July baking notes: strawberry and fennel galette
Isn’t it strange the way we get stuck in a rut about the ‘correct’ way to eat certain foods? For years I firmly believed the only way to serve strawberries was freshly picked, macerated in sugar (when time allowed) and served with a dollop of fresh double cream. I’d been making strawberry jam for years and loved the depth of flavour and sweet candy floss fragrance but to roast a fresh berry seemed like something of a transgression. Reader, I urge you to overcome your misgivings as something wonderful happens when you roast strawberries. Their colour deepens, cut edges caramelises, textures becomes lusciously jammy and fragrant juices thicken into sticky puddles. This is the flavour of summer cranked up to the max! The sugar-crusted tart pastry is easy to assemble and can be frozen for a quick, but impressive, summer dessert. Leave out the fennel if you’re not a fan. A grind of black pepper and a few drops of balsamic vinegar raise this to even headier heights as does a dollop of chilled whipped cream or crème fraiche.
Pastry ingredients
90g Plain flour, preferably stoneground
75g Wholemeal flour
1/4 tspFine sea salt
15g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter
75g cold water (add gradually - you may need more or less depending on your flour)
Tart ingredients
30g Ground almonds
500g Strawberries, hulled and sliced in half (or thinner if very large strawberries)
15g Demerara sugar (plus extra for sprinkling on the crust)
1 tsp Fennel seeds (optional, plus extra for sprinkling on the crust)
Egg wash
1 Egg
15g Milk
Combine the flours, salt and sugar in a bowl. Dice the cold butter into 1cm cubes and add one-third to the bowl, rubbing it in to form pea sized pieces. Add the remaining butter cubes and toss to coat in flour then press the cubes into flat shingles. Don’t worry that you still have visible chunks of butter. Add the cold water in a steady stream, using a fork to distribute the liquid over the dry mix. A damp cloth under the bowl helps to stop the bowl moving around. Continue to mix with the fork until the dough starts to come together, you may need to add more water but proceed with caution, a little at a time, you don’t want to make the dough too wet and sticky, a few patches of dry flour are fine. Turn the dough onto a floured counter and bring together into a rectangle using your hands – do not knead the dough (see ‘Baking know-how’ below). Using a rolling pin roll the dough into a rectangle approx. 30cm long by 15cm wide then fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Rotate the dough and repeat the rolling out and folding. Repeat the rotation, rolling and folding one more time (3 folds total) then wrap the dough and rest it in the fridge for at least 1 hour (can be overnight or freeze the dough at this stage).
When you're ready to make the tart line pre-heat your oven to 170°c (fan) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough to form a large disc the size of your baking sheet. Carefully lift the disc onto the baking parchment. Avoiding 8cm of the outer circumference, sprinkle the pastry with the ground almonds. Pile the strawberries onto the ground almonds, creating an even spread, then sprinkle with the demerara sugar and fennel seeds if using. Combine the egg and milk, whisking with a fork, then brush onto the outer edge of the pastry disc. Carefully lift the edges of the disc and overlap over the strawberries, fold the dough to accommodate the curve as you proceed around the circle. Rustic is good here – don’t aim for perfection!
Brush the pastry edge with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar and fennel seeds, if using. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is deeply crisp and golden and the strawberries are starting to caramelise. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
New baking classes for 2026
Baking with Wholegrains: if you’ve been to one of my classes in the last year you’ll know I’ve become something of a wholegrain zealot after my stint at working with Henrietta Inman at Wakelyns bakery and getting to know some of the amazing grains grown by British farmers sold by local grain and pulse company Hodmedods. In this new class you’ll learn to bake bread for health AND flavour. This class will teach you the skills to work with a variety of whole-grains, including learning how to mill grains yourself to achieve different textures in your bread. We’ll be mixing and shaping a range of doughs using both sourdough and yeasted long fermentation methods and working with locally sourced grains
Sourdough for busy people: Want to make sourdough bread part of your routine but feel you just don’t have time ? This is the class for you. Sourdough bread has a loyal following due to its delicious flavour, texture and digestibility and many people want to make it part of their weekly routine yet a frequent complaintis that it takes too long to make a tasty loaf if you’re a busy person with limited time.
Have you ever considered that most of the time required to make sourdough bread is ‘dough time’ not ‘bakers time’ and that once you’ve mastered the basics your total ‘hands on’ time needn’t be more than 40 minutes? During this full day class we’ll play with some of the levers of fermentation - time and temperature - and the proportions of wild yeast in your dough to enable you to fit long fermented bread into a busy schedule. If you have 10 minutes to spare in the morning before work and 4 hours in your home from finishing work to bedtime then let me show you how. Don’t worry, you’ll still have time to make dinner, relax with the family and catch your favourite TV programme!
Written by the founder Rebecca Bishop and drawing on her experience of teaching baking classes, this covers all of your favourite breads, pastries and pizzas - everything from sourdough to scones, and from croissants to cardamom buns. There’s recipes for celebration cakes, and many more bakes and bars (including the famous Adnams Broadside bread pudding and lemon shortbread slice).
With over 100 recipes for every level of baker, this is a book to curl up with, to cook from and to treasure until your next visit to the East Anglian coast.
Add water and flour (supplied) and follow the instructions to revive this dehydrated Sourdough Culture. Within a couple of days you’ll have an active culture of wild yeasts ready to raise your dough! Includes a 10g sachet of sourdough culture, rye and wheat flour and detailed instructions.
A Next Loaf gift voucher is redeemable at checkout using a unique gift code of a value of your choosing. The perfect present for the baker in your life - choose from sourdough bread, pastries or sweet treats. Suitable for beginners or more advanced bakers looking for a challenge. A lovely day out for a special treat
