This Strawberry Fennel Pollen Galette is the perfect simple summer dessert. Fresh juicy strawberries are infused with a super special fennel pollen sugar, folded into the flakiest pie crust, and dolloped with soft whipped cream. It’s easy, refreshing, and a little whimsical.
I was never a fan of the flavors of black licorice, caraway, or anise. But fennel pollen has changed me. This lovely golden dust that’s collected from wild fennel flowers is absolutely enchanting.
Maybe it’s because fennel pollen is actually one of the world’s most expensive spices, right up there with saffron and vanilla bean. Maybe it just makes me feel like a fairy to collect and sprinkle this magic powder onto desserts and drinks.
In any case, the fennel plant is wildly abundant in cities, parks, and forests alike, and its flowers give a lovely (and surprisingly strong!) flavor of anise, honey, and citrus to recipes. It’s a brilliant complement to fresh summer strawberries, perfectly highlighted in this simple, rustic galette.
👉 Want more fennel pollen recipes? Try fennel pollen infused vodka, lemon olive oil tart with fennel cream, and lemon fennel pollen sugar cookies!
Recipe highlights
- Perfect flavor combo: sweet-tart summer strawberries, bright fennel pollen, and lightly sweetened whipped cream
- A textural delight: flaky all-butter pie crust, soft pillowy cream, juicy berries
- Simple & rustic: galettes invite imperfection – their charm is in their rusticness
- Easy to make: no special equipment, no complicated technique
- A light dessert: not too sweet, not too heavy, not too rich
- Ideal for summer celebrations, backyard parties, and picnics
Recipe overview
⏱️ Prep: ~30 min • Chill: 1 hr total • Bake: 40-45 min
🍴 Yield: One galette (6-8 slices)
💪 Skill level: Beginner
😋 Flavor profile: Sweet berries, anise, lemon, and cream, with buttery crust. Pairs well with: Summer nights, homemade whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, Aquavit, chilled wine.
✨ This recipe uses fennel pollen sugar to add an alluring flavor to both the strawberry filling and the whipped cream. You can also use freshly harvested fennel flowers or store-bought fennel pollen (you can buy it online or in specialty shops).
For more info on extracting floral flavor, check out my guide to baking with flowers.
How to make this strawberry fennel pollen galette
For full recipe instructions and ingredients measurements, head to the recipe card towards the bottom of this post. Here’s a quick overview of how to make this recipe:
- Make the pie dough: Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together, then blend in cold butter. Add ice water until the dough just comes together. Wrap tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Prep the strawberries: Wash, remove tops, and slice the strawberries. Toss in a bowl with fennel pollen sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Set aside to macerate.
- Roll & fill: Roll the pie crust into a rough circle, about 12 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick. Add macerated berries, then fold the edges up around the filling.
- Chill: Freeze the galette for 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Bake: Brush edges of tart with egg wash & sprinkle with sugar, then bake until filling is bubbling wildly and crust is a nice golden brown.
- Make fennel pollen cream: While galette is cooling, whisk cream and fennel pollen sugar together until soft peaks form.
- Enjoy: Serve strawberry galette warm, room temperature, or cold with a dollop of fennel pollen whipped cream.
Pro baking tips for the perfect galette
Don’t mix the butter in too much. You want to see little flecks of cold butter throughout your pie dough, as this is what gives pie crust its flakiness. As the butter pieces melt in the hot oven, they create steam, leaving behind little open pockets (aka flakes!!).
💡For more tips on making homemade pie crust, see my recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Galettes. That post contains all my best advice for tender, flaky dough!
Shape the galette on a sheet pan. After you roll the dough into a circle, move it to a baking sheet and assemble it there. Once it’s filled with strawberries, it will be very difficult to move!
Add a little flour under the berries. I always add a little sprinkle of flour to the bottom of my galettes. This helps to soak up extra juices from the berries and prevents the galette from having a soggy bottom.
Chill thoroughly before baking. Before you bake your strawberry galette, give it a thorough chill in the fridge or freezer. You want the pie dough to feel cold and solid before baking. This helps the galette keep its shape during the baking process, eliminates butter seepage, and leads to light and flaky pie crust.
Variations & substitutions
For the fennel pollen sugar: Maybe you haven’t made a batch of fennel pollen sugar, but you have a jar of fennel pollen. If that’s the case, try using about 1 teaspoon of fennel pollen in the strawberry filling, and ¼ teaspoon in the whipped cream. Taste and add more if desired.
If you’ve gathered fresh fennel flowers, you’ll need 5-7 large flower clusters for this recipe. Simply rub or shake the pollen off the flowers, collecting it in a bowl.
For the pie crust: Feel free to substitute fennel pollen sugar for the granulated sugar here! You could also add the zest of a lemon if you want more brightness in your final dessert.
Other delicious options: Make a brown butter pie crust or use a store-bought crust or frozen puff pastry.
Make individual galettes: Instead of making one big tart, make little handheld ones! See my recipe for Heirloom Tomato Galettes for instructions.
Serving & storing your strawberry galette
Keep this tart in the refrigerator, loosely wrapped or in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
The galette is excellent served warm, room temperature, or cold, depending on your preference. I love eating it super cold, straight out of the fridge. You should obviously serve it with a dollop of fennel pollen whipped cream, but you could also choose to use créme fraîche whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Did you make this Strawberry Fennel Pollen Galette? I’d love to know what you think! Please leave a star rating and comment below – it means so much to me!
Strawberry Fennel Pollen Galette
Ingredients
Pie crust
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar, or fennel pollen sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (½ cup) unsalted butter, cold, diced
- ~ ½ cup very cold water
Strawberry filling
- 1 ½ pounds fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced
- ¼ cup fennel pollen sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, (½ a lemon)
- pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons flour
For crust
- 2 tbsp heavy cream, (or a beaten egg)
- coarse sugar, like demerara or turbinado
Fennel pollen whipped cream
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1-2 tablespoons fennel pollen sugar
Instructions
- Make the pie dough: Whisk 1 ¼ cups flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, and ¼ tsp salt together in a large bowl. Blend 4 oz cold, diced butter in with your fingers, mixing until the butter is evenly distributed and there are some large and small chunks of butter remaining. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add cold water, starting with about ¼ cup. Blend water in gradually, using a fork or wooden spoon, adding additional water a tablespoon or so at a time. Mix until the dough just comes together in a shaggy mass. Knead it together lightly with your hands, form it into a rough disc, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Prep the strawberries: Wash, hull, and slice the 1 ½ pounds of strawberries. Toss in a bowl with ¼ cup fennel pollen sugar, juice of half a lemon, and a pinch of salt. Set aside to macerate for at least 15 minutes (so the flavor develops).
- Roll & fill: On a lightly floured surface, roll the pie dough into a rough circle*, about 12 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can use the edge of your hands to tidy up the sides a bit if you like.Sprinkle the 3 Tbsp flour over the dough, leaving roughly a 2-inch border around the edges. Scoop macerated berries out of bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving behind their syrupy juices.** Mound them evenly on top of the flour, then fold the edges up around the filling.
- Chill: Don't skip this step! Freeze the galette for 20-30 minutes, until pie dough feels cold and solid. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Bake: Brush edges of tart with the heavy cream or beaten egg & sprinkle with sugar, then bake until filling is bubbling wildly and crust is a nice golden brown. Some strawberry juice might seep out during baking, that's normal. Galettes are messy and rustic, but that doesn't make them any less delicious.Let the galette cool at least 30 minutes before slicing into it.
- Make fennel pollen cream: While galette is cooling, whisk ½ cup cream and 1-2 Tbsp (depending on your sweetness preference) fennel pollen sugar together until soft peaks form.***
- Enjoy: Serve strawberry galette warm, room temperature, or cold with a dollop of fennel pollen whipped cream.
Notes
Did you try this recipe?
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