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This is for sure the easiest strawberry galette recipe because the very first time I made it was under pretty stressful circumstances, and I still managed to pull it off on the fly; it turned out so well despite my totally just winging it that I decided to make it again to write the recipe down and share it with you guys.

The first time I made this strawberry galette was for my friend’s big 30th birthday bash in Palm Springs. His husband had gone all out organizing a gorgeous multi-casita private resort rental for our group of 10 for a long weekend and it was everyone’s first post-vaccination group outing so we were all a little giddy with the culture shock of spending time with other humans again. Prior to the event, all the planning was coordinated through a group chat on Instagram and during our first meal all together, I learned that most of the party had already checked out (stalked) each other’s Instagram accounts, and were very intrigued as to why one of the party members (ME) had thousands of followers. Everyone was incredibly kind and curious to learn about my career as a food blogger, but of course in my mind the pressure was on for the brunch that I had planned to contribute to a couple days later. THEN, I learned that the plan for the entire group to contribute to said brunch was scrapped and that there was no backup plan other than my enthusiasm (which, thankfully, was shared by one other party-goer who wanted to cook too). My original plan has been to make my Everything But the Bagel Galette for the group cookout, but since no one but myself and one other person would be cooking, I knew I had to make another dish, and I tried to come up with something as easy as possible that would still look beautiful on a brunch table. And this is what I came up with!

Despite the ease with which I can describe myself cooking, I get pretty dang nervous cooking for anyone but my spouse and my family. So when I found myself in an AirBnB kitchen I had never used before, cooking for more people than I had ever cooked for before at any one time, and with a reputation to uphold—can you see why I said the circumstances were stressful? And yet, I was still really happy with how the galette turned out! If I could pull it off then, I think you can pull it off now.

This recipe is also super riffable (I hate that word) in that you can follow the same steps but switch up the fruit or the cheese for completely different flavors. You can change up the toppings for the crust, or add nothing at all if you want it keep things the absolute simplest. Strawberries are in season now and that is something I get very excited about, but I am eager to try this out with other fruits too.

Here are the simple steps to fruit and cheese galette glory:

• Prep the ingredients: Move a ready-made frozen pie dough sheet to the fridge the night before to thaw, and then leave it on the kitchen counter to warm up for 30 minutes before rolling it out. (Or, if you didn’t plan ahead, leave the frozen pie crust out for 1–2 hours until it’s malleable.) You’ll also want to macerate the strawberries for that same amount of time. Macerating means adding sugar to the berries to draw out some of the liquid and sort of marinate in the sugar at the same time.

• Roll out the dough: I use the frozen pie dough from Trader Joe’s and they crack 100% of the time when I unroll them. But this is no big deal! I just ball it all up together and roll it out again.

• Spread the cheese: This tart is such a crowd pleaser because it’s a little sweet and a little savory at the same time. But on a practical level, the cheese layer helps protect the pastry, preventing the juices of the strawberries from making the crust soggy. I recommend chèvre (young goat cheese) for this, and you can even get a flavored one if you want to add another note to the galette—here I used this black truffle chèvre and it was soooo good! Other spreadable cheeses could work here too, like a well-strained ricotta or some feta. Whatever you use, you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds first to get it to spread easily.

• Add the fruit: Strain out the excess liquid that you don’t want to make the crust soggy, then pile the fruit in the middle.

• Fold the crust: Galettes are meant to be rustic as far as I can tell, so don’t worry about making a perfect circle or anything. Just fold up little sections of dough all the way around.

• Add finishing touches to the crust: You will want to eggwash the crust to get it to look golden brown but it’s not even close to the end of the world if you don’t have an egg and want to skip that. I think it is always nice to add a little something to the crust of a galette for more flavor and texture too, but it will still taste good if you choose not to add the sliced almonds and extra sugar like I did.

• Bake: The pastry is so thin that it doesn’t take long but you will want to look out for it being golden brown on the top and crispy on the bottom.

Since the dough is meant for pies and the fruit is packed in there, don’t plan on being able to toss this gal like a frisbee, but other than that, I think it is a pretty unfussy recipe. The next time I find myself spontaneously having to cook brunch for a crowd, I know I’ll be making this again.

Ingredients for the Galette

1 sheet ready-made pie dough, thawed in the fridge overnight*
1 pint strawberries, stems and leaves removed
2 tbsp granulated sugar (white or raw turbinado)
1/2 tsp flour, plus extra for dusting
5+ oz goat cheese, at room temp
1 egg, beaten

InGredients for the Optional Parts

a few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp water

* If unable to plan the night before, leave the frozen crust out on the counter until malleable, about 1–2 hours

Procedure

Remove the pie dough from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about 30–40 minutes.

In the meantime, slice the strawberries—halve small ones and cut larger ones into slices so that everything is about equal thickness. Combine the sliced strawberries and granulated sugar in a bowl and toss gently to combine. Allow the strawberries to macerate until the sugar is completely dissolved and a noticeable amount of liquid has been released, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Form a round disk with the pie dough. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch circle. Transfer the dough circle to a piece of parchment paper.

If needed, microwave the cheese in a small bowl for 10 seconds to get a spreadable consistency. Spread the cheese in the middle, leaving an empty 1-inch border all the way around. Optionally, sprinkle thyme leaves over the cheese.

Drain the excess liquid from the strawberries. Add the flour and toss to coat. Pile the strawberries in the middle of the cheese layer, leaving an empty 1-inch border of cheese all the way around (see image above).

Brush the dough border with beaten egg and fold small sections over the filling to form a galette-style crust. Brush the pleated crust thoroughly with egg, making sure to get it in all the folds and crannies.

Optional step: Combined sliced almonds with about 1 tbsp of the remaining beaten egg (or more as needed for all the almond slices to be very thinly coated in egg). Gently pat the almonds onto the crust. Then, sprinkle the turbinado sugar evenly over the crust.

Slide parchment paper onto an inverted baking tray and bake the galette on the middle rack for 20–25 minutes, rotating once halfway.

Optional step: Combine honey and water in a small bowl and microwave for 10 seconds. Stir together to make a glaze, and brush the glaze over the fruit when the galette comes out of the oven.

Allow the galette to rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.