blueberry & polenta galette
with a browned butter polenta filling and semolina pastry. October 2023
I spent the weekend away, walking thirty kilometers up the coast line and staying in a friend’s beach house. this dessert was planned to be a) easy to make in an unfamiliar kitchen (no special equipment, tart tins, etc required!), b) transportable with all the components made it advance and brought down, and c) very easy to prepare for four hungry hikers at the end of a big day
I made the galette dough and filling the day before, and then assembled and baked in situ
polenta (cornmeal) and blueberries go so well together, and the browned butter in the frangipane just amps up the toasty flavours
I used fine semolina flour in the dough to tie into the toasty ‘yellow’ flavours, but you could substitute one to one for plain flour
serves four hungry hikers
ingredients
galette base
85g fine semolina flour
3g caster sugar
62g butter, cold
30g greek yoghurt
about 20g cold water
browned butter & polenta frangipane
38g butter
38g caster sugar
20g polenta
18g almond meal
pinch salt
blueberry filling
1.5 cups (about 180g) blueberries
optional: 1 tsp caster sugar
optional: juice of half a lemon
method
galette base
in a medium bowl, add the semolina flour (85g), caster sugar (3g), and cold butter (62g) and rub together with your fingertips (or blitz together in a food processor) until the mixture resembles damp sand
mix in the greek yoghurt (30g), and cold water as required, to just bring the dough together into one mass
press the dough into a rough circle shape, wrap in baking paper and tuck in the fridge
browned butter & polenta frangipane
brown the butter (38g) in a small saucepan until golden and aromatic
meanwhile in a small bowl (or tupperware, for travel), sift together the sugar (38g), polenta (20g), almond meal (18g) and salt (pinch)
once the butter is browned, remove it from the heat and let rest for 2-3 minutes to cool slightly
pour the cooled browned butter into the sugar and polenta mixture, making sure to scrape up all the browned butter bits from the bottom of the pan
mix to combine and then cover and store in the fridge until required
blueberry filling
in a medium bowl, toss the blueberries (1.5 cups) together with the lemon juice (half a lemon) and caster sugar (1 tsp, both optional)
assembly
remove the galette dough from the fridge, unfold the baking paper and roll out the galette dough to a rough circle about 10 inches diameter and 2mm thick
transfer the dough to a baking tray
spoon the frangipane over the middle of the dough, leaving a 1.5 inch border
press the blueberries into the frangipane
fold up the galette borders
optional: sprinkle a little sugar over the pastry before baking
bake for 40-45 minutes (checking from 30 minutes onwards to ensure the crust isn’t burning) or until the filling is cooked through and the pastry is golden brown
cool for 15 minutes to let the filling settle before serving in 4 slices, with optional vanilla ice cream on top
