Summer plum galette

A few weeks ago a friend brought me a huge bag of plums fresh picked from an orchard - firm, with a sweet-sharp taste - delicious.  

(I had a bit of a problem with the on-line photo editor this morning) so I made this collage free hand in Photoshop Elements. I didn't realise you could drag different pics into one image in Elements - but it worked ok)

I decided to make a plum tart. I had seen a few blog posts recently about "galette" which is a French term for a rustic free form tart, so I decided to make one.  It really is a simple pie to make and you can use just about any sort of fruit, or make a savoury galette. 

Please click on "read more" to keep reading and see more pics! see you there!


 

Here is Baking Bites.com's description  -   What is a galette?

Galette is a French term that refers to a free form tart that is made with a flaky pasty crust. These tarts are not molded in tart pans. Instead, filling is placed directly on top of a sheet of rolled out pastry and the edges of that pastry are folded up and around the filling. The tart becomes crisp during baking and the dessert, as a whole, manages to be both rustic and elegant at the same time.














For my Galette I decided to combine some of the plums my friend had brought me, which were yellow inside, with a red variety Ruby Reds (which are similar to Satsuma plums which I adore), and some prune plums (which I had never tried before) which I had bought from our Farmer's Market.  Here is a pic of the prune plums - have you every tried them?

Inspired by two of my favourite food bloggers (you can click on the links), Tartelette - Tartelette's Stone Fruit Galette and The Red Bristro - The Red Bristro's Grape Harvest Galette - I set about to make my galette.

I used The Red Bistro's pastry recipe - using half white flour and half unprocessed natural wheat flour that had been given to me by my nephew from his farm's grain harvest.

PASTRY - 300g plain flour, 150g butter cubed, pinch salt, 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons chilled water (just add the amount you need).
Rub the butter into the flour till it is like fine breadcrumbs. Slowly add egg, and 1 or 2 tablespoons water. Knead lightly till smooth, wrap in baking paper and chill in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Next the filling. I roughly used Tartelette's Stone Fruit Galette recipe for the next part.

Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F. 

FILLING - Stone and roughly chop the plums. Mix together well in a large bowl with a squirt of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of honey and a couple of tablespoons of sugar. As there is a lot of juice in the plums you only need a "squirt" of the lemon juice.

Roll your pastry out onto a piece of baking paper the size of the baking tray you are going to use. I used a pizza tray for mine! Transfer the pastry, on the paper, onto the baking tray. Pile the fruit into the center, leaving about a 4 inch border around the edge. Fold the edges over the fruit but don't close it up in the middle. 

Brush milk over the crust, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

If there seems to be an excess of juice, pour it off, add sugar and boil in a saucepan to make a pouring syrup. 

A mix of frozen or fresh berries also works well for this recipe. I ended up with a lot of juice and grated a green apple into the mix. 

All you have to do now is the serve, eat, and enjoy - and also enjoy the compliments of your guests.  Really this is a super easy tart to make, and as it is meant to be "rustic" you don't have to worry too much about it being really pretty to look at.  My guests were impressed and I hope yours are too!

I managed to save this piece to take a photo of the next day in my French plates - a treasured antique shop find. 

And what am I going to do with the rest of the plums?  Make plum jam of course! - but that is for another blog post....

Another one of my favourite fruits this time of year are Pomegranates. Delicious on their own or over icecream, or even tossed into a salad. There seems to be a lot of conversations and even whole blog posts about the problem of getting the seeds out of the fruit, and yes it does take a little while, but I don't think it is the drama it is made out to be. Just do it on the sink over a bowl! 

I have had a problem the last 12 months trying to sort out photographing in natural light under my new patio. I am finally starting to work it out - amazing what a clear piece of perspex between the sun and the food can do. But this is summer light, I suppose it will be a whole new story in winter! 

Have you ever made a galette? I really encourage you to give it a go if you haven't. Really they are so easy to make. You can just about use any fruit or savoury filling you like. Just roll, pile up, wrap and cook!

To give you a bit more encouragement I found this post at Food52.com - How to make any galette in 7 steps

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday, Travel Photos Monday, Our World Tuesday, Foodie Tuesday, Wednesday Around the World, Travel Photo Thursday, What's It Wednesday, and Oh the Places I've Been. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday
Travel Photo Mondays
Our World Tuesday
Foodie Tuesday 
Wednesday Around the World  
What's It Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
 Oh The Places I've Been

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