Today, we are putting delicious fresh summer tomatoes to good use in a savory tomato galette recipe. This is one of my go-to recipes that I make during the summer months when fresh tomatoes are in abundance.
What Is Galette?
If you are not familiar with a galette, it is a free-form pie (or tart). However, instead of filling and baking the dough in a pie plate, you do all of that on a sheet pan. The process is simple; roll the dough, spread it with whatever you want, arrange the toppings in the middle, roll the dough’s edges towards the middle, and bake on a sheet pan. There is no stressing about fitting the dough into the tart pan or cramping the sides to make it look picture perfect. In addition to being easy to make, you end up with a rustic tart that is as delicious as a tomato tart that takes quite a bit of effort to make.
Homemade Galette Dough
I suspect that you might think that tomato galette with puff pastry, similar to my Asparagus Tart (made with puff pastry), might be easier and quicker to make. The term galette comes from the Norman word gale, a term used in French cuisine to identify a flat round cake made of pastry dough or bread. (Source) While the French call this free-form single-crust pastry Galette, Italians call it Crostata. While I understand that making the galette crust is an additional step, I promise you that nothing beats the deliciousness of homemade galette dough. And with my Galette Dough recipe, you have nothing to worry about because my method here is as foolproof as it can be.
How To Make Galette Dough?
To make the galette dough:
Prepare The Ingredients:
All you need is all-purpose flour, cold butter (cut into small pieces), ice water, and salt. I use Vermont Creamery’s unsalted butter and add my own salt, but you can always omit salt and use their salted butter. As it is with every pie dough recipe, to get that flaky delicious buttery dough, your butter and water must be cold.
Process Everything in a Food Processor:
Place flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.Add the butter into the processor and pulse 8-10 times until butter resembles small clumps.Turn the machine on and add in 4 tablespoons of ice-cold water in one tablespoon increments. At this point, it should start to come together and form into a ball. If not, add in the rest of the water in one tablespoon increments until it does.
Transfer onto a lightly floured surface, form it into a 4-inch disk, and wrap with plastic. Place it in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.
Tomato Galette Ingredients
Once you have your galette dough ready, the rest is a breeze.
Goat Cheese Mixture:
In terms of the ingredients, you will need to make a goat cheese mixture to spread on the galette dough. While you can spread the fresh goat cheese all by itself, I chose to flavor with a little bit of lemon zest, lemon juice, and thinly sliced scallions. I used Vermont Creamery’s plain fresh goat cheese that has a nice mild flavor and smooth texture. If you are a fan of goat cheese, be sure to check out my library of Goat Cheese Recipes to learn more creative ways to use it in your cooking.
Fresh Tomatoes:
As you can see in the pictures, I used fresh, colorful heirloom tomatoes as they are currently in abundance to make this roasted tomato galette recipe. I prefer semi ripe tomatoes as they are easier to work with and taste delicious. However, you can use whatever tomatoes you have on hand. Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes would also work.
How to make It?
The steps to making this fresh tomato galette recipe are six folds:
How To Store Leftovers?
As it is the case with most pies and tarts, this tomato cheese galette is best on the day it is baked. However, if you place it in an airtight container after it is fully cooled down and keep it in the fridge it would still be good the next day. The following is from their site: “Salting the tomatoes ahead of time and letting them release some of their liquid is essential. It will allow the tomatoes to caramelize and ensures that the bottom of the crust stays flaky.” When you are ready to serve, warm it in a low heat (250 to 300 F degree) oven for 8-10 minutes so it is nice and warm.
What To Serve It With?
While this heirloom tomato galette is perfect by itself, I usually serve it with a simple green salad on the side. Below are a few favorites:
Tabouli Salad or Quinoa TabouliBoston Lettuce SaladRoasted Asparagus Salad
More Tomato Recipes You Might Also Like:
Got more tomatoes to use? Here are a few creative ideas to try:
Tomato Basil SauceTomato Ricotta TartPiyaz Salad – aka Tomato White Bean SaladCurry Tomato SoupTomato Mozzarella SaladMediterranean Quinoa SaladPizza Caprese
