choose until you've completely encased the edges of your filling.
Brush the surface of the dough lightly with the beaten egg, then sprinkle the dough and top of the filling with a coarse, raw sugar.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until crust is completely golden and filling is bubbly.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

*It's very important to keep your dough cold, which is why I recommend having your oven ready to go and your filling ready to go before you remove your dough from the refrigerator. Because it's already been thinly rolled out, it won't take long for it to become pliable enough for you to work with it. My dough got a little too soft after I filled and pleated it because I was taking pictures. I just put the whole tray into the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to firm it back up again before I brushed with the egg and sprinkled the sugar. I always wait to do the egg wash/sugar step until just before I bake it.

*I've read that the longer you refrigerate, the better the flavor and texture. I did one pie overnight and the other between 1-2 hours. I didn't notice a major difference in flavor or texture.

*Store baked pie lightly covered at room temperature for up to two days. After two days, the pie can be refrigerated up to two more days. Your crust will be at it's best, however, the first day it is baked.

*You could cut in the butter with a food processor, if you'd prefer. I avoid the extra dishes, but if I did use a food processor, I would probably still toss the water in by hand, with a fork, though others do the entire process in a food processor and swear by it.

*Update 6-30-16: In addition to brushing egg wash on the outside of the crust, I now brush a layer on the crust before I fill it with fruit. It helps create a barrier between the crust and berries to help to prevent a soggy bottom crust. Also, if you prefer using cornstarch for thickening instead of flour, I would use about 3 Tablespoons.