Gluten Free Strawberry Galettes
These gluten free strawberry galettes are lighter, rustic and full of charm. They have an adaptable sweet crust filled with strawberries.
This recipe for individual strawberry galettes (gluten free) was first published on my original blog, The Culinary Jumble, in June 2016. The content has been updated, and the recipe now includes alternatives (such as using spelt flour).
I’d gazed enviously at other people’s galettes for a while, wanting to try my hand at them, but never really getting round to it. However, that all changed when I had some leftover strawberries (virtually unheard of in our house), and I got to work.
These individual strawberry galettes were so cute. They were by no means perfect, but they are definitely pretty. Rustic, I like to call them. The measurements below made two individual galettes which were easily large enough to share and cut in two if you preferred. They are fairly low in fat and have no refined sugar, making them the perfect summer dessert.
What is a galette?
The word galette comes from the old Norman word for flat cake and it is a broad term used when referring to something that is free-form (although usually round). By this I mean not being placed in a tin or dish. Although we most often associate a galette with pastry, they can also be savoury crepes. One thing that is the same though, is how intentionally rustic they are.
There is nothing more complicated than adding your filling to the centre of rolled out dough. The, you fold over the sides. This means there is no fiddly shaping or cutting the edges off pastry. Because they are so simple to make, galettes are perfect for the novice pastry maker. No blind baking or nervously wondering about a soggy bottom. None of us want one of those, do we? All you need to do is roll it out and turn over the edges. Fool proof.
What kind of fillings can a galette have?
Any. Literally anything you can think of. The only thing you need to be wary of is that your filling is not too runny. I once made a peanut caramel galette, but when baked, the caramel literally ran off the pastry. Unlike a pie, a galette doesn’t have high edges to prevent this from happening. Thick fruit, such as these strawberry galettes are perfect. You could use sliced apples, berries, peaches or pears. The choice is unlimited.
Galettes can also be savoury, and cheese is a popular filling. Here is my recipe for Västerbotten cheese and red onion spelt galette which is very similar to a quiche without high edges.
What flour can you use to make galettes?
Unlike cakes, pastry can be made with any kind of flour. Of course the texture will be different, but because pastry is dense, it makes no real difference to the end result. The original recipe was made using gluten free flour. However, you can make them with the same amount of all-purpose / plain flour, or spelt flour.
If you like this recipe, but want to progress to making a pie with homemade crust, have a look at these easy to make recipes:
- Goats cheese pie (gluten free)
- Chocolate and caramel pie
- Vegetable deep dish pie
- Chicken and ham pies
Gluten Free Strawberry Galettes
Ingredients
Filling:
- 175g (6 oz) strawberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 tbs cornflour
- 2 tbs agave (or honey)
Pie Crust (see note 1):
- 50g (½ cup) sorghum flour
- 25g (2 tbsp) brown rice flour
- 1½ tbs coconut flour
- 25g (3 tbsp) starch (corn, potato or tapioca)
- 2 tbs coconut sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 40g (3 tbsp) butter (cold and chopped into small pieces)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- water (if required)
- two large blackberries for contrast (optional)
- coconut or brown sugar (for sprinkling)
- Greek yoghurt or ice-cream (optional)
Instructions
Filling:
- Heat the strawberries, cornflour and agave syrup (or honey) together in a pan.
- When the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat and let it cook for around 15-20 minutes, just until it has thickened and reduced down. Set to one side.
- Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
Crust:
- In a large bowl, mix all the flours (see note 1), starch, coconut sugar, and cinnamon together
- Chop the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients, rubbing it in until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Beat the egg and add the vanilla extract.
- Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Leave the mixture for a few minutes to see whether any water is required (coconut flour soaks up liquid like a sponge, which is not always apparent when it is initially added).
- The mixture should pull together as a workable dough - if it is crumbly, add a teaspoon of cold water one at a time, just until the right consistency is achieved.
- Divide the mixture into two roughly equal bits (see note 2) and roll each one out on baking paper sprinkled with a little sorghum flour (you may need to place another piece of the top if it becomes too sticky). Don't worry about rolling it out nice and accurately, it's supposed to be rustic.
- Place the strawberries in the middle part of the pastry, leaving a gap all the way around. Make sure there isn't too much juice, as this will make the pastry soggy (I poured some off and used it to drizzle over Greek yoghurt before serving).
- Gently pull the outer edges up over the fruit (again, it doesn't have to be perfect). If you are using the gluten free flours I've mentioned, you might find that some cracks or holes develop, just pinch the pastry together to seal them. Pastry made with regular or spelt flour will not have this issue.
- Top each one with a large blackberry (entirely optional, but it gives the galettes a little contrast in colour).
- Sprinkle with a little coconut sugar and bake for around 25-30 minutes, until the pastry has browned and the fruit mixture is bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a while before serving (they also taste great cold). Pour over a little Greek yoghurt or ice-cream and some of the retained strawberry juice. Enjoy!
Notes
- These galettes were made using a mixture of gluten free flours. You can use spelt, regular, or a combination of gluten free flours, measuring 80g / ⅔ cup (you may need to adjust the amount of water used).
- I made two small galettes. However, you could just as easily make one large galette.