As easy as...galette?

Bastille Day, Jersey-style, means a free-form blueberry tart.

It’s 900 degrees outside and feels like a windless scene from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. But it’s also summer in New Jersey, so a. What did I expect; b. B is for Blueberries from New Jersey are at their peak; 3. I want pie.

But in the spirit of lazy summer and hot kitchens everywhere, I turn to our French brethren who celebrate the storming of the Bastille July 14 for pastry inspiration, and offer you a one-crust, free-form blueberry galette.

The crust is made with cream cheese, which might give a French person les vapeurs, but my goal with recipes is always to aim for the simplest technique with the most foolproof results. Cream cheese makes for a flaky crust, and as long as you don’t overmix the dough, you are guaranteed a decent result. I’ve been making cream cheese dough since I could just reach my mother’s copy of Cook, My Darling Daughter, Cook, and followed the author, Mildred Knopf’s recipe for her “High-Class, No-Fail Strawberry Stripper.’ You can read more about it here.

Knopf’s recipe is easy to memorize: 8 ounces butter, 8 ounces cream cheese and 2 cups of flour. The recipe today is a slight innovation, with a nod to Rose Levy Beranbaum, and includes baking soda and apple cider vinegar to add loft, yes, and to help press the dough evenly to the baking sheet to ensure it’s golden and crispy. It also helps enhance the tang of the cream cheese.

Left: How your dough should look before you shape it into a disk; Right: The dough, rolled out.

I used blueberries, but of course any other fresh berry or mix thereof would work.

Blueberry Galette

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Blueberry Galette

Make 1 12-inch galette

What You’ll Need:

For the crust:

4 ounces (113 grams) butter, very cold

5 ounces (141 grams) cream cheese, cold

1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

For the filling:

4 cups (2 pints/550 grams) blueberries, picked over, washed and dried

1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar (taste your blueberries and feel free to go up to 1/3 cup sugar)

2 tablespoons (14 grams) corn starch

2 teaspoons lemon zest (orange zest also works nicely)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

To finish the galette:

1/2 tablespoon of butter

1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

turbinado or granulated sugar for sprinkling over the crust

What You’ll Do:

Make the crust

1. The crust needs to be chilled for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. Plan accordingly.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the butter, cream cheese, flour, baking soda, and salt until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scrape down the sides. Add the vinegar while pulsing the dough. Do not overmix! The dough should still look like little pebbles, albeit, slightly damp ones. You do not want to let it come together in a large dough ball.

3. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment or pastry board. Use quick movements (you don’t want the butter to melt in those warm hands of yours. If by some chance, you have preternaturally cold hands, offer to make pastry dough for all your friends!) and gather the dough together in a disk about 2 inches thick. Wrap in the parchment (or plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 3 days. You can also give it an extra wrap in a zipper bag and pop it into the freezer until you’re ready to use it. Defrost it in the refrigerator.

Make the blueberry mixture

1. In a large bowl, gently stir the berries, sugar, corn starch, lemon and lemon zest .

Assemble the galette

1. Heat the oven to 425°F/220°C.

2. On a lightly floured pastry board or clean, dry countertop, roll out the dough. Roll the dough from the middle, using even pressure and stop a 1/2 inch from the edge of the dough. Turn the dough a quarter turn, repeat, etc. until the dough is 1/4” (6.4 mm) THICK and reasonably circular.

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Fold the dough in quarters, or drape it over your rolling pin, and gently lay the dough on the parchment. Unfold the dough, and if necessary, repair any rips that may have occurred during the transferring the dough.

4. Place the blueberry mixture in the center of the dough; leave a lip of 3 inches (7.65 cm) of dough. Fold up one side of the dough and continue to pleat up the rest of the dough until you’ve achieved galette status. Cut 1/2 tablespoon of butter over the blueberries. Brush the crust with the egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and place in the hot oven.

5. Immediately turn the heat down to 375°F/190°C degrees and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the blueberry mixture is bubbling.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream, please.

Do you read different sorts of books in the summer? Or? Share your fiction and non-fiction favorites of the summer/year. We could all use some good escape. Reading = rejuvenation. Well, unless you’re reading Sarah Kenzdior’s books, which are a necessary read, but not relaxing.

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