Strawberry and Star Anise Galette

Make the basic galette/pie dough:
Whisk together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add cubed butter and toss with your hands to cut. Squish the butter cubes in your fingers into pieces roughly the size of walnut halves.

Add water a few tablespoons at a time and mix with your hands so that the dough comes together. Form ball into a 1-2"H disk.

Wrap the disk in plastic and chill for a minimum of an hour, or preferably overnight.


Make the strawberry and star anise galette
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Chill mixing bowl for homemade whipped cream preparation later.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch, star anise, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract. Sprinkle lemon juice on sliced strawberries and dark cherries, then add them to the sugar mixture. Gently toss fruit until evenly coated. Set strawberry and cherry mixture aside.

Dust flour on a cool, dry surface for rolling out dough. Retrieve basic galette dough from refrigerator after sufficiently chilled (for a minimum of 1 hour). Using a rolling pin, press and roll the dough disc from the middle to both ends, eventually shaping it into rough circle (approximately 12” in diameter). Transfer to a large parchment lined baking sheet.

Carefully spoon the fruit mixture into the middle of the galette dough, leaving an approximately 2” border around the filling.

Fold in the edges of the dough, crimping sections as needed avoiding gaps or tears as much as possible to reduce leaks.

Brush dough edges with egg wash (whisked egg plus 1 tbsp of water) and sprinkle turbinado sugar.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Timing will depend on thickness of the galette.

While galette bakes prepare your homemade whipped cream. Fill a medium sized mixing bowl with 8 oz of heavy whipping cream. Add powdered sugar. Using a standing mixer, whip until forms soft peaks.

Serve galette warm, not hot. Top with whipped cream and a strawberry slice.

For the basic galette/pie dough:
Stay COLD
It is important that all ingredients remain cold. If your fingers warm and melt the butter at any time, place the whole mix in the freezer for 10 minutes to re-chill. Some cooks like to chill the rolled out crust once on a baking sheet or even the fully prepared galette prior to baking.

Don’t OVERHYDRATE
This will make your dough very sticky when it’s time to roll it out. Ideally your dough ball won’t be as uniformly moistened as something like cookie dough batter. Instead the dough ball might feel like it could come apart as you’re wrapping it in cellophane.

Make AHEAD
You can double wrap your dough ball and freeze for a few days. You can put it in a freezer bag or aluminum foil for extra protection.