Rhubarb and Rye Galettes

It’s officially Spring! This means cherry blossoms, rainstorms and… rhubarb. My one true love.
Every year, I go a little bit overboard when I see rhubarb at the grocery. Something about those tart pink stalks just screams hope to me- they’re a sign that winter is truly over, and I’m always excited thinking about all the produce that’s going to come into season in the next few weeks.
Usually, I lug home a couple of pounds and hem and haw over what to do with them for a couple of days. This year though, I received the stunning new Sweeter Off The Vine, a cookbook on seasonal fruit desserts, just as I brought home the first rhubarb of the season. The book’s full of gorgeous images and inventive recipes (like a poppy seed, yogurt and cherry loaf cake, and wine roasted figs with whipped ricotta!)  but I was immediately drawn to the chapter on rhubarb. Yossy’s just as taken with the fruit’s tartness and color as I am, and her sharp photos and sweet, easy descriptions had me whipping up these galettes in no time.
These galettes are flaky, buttery and full of the warm, nutty flavor of rye flour. The rhubarb is tart- sweetened just enough to take its edge off- and soft, speckled with vanilla seeds. The galettes are simple to make, perfect for dessert with a little ice cream (or even for breakfast, with a dollop of cream!) and best of all, they’re light and bright, which a Spring dessert should be.
I’ll be making more of the desserts from her book, no doubt about it. Her mint ice cream with cacao nibs, plum pie with hazelnut crumb and black fruit tart are all on my list. But for now, these easy galettes were just the thing to welcome the season.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. As always, all opinions are my own, and this book is a stunner- go buy it!

Yields: 6-8 galettes

Rhubarb filling lightly adapted from Sweeter Off The Vine 

Why I love this recipe: adding rye flour to my usual all butter pie dough makes it nutty and filling, and folding it like puff pastry adds even more flakiness to the dough. These galettes bake up like buttery, crunchy pastries and the rhubarb, which is just sweet enough, and flavored lightly with vanilla and lemon, makes it the perfect dessert for Spring.

Notes: Be sure to cut off the leaves from your rhubarb stems, as they’re poisonous! Also, if you don’t love rye flour, you can use all-purpose flour in its place. But be sure to use good butter- no substitutions allowed there! 🙂

Variations: use spelt flour in place of the rye flour and orange zest and juice in place of the lemon. In her book, Yossy also recommends adding a teaspoon or two of rose water to the rhubarb.

For the rye pie dough:

• 3/4 cups rye flour
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 stick frozen butter
• 1/2 stick cold butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup ice cold water

For the egg wash:

• egg yolk, mixed with two tablespoons water, for egg wash
• turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

For the rhubarb filling:

• 1/2 pound (225 grams) rhubarb, stalks halved lengthwise and cut into 2″-3″ batons
• seven tablespoons sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• seeds of one vanilla bean, scraped and bean reserved for another use
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca flour

1. To make the crust, combine the flours, sugar and salt in a bowl. Use your fingers to cut in the stick of cold butter until it is the size of peas. Then cut in the frozen butter, leaving it in bigger, visible pieces, the size of lima beans.
2. Add the apple cider vinegar to the water and make a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix the water into the flour until just combined.
3. If the dough seems dry, add more water a teaspoon at a time. Press the dough together, form it into a rectangle and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for 1-2 hours in the fridge.
4. Combine the rhubarb batons, sugar,  salt, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Let it sit while you chill out the dough.
5. Remove your dough from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 425° degrees.
6. On a lightly floured surface, flour the disk of dough and roll it out, in the rectangle shape. Fold it over 3 times, like a business letter. Then roll it out into a rectangle again. Repeat this process 2 more times.
7. Once the dough has been laminated, roll it out into a large square. Cut the square into 6-8 smaller squares, depending on how big you want your galettes to be.
8. Gently transfer each piece of dough to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
9. Toss the rhubarb, which at this point will be juicy and syrupy, with the cornstarch. Lay 4-5 batons in the center of each piece of dough, and fold up every side of the dough to form little packets.
10. Repeat with all of the remaining rhubarb, until all the fruit is used up and the galettes are full and folded.
11. Brush each galette with the egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Bake the galettes until the crusts are dark brown and the fruit juices are bubbling, 35-45 minutes.
12. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.