Breakfast galette

A few months back, some plums arrived at the vineyard.. not a 'commercial' variety from one of the large local orchards, rather some small dark skinned, yellow fleshed plums that I would otherwise call Italian plums, or prugne.

They would have been perfect for drying: not overly juicy but packed with flavour. IF I'd had a dehydrator at my disposal, that is exactly what I would have done. Dry plums, or prunes, are easily rehydrated when the plum season is well past.

The other nice thing about these plums having so little liquid is that they also bake well in a free-form tart, or galette. There is enough juice to make a flavourful tart without massive amounts of seepage.

The pastry can be any favourite pastry, sweet or plain. I like to half this recipe plus add a little finely grated lemon zest and I don't mind if it is made ahead (the night before). I also like to use frozen butter, grating the required weight on a box grater into the bowl containing the flour. After mixing briefly to coat with flour then adding the ice water, I stir it only until the dough just holds together. A quick shaping (into a disk) and into the refrigerator overnight makes for stress free rolling in the morning.

The filling is easy as. In the morning, after rolling out the dough on a floured surface and applying a quick sprinkle of breadcrumbs (or ground almonds), place a pile of the diced fruit (about 1 1/2 c) in the center of the pastry with a liberal sprinkle of caster sugar. I help the edges of the pastry up and over the fruit with my pastry scraper making many, small-ish, and as-even-as possible folds of pastry so no one misses out on a substantial flaky edge on their slice. The whole thing gets another sprinkle of sugar and baked on a stone at 180C until well browned, say 30-40 minutes.

Alongside a steaming latté, a book or newspaper in a sunny spot.. a good morning indeed.