In July and August, when a surplus of blueberries is the juicy, delicious norm, I bake galettes, which I’m fond of for their rustic charm and expanses of juicy, glistening fruit.
Behind the Recipes
High-Summer Blueberry Galette
Cradle sweet-tart, peak-of-summer fruit in the butteriest, flakiest pastry.
By and
Published June 4, 2024.
Whether I’ve foraged the berries, tiny and wild, from the carpets of low bushes in the blueberry barrens of Maine or purchased them by the quart at a farmers’ market or roadside stand, there’s no better way to celebrate the deep indigo, sweet-tart delights than by encircling them in a flaky, buttery crust.
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The dough, of course, is the foundation of the dessert. This summer, I decided to pursue a rough puff—a shortcut puff pastry that’s made by working cold butter into the flour using a technique called fraisage that creates long, thin sheets of fat.
The dough is then rolled out and folded several times to create incredibly crisp and flaky layers. Senior Editor Lan Lam recently used rough puff for her fruit hand pies because it has more structure than regular pie dough, and it’s also ideal for a galette, which doesn’t have the walls of a pie dish for support.
The beauty of her method is that she cuts the butter into the flour inside a zipper-lock bag—a no-muss, no-fuss approach that I appreciate.
Science: For Effective Macerating, Crush Your Blueberries
Macerating—sugaring fruit and letting it sit to pull out water through osmosis—is an effective way to remove juices that would otherwise flood the pastry when the fruit bursts during baking. But you can’t just toss whole blueberries with sugar and expect the juices to flow. Their skins need to be ruptured first.
That’s because blueberries (and cranberries) are true berries, produced from a single ovary with nonpermeable skin. Only once the skins have been broken (after smashing a portion of the berries, we stir in some whole berries to create a chunky texture) can liquid drizzle out. Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, on the other hand, are false berries whose tissue holds hundreds of ovaries with permeable surfaces that allow juices to run out during macerating even if they are left whole.
To make the rough puff, I worked one stick of butter into 1 cup of flour (along with a little sugar and salt); added some ice water; and then rolled the dough into a rectangle and folded it like a business letter, which is the classic way to maximize the number of light, flaky layers.
Then, to ready the dough for a heap of ripe berries (I planned on a full 11/2 pounds), I used my hands and a rolling pin to coerce the rectangle into a round. I eventually managed to produce a rough circle, but the circumference was ragged, requiring neatening with a knife.
Technique: Making Rough Puff
Here is a neat way to create long, thin sheets of butter that will lead to pastry with lots of flaky layers. Shake flour, sugar, and salt in a heavy-duty zipper-lock bag; add butter; and seal the bag.
Set a rolling pin across the bottom of the bag and, using a rocking motion, flatten the butter into large flakes.
Move the pin up the bag and repeat, shaking the bag occasionally, until the butter is very well incorporated.
To produce a tidy round without trimming and wasting dough, I shifted to a method that’s sometimes used to shape Chinese scallion pancakes.
It calls for rolling dough into a tight cylinder and then bending the cylinder into an “S” shape. Half of the “S” curve is folded onto the other and pressed into a tidy disk that can then be easily rolled into a sleek circle. I gave the routine a try before filling the galette and then baking it on a stone to ensure the crispiest bottom.
Success: The edges of the dough were clean and smooth, with no scraps to trim away, and the finished galette was picture-perfect.
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The crust is the foundation of a galette, but a mound of plump, peak-season berries is the star.
I wanted my filling to have the freshest possible flavor and a lightly set texture in which the juices were gently held but not overcooked. To prevent liquid from puddling around the pastry, I crushed a portion of the berries, sugared them, and set them in a colander to drain.
Not only did this remove moisture, but it also preserved the summery freshness of the fruit much better than, as some recipes suggest, precooking on the stovetop to evaporate juices, a step that dulls precious flavor.
Shaping Pastry with the “S” Method
This no-waste approach produces galette dough with perfectly smooth edges, so no trimming is required. Begin by rolling the dough into a 10 by 5-inch rectangle.
1. Starting at top of dough, fold into thirds like business letter, using bench scraper to release dough from counter.
2. Turn dough 90 degrees. Using rolling pin, roll into 10 by 5-inch rectangle. Rotate 90 degrees and roll into tight cylinder.
3. Pinch seam and roll cylinder seam side down. Roll ends of cylinder toward center in opposite directions to form “S” shape.
4. Lift 1 side of dough onto other to fold “S” shape in half.
5. Press dough into 5-inch circle, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 1 hour. Roll into 14-inch circle.
Macerating helped remove moisture, but the dessert was still a bit wet, so I experimented with tossing the drained berries with a variety of thickeners, including cornstarch, tapioca, almond flour, graham cracker crumbs, and arrowroot.
Each absorbed moisture to varying degrees but also muted the delicate taste of the blueberries.
In The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie (2013), Paula Haney offered a promising idea: Instead of coating the fruit in a thickener, she sprinkles “crust dust,” a 1:1 blend of flour and sugar, onto the dough before loading on the fruit. I gave it a try and, sure enough, the hygroscopic sugar and flour soaked up any excess juices, forming a sticky layer that anchored the berries to the crust while preserving their vibrant fruitiness.
To finish, I glammed things up by painting the dough with beaten egg and sprinkling it with demerara sugar for sparkle and crunch. I also reduced the sugary macerating syrup and brushed it onto the fruit halfway through baking and after it came out of the oven to create an eye-catching lacquer.
Served warm with vanilla ice cream, this glimmering beauty had my sons strongly suggesting that I head back to the market to procure more berries.
