How to bake a rustic fruit tart or galette in Convection

Once you realize how simple it is to make a good pastry crust it’s easy to whip up one of summer's best desserts, a rustic fruit tart. The pastry comes together in minutes but does need to rest for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Then the pastry is rolled out into a large circle, placed on a flat baking sheet, topped with a little filling and the fruit and the sides folded in. After 30 minutes in the oven it’s ready to be devoured.

INGREDIENTS

Pastry

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 stick unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 tsp sugar

Pinch of salt

¼ cup ice cold water

Filling

1 8oz container Mascarpone cheese

2 tbsp sugar

1 basket large strawberries, cut into ½” thick slices

1 stalk rhubarb cut into thin slices

PREPARATION

For the pastry:

Combine the flour, butter, sugar and salt in a large bowl and cut the butter in using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Or the really easy method, place the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to achieve a coarse meal. Dribble the water in and continue mixing until the pastry forms a ball. Flatten the pastry into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Forming and baking the tart:

Heat the oven in the Bake mode 375 degrees or Convection Bake mode 350 degrees.

Roll the pastry out to a 14 inch circle on a lightly floured surface and transfer the pastry to a flat baking sheet. 

Carefully spread the Mascarpone cheese over the pastry leaving a 3” border then sprinkle with 1 tbsp of the sugar. 

Arrange the fruit over the top and sprinkle the remaining 1 tbs of sugar over the fruit.  Fold in the edges of the pastry crimping where necessary.

Slide the baking tray into the oven on the second rack position from the bottom and bake for 30 minutes until the crust is golden.

Serves 6