Plant-based Blueberry Galette
I’ve always defaulted to an all-butter pastry crust, though occasionally I use half butter and half lard or shortening, as those less-saturated fats are softer, a bit easier to work with, and produce a finer crumb. Lard and shortening blend more easily, coating the particles of flour, which inhibits gluten formation. Butter, on the other hand, is firmer and has some moisture in it, and provides both flavour and flaky layers.
Both the Flora Plant Butter and Becel bricks and sticks were easy to work into the flour, much like blending in butter, and with the Becel bricks and sticks, which are slightly softer, I found I didn’t need quite as much water to bring the pastry together. Once baked, the pastry itself was flaky and light, with a texture more like a butter pastry than one made only with lard or shortening. Again, I did miss the flavour of butter—and the pastry was slightly tougher, didn’t brown quite as well, and was more flat-tasting, even compared to a shortening or lard-based dough (which would also lack butter flavour).—Julie Van Rosendaal
