strawberry-nectarine puff-pastry galette

I promised you recipes from King Arthur Flour's Blog & Bake, and I keep my promises. Let's start with my favorite: puff pastry.

Making puff pastry from scratch was something I had never even considered. I mean, I've never even bought puff pastry from a store, so this was a totally foreign concept. I either have more impressive baking skills that I realized — ha, right — or I owe this success to King Arthur Flour's easy-to-follow recipe and impressive baking instructors. Because this really was simple. And so delicious.

See up there? Beautiful, puffy layers of pastry.

And also the sweetest, juiciest nectarine I've had in some time. And strawberries! I die.

This is our instructor, Susan Miller. As you can see, she's folded the high-butter-content dough into thirds — like you'd fold a business letter — and is about to roll it out again. You do that twice — that's how this works. Each fold, when baked, rises into puffed up, flaky, amazingly crunchy layers.

Before...

... and after.

Blitz Puff Pastry


recipe from King Arthur Flour 

(You can see step-by-step photo instructions for the dough here, where it's being used in raspberry puff turnovers. Definitely worth the read!)


1 and 1/2 cups (6 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled well and cut into chunks
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream

In a medium bowl, blend the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the chilled butter, leaving larger pieces intact. Incorporate the sour cream; the dough won't be cohesive at this point.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and bring it together with a few quick kneads. Pat the dough into a square and roll it onto an 8x10-inch rectangle, using plenty of flour to keep it from sticking.

Dust the excess flour off the surface of the dough, and fold in three (like a business letter).

Flip the dough over and give it a 90 degree turn, and repeat the process. Chill dough 30 minutes before using.



For each strawberry-nectarine galette (the recipe above yields two):


1/2 recipe blitz puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
2 ripe nectarines
3 strawberries
apricot glaze (optional)

Roll out the puff pastry dough into 1/4-inch thickness, shaping into a rectangle.

Brush the dough lightly with egg wash.

Thinly slice the nectarine and arrange slices, overlapping slightly, onto surface of the pastry, leaving a 1/2-inch border free on all sides. Thinly slice the strawberries and arrange down the center to fill any gaps.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned.

While warm, paint galette with apricot glaze if desired.