Rosewater is the secret ingredient that makes these strawberry rhubarb galettes in a flaky whole-grain gluten-free crust taste like pure magic. Adapted from Sweeter Off the Vine by Yossy Arefi.
I'm listening to Gregorian chants while I edit photos of these flaky little pielets. Choral music often helps me focus, but today it seems especially fitting because biting into one of these sweet treats, especially when warm from the oven and smothered in drippy ice cream, is a religious experience. Crisp crust shatters against tender fruit, and flavors emerge one after another: floral vanilla, tart rhubarb, sweet berries, earthy oat and millet flours, butter, lemon, and finally a whiff of perfumy rose that forces you to take another bite, then another, before you can stop yourself.
At least, this is how I spent my afternoon yesterday, après-shoot, licking ice cream and red juice off my fingers while sitting on the couch and being stared at by a hungry cat.
The base recipe comes from Sweeter Off the Vine: Fruit Desserts for Every Season, by the inimitable Yossy Arefi. If you haven't watched the trailer yet, you must – it's a work of art. And Bay Area peeps – don't miss Yossy's booksigning at Omnivore Books in San Francisco on Thursday May 5th, 2016.
The original recipe pairs batons of rhubarb with lemon, vanilla bean, and rosewater in an über-flaky crust (which Sam captured so beautifully here). I traded in my favorite gluten-free crust recipe, which has a few secret ingredients of its own. A handful of flours including oat and millet form a flavorful base, chia seed takes the place of the usual gums to hold the dough together in flaky layers, and buttermilk adds tenderness. When given a fraisage and a turn in the manner of puff pastry, the result tastes just like a whole-wheat pie crust. In fact, I literally forget that it's gluten-free every time I take a bite of it. I've used this dough for pie, pie, and more pie, rustic tarts, tarte tatin, and sweet and savory galettes. I have some fun alternative flour variations in my upcoming book, whose new cover shows off the pie dough, too. And so does Yossy, who gives variations of her flaky dough made with with rye and spelt flours in her book – YUM.
We got a bundle of beautiful rhubarb stalks from Mary, Jay's mom, when we visited her thriving garden in Corralitos last weekend, so I turned to Yossy's book for inspiration. In her intro to the recipe she writes, "Rhubarb galettes are almost always my first baking project each spring because they combine my favorite ingredient (rhubarb) and with my favorite preparation, galettes." A baker after my own heart! At the last minute, I decided to throw strawberries in the mix because: strawberries. They turned out to pair beautifully with the sweet/tart/floral flavors going on. I also made a version with raspberries, but the strawberries were our favorite.
Yossy pairs her galettes with a plume of whipped cream flavored with a splash of rosewater, which is heavenly, and we also like these with a scoop of ice cream. We brought three of these to our upstairs neighbors and their seven-year-old daughter, and within moments they sent the following: "Wow, that went fast. We had to restrain ourselves and save one for Mila's breakfast." Then Mila asked for the recipe.
I've made three batches of these in the last week, and along the way I've jotted down some extra tips and tricks to working with galettes:
- Have a ruler handy to measure the dough rounds. If you roll them too thin, they won't have enough thickness to hold in the juices from the fruit. Too thick, and they'll be difficult to shape.
- A 6" plate or bowl makes a handy template for trimming the dough into even rounds. Just place it, top down, on the dough round and use a pizza wheel to trim away the excess dough.
- Wait until the last minute to add the sugar mixture to the fruit mixture. The sugar draws out the juices in the berries, and when you spoon the juicy fruit onto the galettes, it will want to run all over the place. So have everything else ready to go – egg wash, oven temp, chilled dough rounds, parchment-lined baking sheets – before you toss the fruit with the sugar.
- Hold back some of the fruit to tuck into the galettes after you shape them.
- Keep your dough cool, but not too cold. You want the butter to stay firm – it's the steam rising from distinct layers of butter that gives it flaky layers. But too cold, and the dough will crack when you fold it up around the fruit. Cracking means more room for all those glorious juices to run out onto the pan, where they will burn and cement the galette to the parchment paper, neither of which we want. So take care to let your dough rounds soften enough to become pliable, then work quickly to keep them cool.
- When pleating round galettes like these, they'll look tidiest if the pleats all go in the same direction. But it's more important to work quickly to keep the butter in the dough cool.
- Remove the galettes from the baking sheets onto a cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven; any drippy juices that have caramelized on the pan will cause the parchment paper to stick as they cool, and that is super annoying.
As much as I love pie, galettes have a few advantages over a full-sized pie. First, they're smaller and more portable, easy to wrap up and take on a picnic or to a party. Secondly, they have a higher crust-to-fruit ratio for you crust lovers out there. And third, you don't have to wait as long for them to cool. Cut into a still-warm pie, and you'll find yourself swimming in fruit soup. But galettes cool within minutes meaning pie in your face sooner.
With a scoop of ice cream melting over the top, a bite of these warm galettes is as transcendent as a thousand angels singing in a church with really amazing acoustics. (Or maybe that's just my Pandora station...) I imagine they would be just as delicious made with apricots, peaches, or plums.
Yossy's innovative flavor combinations and classic pastries make me want to run to the kitchen to make each and every recipe from her book. Some of the ones at the top of my list are:
- Rangpur Lime Bars with Saffron
- Caramel-Swirled Roasted Squash Ice Cream
- Pear Pie with Crème Fraîche Caramel
- Plum Pie with Hazelnut Crumb
- Black Fruit Tart in a Buckwheat Crust
- Apricot and Berry Galette with Saffron Sugar
- Cherry and Rhubarb Slab Pie
- Lemon Verbena Olive Oil Cake
And I've been experimenting with an alternative flour version of her Brown Butter Date Blondies that we ate way too many of this past week and still want mooooooore...
More Rhubarb Recipes:
- Low-sugar strawberry-rhubarb jam with maple & chia
- Rustic Rhubarb Almond Honey Tart {gluten-free}
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble {gluten-free}
- Rhubarb Bourbon Brown Butter Tart
- Ginger Rhubarb Bee's Knees
- Rhubarb Chutney
- Rhubarb Buckle
- Apple Rhubarb Crisp with Maple and Ginger (gluten-free & vegan options)
- Brown Butter Rhubarb Squares
- Rhubarb Chevre Galettes
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this strawberry rhubarb galette recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Strawberry Rhubarb Rose Galettes {gluten-free}
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Crust:
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp ice water, more as needed (90 ml)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp well-shaken buttermilk (90 ml)
- 3/4 cup sweet white rice flour (110 g)
- 1/2 cup GF oat flour, plus extra for rolling the dough (55 g)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp millet flour (50 g)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cornstarch (45 g)
- 3 tbsp tapioca flour (25 g)
- 4 tbsp finely ground white chia seed (25 g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp organic granulated cane sugar (20 g)
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 12 tbsp cold, unsalted butter (preferably European style such as Straus Family Creamery), sliced 1⁄4" (6 mm) thick (170 g)
Filling:
- 3/4 cup organic granulated cane sugar (150 g)
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
- zest of 1 medium lemon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (12 g)
- big pinch fine sea salt
- 12 ounces rhubarb, trimmed, sliced 1/4" thick on the diagonal (scant 3 cups) (340 g)
- 12 ounces strawberries, stemmed, halved or quartered (scant 3 cups) (340 g)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rosewater (20 ml)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (15 ml)
- 1 egg, beaten well, for egg wash
- coarse sugar such as demerara or turbinado, for sprinkling (or more organic granulated sugar)
- vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Combine the ice water and buttermilk in a measuring pitcher and chill until needed. In a large bowl, combine the sweet rice, oat, and millet flours with the cornstarch, tapioca flour, ground chia seed, sugar, and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the top, and work in with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles gravel, with lots of butter chunks the size of peas and almonds.
- Drizzle the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing the dough with a flexible silicone spatula to moisten evenly. Add just enough water for the dough to hold together when you give it a squeeze, and add it directly to the dry floury bits that like to hang out on the bottom of the bowl; you may not need all of the mixture, or you may need to add more ice water.
- At this point you can do one of two things:
- -Knead the dough in the bowl 10-20 times to bring it together.
- -Dump the dough out onto the counter and fraisage by dragging portions of the dough across the counter with the heel of your hand (this makes for a flakier dough).
- Either way, gather the dough up into a ball (a metal bench scraper helps if using the fraisage method) wrap it loosely in plastic wrap, and flatten it into a disk. Chill the dough 30 minutes.
- Optionally, for extra flake, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, dusting on top and underneath the dough as you work to prevent sticking, until it is a scant 1/4" thick; the dimensions don't matter. Fold the dough into thirds like you're folding a letter, then fold again into thirds. The dough may crack, and this is ok. Wrap the dough and chill until cold, at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.
- On a lightly floured surface, press and roll the dough into a square, then cut the square in thirds both ways to make 9 squares. Roll each square into a circle 6" in diameter and 1/8" thick. Use a pizza wheel to trim the dough into an even round, and stack the rounds on a plate, dusted with a bit of flour to prevent sticking. Chill until cold, 30 minutes, or wrap and chill up to 1 day.
- Position racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 425ºF. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Make the filling:
- Place the sugar in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla seeds and lemon zest and rub with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened. Whisk in the cornstarch and salt. In a large bowl, combine the prepared rhubarb and strawberries and toss with the rosewater and lemon juice.
- Lay the dough rounds on the prepared baking sheets and let stand for a few minutes to soften a bit. Have the egg wash and coarse sugar standing by. Working quickly so the fruit doesn't lose too much juice, toss the fruit mixture with the sugar mixture to coat. Divide the mixture among the dough rounds, mounding it in the center and leaving 1" on all sides; you may not need all the fruit at this point. Fold up the edge of each dough round around the fruit, leaving a 2" window in the center and pleating the dough as you go, and press down to flatten slightly. Tuck in some of the extra fruit, and spoon over any juices left in the bowl. Brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sugar.
- Bake the galettes until the dough is golden and crisp and the fruit is bubbling, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through, 30-35 minutes total. While still hot, remove the galettes from the baking sheet to a cooling rack. Let cool to warm, then serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if you like.
- The galettes are best the day of baking but extras will keep at room temperature for up to 1 day or refrigerated airtight for up to 3 days. Reheat before serving for best results.
Notes
Nutrition
Oh my goodness, such utter loveliness! Springtime and galettes go so well together and these look like they'd be major crowd pleasers!
I've been looking for a simple, but perfect way to use the strawberry/rhubarb combo, I think this is it!
You had me at 'roses' and anyway I'd eat anything baked into this pie crust.
This is so gorgeous! I can't wait to get deeper into galette season!
Strawberries & rose water = heaven. I used it in a mix with mascarpone for making tartlets lately, but your version with rhubarb adds another kick to it all. Love it!
Rosewater is such an inspired addition! I love these.
These look absolutely magical!
I adore your individual galettes! Can you believe I've never used rose water before? I've seen it at the store and was so close to buying some, but I didn't. Obviously, it was a big mistake. Need to remedy that immediately!
I heart galettes, and all of the rustic-ness they portrait :)
These are like beautiful little gifts. And I'd really love to have just one!
Absolutely gorgeous, what a lovely spring dessert!
I have her book and can't wait to start baking from it! This looks and sounds so good!
These are such gorgeous little parcels of spring fruit Alanna! All those pinky-red juices tucked together - rhubarb and strawberries are such perfect partners, aren't they - tart and sweet all at once. I made similar mini galettes last year with an oat-crusted pastry inspired by Betty at bettysliu, but they weren't quite as precise as yours! I can't believe they are gluten free too - Yossy's book sounds amazing!
You know, I should try listening to gregorian chants more--or should I say, start listening to them again? my husband and I used to have it randomly in the background and it was a nice, eery feeling....haha. And these are just flawless girl!
I am the biggest fan of combining fruit and flowers, and these tarts are just utterly perfect to me. So in love with this one, Alanna. Yossi's book sounds like a delight!
PLEASE HELP ANYONE! The crust surrounding my fruit always falls in the oven, leaving the pastry completely flat like a cookie. It happens every time I make a mini galette about this size. Any of you beautiful people have any suggestions or thoughts of what Im doing WRONG?
Hello! Do you know any possible substitute for the sweet white rice flour? It is impossible to find in Germany...
Hi Marta, Ugh, I wish it weren't so hard to get - it's the best for GF baking! If you have access to Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 blend, that is based on sweet rice flour. I also think a blend of tapioca and white rice flour could work, I'm just not sure of the quantities. Please let me know if you experiment and what you come up with. :)
Hi Alanna, thanks for your fast reply! Unfortunately I don't have access to Bob's Red Mill flours here... What about grinding my own flour from rice pudding rice?
Hm, well, sweet rice flour is made from sticky/glutinous rice which is stickier than short grain rice. I'm also worried that if you grind your own flour, it could be coarser than the flour I used to develop this recipe and produce a gritty result. I feel like the regular rice flour combined with tapioca flour might be your best bet, or another GF AP blend. Please let me know what you try!
Perfect! The sweet of strawberries combine with the cold of ice-cream make me cannot forget.
thank you very much. I very like strawberries. And Rosewater is such an inspired addition. very great!!
Such an amazing images! I also need to try the recipe!
If I wanted to assemble these a day in advance, would it work if I placed the formed galettes on the pans into the freezer overnight and then baked them off the next day? I am making mass quantities of these so I am trying to think of the best prep plan to account for this! Thank you!
I think that should work!
Too pretty to eat! OK, not really.
I had a similar question like Malaka. The dough is breaking while folding. I tried 3 times this weekend, actually! First, I thought it was too cold so next time I let it sit longer. But the problem persists. Is it because it’s Gluten Free?
It tastes fine, but does not hold the shape like yours. Where am I doing wrong?
Does the recipe require fresh strawberries or would frozen work?
I've never tried with frozen. I *think* it should work, but the strawberries might be more watery and require more thickener. Please let me know if you try!
Definitely more thickener. My son picked this for his birthday dessert. It was a hit!! Thanks! Though I did learn the hard way that trying to grind chia seeds by hand is not worth it. Buying already ground next time!
So glad it was a success, though I'm sorry grinding the seeds was difficult. I use a coffee grinder and it works great!
I really want to try your pie crust but am allergic to corn. Have you tried any other substitute that worked out well? I love the idea galettes but haven’t tried pie crust of any kind since going gluten free. Also, how long do you think something made with this crust would keep? Am thinking of making these for my little farmer’s market biz. Looking forward to your thoughts!
Aw that's so sweet! You could try using arrowroot or more tapioca or sweet rice flour? I've used potato starch but it makes the crust soggy after a few hours so I wouldn't recommend it. Let me know what you try!
Finally I tried a gluten free pie crust! I’ve been intimidated by it since I never really liked making it with wheat flour. I used the black chia seeds as that was all I had and I tried your fraisage method. The first two I baked resulted in a bottom crust that was, shall we say, a bit firm. So I baked them for less time (about 5 minutes less) each rotation. That made it much more tender and easy to cut. I also used peaches for the filling and that was so good! I rolled out the rest, separated them with parchment and enjoyed baking the rest of them 2 at a time throughout the week. It was such a treat to have! I am looking forward to making this again and fine tuning my technique. Your recipes are wonderful!
I'm so glad it was a success in spite of the "firm" bottoms the first time around! I'm glad the shorter baking time solved the problem. Yay!