This week’s participation in TWD called for a Berry Galette. We have been looking forward to making this recipe, since galettes can be easily converted into gluten free and offer a variety of options, both savory and sweet. In the past, we  created our own gluten free recipe, inspired by visiting Paris back in 2002, with its abundance of delicious food and patisseries around every corner. Of course, way back then, we did not yet realize the negative impact gluten had on our health (wow, this seems like a lifetime ago now?!). In Paris, we noticed that galettes are not just favorite desserts, but are acutally, more commonly, eaten as a lunch on the go. Many Parisiennes stop by their neighborhood patisserie/boulangerie to not only purchase their daily baguettes, but also purchase a favorite savory galette for lunch. We enjoyed versions made with spinach and cheese, tomatoes, herbs and cheese as well as some containing small amounts of meat. They are usually made in small individual sizes, serving just one person. These delicious treats are very clear in our memories as we recall our visit, but, sadly, we lack the pictures to share with you, since most of our film footage didn’t fair so well going through the airport security in place back then. X-rays do have a strong impact on even developed images, as we unfortunately found out the hard way.

Still, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to experiment with Julia’s/Flo Braker’s galette recipe to see how it compared to our own. If you would like to watch a demonstration of how to prepare these galettes, you can enjoy an episode of Baking with Julia, at this link. The original recipe can be found on the sites of this week’s hosts: Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness who outdid herself in this week’s TWD challenge, including beautiful photos of her picnic. Likewise, Lisa of Tomato Thymes in the Kitchen, is not to be missed, offering another beautiful take on her version of the recipe.

As we mentioned earlier, this recipe is fairly easily converted into gluten free. However, it is important to note, that you cannot use ice water in the preparation of the crust.  Even in leaving this out, the dough is very soft and malleable, perfect as it turns out, after watching the above video. We did use 1 tablespoon of coconut milk, so it is not entirely devoid of liquid, and we replaced the sour cream with Greek-style yoghurt, which lends it a beautiful flavor and enhances the consistency of the dough. Due to our other allergy to corn, instead of corn meal, we used and equal blend of rice bran and almond meal. This choice also allowed us to leave out any of the usual gums (xanthum or guar gum) used in gluten free baking, which is very welcome, and we are going to explore this combination and potential replacement of gums some more in the future. Outside of the obvious gluten free flour replacement, we pretty much stuck to the recipe, except for the choice of fruit.  Having an abundance of fresh plums and apples in the house, we chose to use them instead of the berries (which is offered as an option in the recipe itself).

Alongside this dessert recipe, we also made a savory galette for dinner, which we will be posting tomorrow, including our recipe. So if you are new to galettes, and need a recipe to follow, check back with us tomorrow.

Gluten free dough, as is many times the case, is a little bit more finicky, and  needs to be carefully folded to make sure it contains the juices from the baking fruit. Unlike making a pie, the filling in this recipe is a little bit more on the dry side, but, refreshingly, not very sweet – but sweet enough. Please remember, we never use white sugar and also did not use honey, an optional ingredient, in this recipe.

We were very happy with the outcome and will continue to make this in the future. The great aspect of galettes, is  the sheer unlimited number of ingredients you can add to a filling, and create surprising new flavors every time. You may be only limited by the Seasons, or the choices in your freezer.

Happy baking!