culture

Savor Portland Rose Festival With Rustic Strawberry Galette

By Jo Mancuso (OPB)
June 8, 2016 7:15 a.m.

Any way you slice Oregon’s bulging ripe strawberries this month, June suggests

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roses

to retired pastry chef and bakery owner Ric Seaberg. He lives not far from the Bagdad Theater, where he and other princes and princesses from nearby Southeast grade schools competed to join the Portland Rose Festival Junior Court in 1958, the event’s golden anniversary.

"We were Portland's own Mouseketeers," says Seaberg of the 10 winning princesses and their prince escorts, a reference to the then-hugely popular Disney franchise. Once properly instructed and outfitted, they embarked on several weeks of extravagant events and appearances, topped by riding elaborate, flower-bedecked floats in the festival's three parades, as Seaberg  recalls in his lively blog post. The Junior Court was discontinued after 1995, the princes having been "retired" years before.

Seaberg owned Richard's Bakery in Tualatin and Favourites in Portland's Beaumont district, each completing a 10-year run. "I must have made 9,000 coffee cakes during my career," he observes. In this recipe, he brings together two personal seasonal favorites: Fresh strawberries and roses.  

Rose hips are the seed-filled pods at the center of rose blooms, the fruit of the plant left on the end of the stem after the petals have fallen away. Their flavor in marmalade is tart and "figgy," says Seaberg. "You get that distinctive figgy flavor without the seedy or granular texture of figs."

Enjoy fresh local strawberries like Hoods, Shuksans and Bentons in season – eaten out of hand, on cereal and in bakeless desserts – but look for firmer berries with lower moisture content for baking. Prep time for these galettes will likely vary according to your experience working with pastry dough.
 

Rustic Strawberry Galettes With Rose Hip Marmalade

This recipe yields enough dough and filling for four 8-inch galettes, served whole or cut into two portions. (If you want only two galettes, halve the dough and filling.) With most home ovens you’ll get more even results if you bake one or two galettes at a time; adjust the rack to the middle position. If you devour your warm brunch galettes and hanker for more, roll out and bake up the other two for an evening dessert. Or refrigerate the remaining filling in a tightly lidded container overnight. It will turn a bit runny but be perfect in a smoothie or on ice cream, yogurt, shortcake or cereal the next day. Refrigerate the remaining dough balls up to four days or freeze for up to a month for another use.

Prep: 20 to 30 minutes (plus dough chilling) | Bake: 30 minutes | Average

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Ingredients

Dough

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup cold water

Filling

  • 2 pounds fresh strawberries, cleaned gently, tops removed, cut into approximately 1/4-inch slices
  • 1/2 cup rose hip marmalade or spread

To top dough

  • 1 egg white, whisked lightly
  • A little granulated sugar


Directions

For the dough: Put all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. If using a stand mixer, combine at slow speed until fully incorporated, about a minute; dough will "clean" the sides of the bowl. Or mix with hands until ingredients are just fully incorporated into a well-formed ball that is dry, not sticky, using a scraper as needed.

Divide dough equally into 4 pieces and form into balls. Wrap individually with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Before proceeding, allow chilled dough to warm slightly, just until you can easily make a thumb impression. It should be on the cold side but you don't want to struggle to "pin out" the dough with a rolling pin.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Line a baking sheet or sheet pan with parchment paper.

For the filling: In a large bowl, using a big spoon, combine ingredients until the strawberries are well-coated. Set aside.

Make the galettes

  1. Sprinkle plenty of flour on a wooden board or other work surface.
  2. Roll one ball of dough into an approximately 8-inch circle, sprinkling plenty of flour on top as you work.
  3. When finished, remove excess flour using a pastry or paint brush, first from the top of the pastry circle; then lift it and brush the underside. Scrape any dough bits off the board with a bench scraper. Set the pastry circle back down onto clean surface.
  4. Spoon one quarter of the filling onto center of pastry circle, leaving 1 inch all around for folding.
  5. Fold pastry around filling using an overlapping motion, 6 to 8 folds. Don't worry if you think it looks random – it's a rustic galette!
  6. Brush pastry with egg white and sprinkle sugar lightly on the pastry only, which will result in a shiny, golden-brown finish.
  7. Transfer to the lined sheet pan.
  8. Repeat to make a second galette.
  9. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. The fragrance while baking is heavenly! Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting or serving whole.

Serve warm or at room temperature. A scoop of vanilla or maybe salted caramel ice cream on the side would rule!

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
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