Mixed Berry Galette (with Foolproof Pastry)
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This mixed berry galette is incredibly easy to make and couldn’t be more summery or delicious. The homemade pastry dough is buttery, flaky and truly foolproof to assemble. Make this recipe using whatever fruit is in season — it’s particularly good with a mix of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
Last August, I published yet another galette recipe here on Alexandra’s Kitchen. With the birth of this sixth galette baby, I thought my galette family of recipes was complete, the collection including both sweet and savory characters with personalities ranging from citrus-scented to bourbon-spiked, their birthdays spanning the seasons.
But last week, in preparation for a galette-making class I was teaching, I found myself facing this predicament: stone fruit, my favorite to use in this dessert, are not yet in season, but rhubarb, currently abounding at the market, is not everybody’s favorite.
This left me with the berry category, a logical choice this time of year, but I had never made a galette with berries — shocking, I know — and, if I’m being honest, I was feeling a little daunted by the potential experiments before me: Would blueberries alone be boring? Would I need to use cornstarch? Lemon? If I used a variety of berries, what would be the optimal mix?
In other words: How many darn galettes would I have to make before my class to get it right?
It turns out just two! At the start of the week, I made one with all blueberries. Remembering a text and a photo from my cousin Kristina last summer, who had made a blueberry galette without cornstarch or lemon, I chose to do the same. It turned out beautifully — the berries didn’t release enough juices to warrant using a thickening agent, and because the berries in this recipe aren’t tossed with any sugar, it didn’t taste too sweet.
That said, although it was delicious and quickly demolished, I found myself wanting more variety both in texture and flavor. And so on the night of my class, I made a galette with a mix of berries: equal parts blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, about a pound altogether.
Friends! I know better than to pick a favorite child, but that gal was my favorite to date. The recipe is below. Hope you love her, too!
How to Make a Berry Galette: An Overview
There are three elements in this galette: the pastry, the frangipane, and the fruit. Let’s explore each one.
The Pastry
The food processor method shared here truly is foolproof — if you have struggled with pie dough in the past, please give this recipe and method a try. It is the only recipe I use for all of my pies, tarts, galettes, etc. — anytime I need a flaky, buttery pastry shell, this is the recipe I use.
The pastry recipe comes from David Lebovitz, but I learned the method from a French woman, Caroline Cazaumayou. I’ve shared the story before, so I’ll briefly sum it up: Caroline makes her pastry in the food processor, pulsing the dough as minimally as possible, then uses a tea towel to shape the dough into a perfect round.
This tea towel trick achieves two things:
- A tender crust, because the crumbly dough ensures it has not been over worked.
- A perfectly round shape, the ideal starting point for many a pie and/or tart.
The Frangipane.
Frangipane is an almond-flavored creamy filling made with ground almonds or, as here, almond flour, softened butter, sugar, eggs, and often some sort of flavoring such as vanilla, rum, or Bourbon. It’s a cinch to mix together, and in this recipe, you’ll make it in the food processor immediately after you make the pastry dough, no need to wash it in between 🎉🎉🎉
You can make this galette without the frangipane, though its inclusion makes for a particularly tasty galette. Not only does the almond flavor pair so nicely with the fruit, the creaminess adds a lovely textural element as well.
The Fruit.
As noted above, you can use any number of fruit in this recipe, but there is something really nice about the combination of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries not only from a taste perspective but also visually and texturally.
Unlike fruit pies, which often call for some sort of thickening agent such as cornstarch and some sort of acid such as lemon to balance the sweetness, galettes do not.
Find links below to other galette recipes that use other fruits (and vegetables!).
5 More Galette Recipes to Make
- Rhubarb-Frangipane Galette
- Peach-Frangipane Galette
- Peach-Frangipane Slab Galette
- Apple-Frangipane Galette
- Savory Galette with Corn and Tomatoes
I love serving this galette with vanilla ice cream or slightly salted whipped cream. See the notes in the recipe for how to make the whipped cream from scratch.
To me this dessert is heaven.
Mixed Berry Galette (with Foolproof Pastry)
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: serves 8
Description
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s recipe from Fine Cooking.
You can use this recipe as a guide, substituting in whatever fruit you love for the berries. Here are a few variations I love: rhubarb, peach, apple.
To make whipped cream from scratch: Whip 1 cup heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft peaks begin to form. (You can do this by hand, too, with a bowl and whisk.) Add confectioner’s sugar — start with 1/4 cup and add more to taste. Add a big pinch of sea salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat to combine and until the peaks begin getting firmer. Taste — the mixture should be slightly sweet and the salt should be noticeable, though the whipped cream should not taste salty.
Ingredients
For the tart dough:
- 1 1/4 cups (160 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon table or kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (114 g) cold, cubed butter, salted or unsalted
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (71 g) ice water
For the frangipane:
- 1/2 cup (60 g) almond flour
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) sugar
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) butter at room temperature
- 1 egg (small if possible)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla, rum, brandy or bourbon
For assembly:
- 1 lb. berries (about 3 cups) — I like to use a mix of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, turbinado is nice
- vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream for serving, see notes above for making whipped cream from scratch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF and place a rack in the center of the oven. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched.
- Lay a clean tea towel on a work surface. Dump the crumbly dough mixture into the center. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a disk. Use your hands to pack and pat the disk together. Transfer to fridge.
- Don’t wash the food processor! Combine almond flour, sugar, salt, butter, egg, and vanilla or alcohol in the dirty bowl of the food processor. Purée until smooth. Set aside
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12- or 13-inch round. Use as much flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking, and every few rolls, flip the dough over. Transfer dough to a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheetpan. Spoon the frangipane into the center leaving a 1- to 2-inch border. Spread the berries evenly over the frangipane. Fold the exposed edge of dough towards the center to make a rustic enclosure. Brush the edge of the dough with melted butter. Drizzle the remainder over the exposed berries. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top. If time permits, refrigerate the galette for 30 minutes — this prevents the butter from seeping out of the crust as it bakes.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden. Remove pan from the oven and let rest on cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes or until Silpat or paper is cool enough to handle. Grab the edges of the paper or Silpat and slide to a cooling rack to cool further or to a cutting board to serve. Cut into wedges. Serve on its own or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, French
Keywords: mixed, berry, galette, summer, fruit, frangipane, pastry
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
104 Comments on “Mixed Berry Galette (with Foolproof Pastry)”
Can you use frozen berries, do you have to let them thaw?
Hi Mary! Yes, I would thaw and let them drain for a bit before using to get rid of the excess liquid — if you don’t thaw them, I worry the bottom of the galette could get a little soggy.
Loved your video on the berry galette. Your videos are so good! And yes I could smell it while it was bubbling.
I make pastry the same way, using a very similar recipe from Patricia Wells from a NY Times article. But she uses bleached flour which does make a different crust than using unbleached flour. I think she did that because it was the closest to the flour she uses in France. I never used bleached before that and I have to say its always a hit.
Since I normally use frozen berries that I accumulate during the summer, I put the frozen berries in a bowl with a small amount of sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and a tablespoon or so of minute tapioca and let them sit while I make the pastry. It helps soften the tapioca and thicken the juices when it bakes.
I hope that those who are “crust challenged” try your recipe after watching this video and seeing how simple it is.
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Thank you! And so interesting re bleached flour. As I adore Patricia Wells, I will absolutely give it a try. I met her a few years ago in Paris. It was so much fun 🙂
Thank you so much for the tips regarding the tapioca and your process — so helpful for others. I am going to try to experiment with frozen berries this week.
And thanks for encouraging the “crust challenged” to give this a go 🙂 🙂 🙂
Easy to make.(Thanks to your video). Smells incredible—can’t wait to try a piece.
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Oh yay! Wonderful to hear this, Cherie! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Made it. Love it. Everything is always a freaking winner!! Totally made this during my WFH lunch and still had enough time to eat lunch. Eating now. Posted on IG and tagged you 🙂
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Oh yay!! I didn’t know that was you. Thanks for letting me know. It’s absolutely gorgeous!!
foolproof is wonderful! Love the tea towel technique, thank you for sharing it, love the precise measurements too, when you could have just wrote 1/4 cup ice water, you precisely note 1/4 cup plus one tablespoon! Much appreciated!
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💕💕💕💕💕💕
I made this today and just loved it! I’ve always ignored recipes with frangipani because they all had almond extract, a flavor I do not like at all. But this one had me at vanilla or bourbon!
Non-dairy hack: I used homemade ghee. 90 grams of ghee for the crust. (If you use 114 g it will come out too greasy because butter is at least 15% water. That said, I don’t add extra water.) I used 2T of ghee in frangipani.
When it came out of the oven I thought it might be a little to soupy but 15 minutes later it was just right.
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Oh yay, Claire!! Great to hear all of this. And thank you so much for sharing your non-dairy hacks! So helpful for others. I wouldn’t have thought to cut the amount back, but that makes total sense. I’m with you on the almond extract — it’s often too perfume-y for me 🙂 🙂 🙂
Through years of experimenting with non-dairy conversions in baking (because I don’t like Earth Balance or others like that) I knew a little less ghee worked better but it wasn’t until I read the part of butter being 15% water that it made sense to me.
Note to readers about ghee: The process of making ghee removes the milk solids from butter, the casein. That’s what we’re trying to avoid in this house.
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Thanks for the follow-up note Claire!
Great recipe! I altered the filling by adding some almond paste and using a little less butter, so I don’t think the consistency was altered.
Great to hear, Robin! Thanks for writing!
Wait, who doesn’t like rhubarb? Will attempt a blueberries + rhubarb = bluebarb galette sometime this week, thanks for the periodic galette reminders.
Shocking, I know! Blueberries + rhubarb will be amazing!
Can the dough keep in fridge overnight before completing recipe please?
Yes, absolutely! Apologies for the delay here!
I love this recipe. Can the frangipane be doubled and then frozen?
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Hi Jane! I have never frozen the frangipane alone, but I have frozen the assembled galette pre-baking, and it freezes just fine, so I imagine freezing the frangipane on its own would work just fine, too. Go for it!
This was very easy and delicious! I made it vegan by using Miyoko’s butter in the crust and a flax egg for the frangipane. The crust was amazing! It did not brown up as much as in your photos, but I’m guessing that’s b/c of the non-dairy butter. I want to try some savory versions next. Thanks for another great recipe!
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Oh wow, that’s awesome Priscilla! My vegan friend Gena introduced me to Miyoko’s feta, and it is heaven! I’ll have to try the butter next. Thanks so much for writing and sharing this.
Made this Galette with fresh cherries. Was so wonderful, not too sweet and the crust so flaky and flavourful. An overall sublime experience with endless possibilities.
Will definitely make it again and again. A true keeper.
Thank you Alexandra for such a fantastic recipe!
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Wonderful to hear this, Lucie! Thanks so much for writing! Cherries sound awesome. Can’t believe I haven’t tried this yet.
My husband wanted this for his birthday dessert. I am mildly pie crust phobic so anytime there is a promise of making the process easier and better, I’m in.
This is better than promised! Oh, so delicious. And versatile! It’s in the desserts rotation now.
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Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Nancy!! Makes me happy 🙂 🙂 🙂 Happy Birthday to the hubs!
Two comments: I noticed that the dimensions of the galette differ from the video and the written recipe. Does it matter? Also, I have the pie in the oven at the moment and I am noticing lots of butter oozing out of the dough onto the pan. I noticed that when I was rolling the dough, there were many pieces of butter very noticeable in the dough. I had to bake it about 10 minutes longer to brown, it looks ok, but haven’t tasted it yet. Perhaps I should process it a bit more next time??
PS- make your bagels all the time! Never use any other recipe!
Hi Sara! Apologies for the delay here. Yes, it sounds as though you need to process the dough a bit more. There should not be lots of butter pieces noticeable when you are rolling out the dough — this is what is causing the butter to ooze. Some oozing is normal; but a lot of oozing is not.
The dimension of the dough round will not affect the oozing situation, but I should fix that bc that’s confusing … will edit now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Just made the galette. I noticed that there is a discrepancy between the written recipe and the video as far as the dimensions of the dough. Not sure if that matters. I did notice that i saw a lot of butter in the dough as I was rolling, that was not incorporated into the dough. Not sure whether I should pulse it more next time. I also noticed the butter “leaking” from the galette as it was baking. I let it bake about 10 more minutes to brown and the butter seemed to resorb into the dough. It was crispy, but I found that I could have used more sugar to sweeten the berries.
I will try again. I use your bagel recipe all the time- I know I’l get the galette right too.
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Hi Sara! Apologies for the delay here. Yes, it sounds as though you need to process the dough a bit more. There should not be lots of butter pieces noticeable when you are rolling out the dough — this is what is causing the butter to ooze. Some oozing is normal; but a lot of oozing is not.
The dimension of the dough round will not affect the oozing situation, but I should fix that bc that’s confusing … will edit now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Great to hear you like the bagels! Hope you find success with this one, too.
First off, I love all your recipes! I particularly like this method of using a tea towel – my only question is whether the oozing butter while baking is normal? I have the galette in the oven now and remembered that a pie I made a few months back using your recipe seemed to also ooze butter on the top of my pumpkin pie:) granted it was delicious I’m just wondering if I should try a different brand of butter? Am I doing something wrong? Nonetheless, I’m very excited to try this berry galette with Frangipane it smells delicious!!!! 💗
Hi Suzanne! Apologies for the delay here! Thank you for the kind words 🙂
Sorry to hear about the butter oozing! With pies and galettes, some butter definitely will ooze, which is normal, but if it’s oozing a lot, something’s not right. What brand of butter are you using? I think it has more to do with process than with the butter. Are you using a food processor? Part of me wonders if you are not getting the butter into small enough pieces. Did you have any trouble rolling out the dough?
This was simple, fast, and absolutely delightful that I made it for my birthday family gathering, and served it with a scoop of bourbon vanilla ice cream.
I don’t have a food processor that large, so I made the dough with a potato smasher thingamajigger, then used the fork, and proceeded as you instructed. The hardest thing was waiting for it to cool down, and every single scrumptious bite of it was eaten at the spot.
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So wonderful to hear all of this, Lili! Great to hear you were able to make the dough recipe work without a food processor. Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Best Recipe ever!!!
I made my crostata with blueberries and canned peaches and for the frangipane i used 2 egg yolks instead -since i can’t eat egg whites- and used marsala instead of rum and it was amazing.
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Great to hear this, B! That all sounds so delicious. Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂 🙂 🙂
The recipe is super delicious. Can’t wait to try. However, Almond flour is not easily available in stores, any alternative you can suggest?
Also, can I divide the recipe by half? For a tester? There is big party coming up, and i want to serve this.
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Hi! Yes, absolutely make a half recipe. You can grind almonds yourself in your food processor… the texture of the frangipane won’t be as fine, but that will work.
A crowd pleaser !!! Thank you Alexi.. The galette was super hit at the party. Perfect dough and yummy filling.. I got so many compliments. Thanks for responding to my questions. Love your recipes. They are so simple to follow packed with great flavours n
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So great to hear this! Thanks so much for reporting back 🙂
Will be making this for Father’s Day, I see below you wrote it can be frozen (pre-baked) which would be a great time saver…Should it defrost before baking?
Thanks.
Hi! And yes, definitely. Thaw the round in the fridge overnight — you can transfer it to the fridge two days before you plan on baking to ensure it thaws sufficiently. Then proceed with rolling, etc.
I love every recipe of yours! It all started with your focaccia! Thank you!
About the Mixed Berry Galette. I’ve made it with apples and pears. Can I use frozen berries? Does anything need to be modified?
Thanks so much for your amazing content! OH! And your book. ❤️
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Awww so nice to hear this 🙂 🙂 🙂 You can definitely use frozen berries. No need to thaw first. No other modifications are required. I hope you love it!
This recipe looks divine. I’m always looking for recipes with low sugar so I will definitely try this. It’s Winter here, so I wonder if frozen berries would work?
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Definitely! Go for it.
This looks so so so delicious! I can’t wait to try it . I would be very appreciative if you’d share the name or link of your tea towels. Hard to find a true , good quality tea towel. Please share ! Thank you!!
Hi Nelly! They’re from Dot and Army: https://www.dotandarmy.com/products/flour-sack-towels-set-of-3
Alexandra, I made this today and we have just eaten 3/4 of it between us, it is utterly delicious very flaky and buttery, I used nectarines, and only having raw whole almonds just ground them up and used in the frangipan, it worked very well. I am thinking of trying a savoury one next weekend, thank you for so many wonderful recipes, especially the veggie ones, take care , Jennie
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Great to hear, Jennie! I love nectarines in this galette. Thanks so much for writing and sharing 🙂 🙂 🙂
My daughter and I made this delicious dessert for Father’s Day this evening. Delightful! Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful to hear, Sharie! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Would you have a link for the tea towels you use? Can’t wait to try this.
Terry
Yes! They’re from Dot and Army: https://www.dotandarmy.com/products/flour-sack-towels-set-of-3
Love them.
I have always struggled making pastry dough and this recipe was easy and super flaky…we’re talking croissant level flakes here people. Wow. Thank you! This will be my new go to! But a couple questions- My frangipane was pretty thick–yours looks pourable! Maybe my butter wasn’t room temp? Also-the flavor wasn’t very pronounced 🙁 It was lost in the galette. Wondering if that was maybe due to sub-par almond flour? Any suggestions from my favorite baker? 🙂
Great to hear about the pastry, Laura! Regarding the frangipane, it’s definitely possible your butter wasn’t soft enough or that your almond flour was a different coarseness than the finely ground stuff I’ve been using. A few thoughts: you could add a bigger pinch of salt and a splash of almond extract. I never use almond extract because I find it to be overpowering, but if you like the almond flavor, and if that’s what you’re looking for, I think a 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon would add some flavor.
Next time if your butter isn’t soft enough, too, you could melt 1 tablespoon of it, and mix it with the 1 tablespoon of not-quite softened butter.
Hope that helps! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you thank you thank you! My family begs me to make pies, but a butter pie crust is such a pain to make, I rarely do. Now that I’ve tried your method, I will make pies every week! So easy and so good!! Super buttery and flakey! I love your website!
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So wonderful to read all of this, Crabby! Thank you for your kind words. Happy Baking!
P.S. I like to roll my dough out on the parchment paper. I don’t have to worry about it sticking, and it’s so much easier to transfer over to your baking sheet. Then after you fill it, you can use the paper to help fold up the edges which makes it easier also.
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Smart! Great tip 🙂 🙂 🙂
Absolutely fabulous !!! My company raved over this….will definitely make again just as stated! Thanks for the delicious recipe!
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Wonderful to hear, Marlene! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂