Summer Fruit Galette

In need  of a quick seasonal dessert? I pulled a round of pastry out of the freezer that was leftover from that Perfect Cherry Pie last week and had this delicious galette in the oven in no time. This one used the fruit that I had on hand at the time but you can mix up the mix of fruits and berries to suit your taste or what's in season. Blueberries, raspberries, cherries and nectarines are all also good choices. A big scoop of good vanilla ice cream goes amazingly well too.
The photo above shows this simply constructed rustic tart ready for the oven. The slice below served as my breakfast this morning which gave me the thought that this would be a fantastic dessert for a summer weekend brunch too. I like the pastry to be pretty thick so that the slices can actually be hand-held, which is great if you want to take it along on a picnic too.

Butter Pastry

1 cup very cold butter cut in small cubes
2 ½ cups flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water (Only enough to make a dough form.)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Using a food processor or a pastry blender cut cold butter into flour, brown sugar and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Small pieces of butter should still be visible. Pour vanilla into cold water then pour over the mixture and work in by tossing with a fork until dough begins to form. Use your hands as little as possible and work the dough as little as possible.

Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten into 2 rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes.You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.

Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place it on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Mix together

1 1/2 cups halved strawberries
1 cup plum slices
1 cup peach slices
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 rounded tbsp corn starch
pinch salt

Pile the fruit mixture in the center of the pastry and then just simply bring the edges of the dough up over the fruit, overlapping and gathering the pastry as needed to form about a 2 1/2 inch edge crust.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling at the center. Allow to cool for at least a half hour before cutting.