Santa Rosa plum Galette - Possibly the best dessert ever!

With the very last of our Santa Rosa plums off the trees, we're enjoying a break from the frantic pace of picking, sorting, selling and processing fruit. The bird scare machines are taken down and stored away, windfall fruit has been cleaned up and discarded, and we're back to our normal summer routines of irrigation, summer pruning, canning and freezing for our own use, and even taking a little time to relax on the porch to enjoy sunsets like this gem above.

We have long enjoyed making simple rustic tarts (galettes)in fig, apricot, and plum varieties. So with plums winding down and a bit of time on our hands we decided to reward ourselves with our favorite, Santa Rosa plum galette. This amazing dessert is quick and easy to make and can even be frozen for baking later (think a cold winter day where you long for the fresh fruit taste of summer). We provided a link to this recipe in a 2011 post but that link no longer works. So here are instructions below:

Making the crust

For the crust, you can use your favorite pie crust recipe. Here is our current version:

1+1/2 cups flour (we use half whole wheat pastry and half white flour)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp corn meal
1/4 tsp salt

Combine the above in a bowl and chill the bowl in the refrigerator.

Prepare:

1+1/2 sticks unsalted butter cut up into tiny cubes; keep very cold in the refrigerator.
3/4 cup of ice cold water (For a flakier crust, you can substitute cold vodka for up to half of the water.)

This recipe yields enough for two crusts, each of which rolls out to about 10" or so in diameter.

To absorb excess juice from the plums, spread 1 T. sugar and 1 1/2 T white flour evenly in only the middle of the rolled out crust, leaving a 2"-3" rim around the edges alone. Slice the plums into thin wedges and arrange them in the floured area, then add 2 to 3 T. more sugar. Lastly fold the edges of the crust inward  partially covering the filling.

Ready to bake

Bake in a 400 deg. oven for 40 min. or until nicely browned. For added decadence serve with vanilla ice cream!

We had to eat some right out of the oven.

The inspiration for this came from Mary Jo Thoreson, pastry chef at Chez Panisse Restaurant. For more complete instructions, her recipe is on page 3 at this link.