Happy Independence Day, Americans! As is always my plan, I made an “all-American pie” — which usually ends up being blueberry. I’ve made galettes before, but if you look carefully, this one is intended to be a mulit-pointed star … aka fireworks. Easy to make, no pie pan necessary. And as always with blueberries, very juicy. Celebrate well!
Ingredients
for the Crust
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the Filling
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons. fresh lemon juice
Pinch table salt
4 cups fresh blueberries, stemmed, rinsed, and dried
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball; divide into 2 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375F. Mix together sugar, corn starch, lemon juice and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Add blueberries and toss to blend.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit for about 10 minutes before rolling out. On a piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out to a 14-inch round (rough edges are ok). Transfer the dough on its parchment to a rimmed sheet pan and put back in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and pile the fruit in the center, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border all the way around. Fold the border up around the fruit, letting it fall into creases naturally. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut the overhanging dough, so that the exposed fruit is a star pattern. Press down lightly. Brush the edges of the galette with the egg wash, and sprinkle the crust generously with the coarse sugar. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling in the center, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Be sure to bake until the juices are bubbling, otherwise the cornstarch won’t have activated and thickened the juices.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack. After that, transfer the parchment directly to the wire rack to cool completely before serving.
