How to make a galette: a rustic French pie that works with any fruit! Use this patty recipe as a guide.
Here’s a treat that’s eye-catching but requires little to no special equipment or expertise to prepare. It is a pancakes! This rustic French tart is the perfect way to make dessert using seasonal fruit you have on hand. Beat a simple batter, stack the fruit and fold the crust into a rough pie shape. Bake until golden and everyone goes nuts after that. Use your choice of fruit or even make a savory patty! Here’s how.
what is a cake
A galette is a rustic French cake: a round, flat, free-form cake. A common form of galette uses a single crust that is stacked with a seasonal fruit filling and folded to form an edge. It’s rustic and no fuss: nothing special in it! Patties can contain fruit fillings such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, pears, peaches, plums or cherries. They can also be savory, with toppings like tomato, cheese, sautéed mushrooms, etc.
How to Make a Galette: Basic Steps
A galette is easy and fun to make at home. The key? The buttery soft puff pastry crust encasing the filling. Once you have it assembled you will need to let it cool before assembling the cake. Here is an overview of the basic steps to prepare a galette recipe:
| Make the dough | 15 minutes activity |
| Chill the dough | 1 hour without intervention |
| Assemble the cake | 15 to 20 minutes of activity |
| Bake | 30 minutes, hands-free |
| Cool | 1 hour without intervention |
Ingredients for a pancake
A galette works with any type of seasonal fruit: even frozen fruit works too. Our favorite patties are this peach patty and this blueberry patty, but you can use any of the fruits below for great results. You can also salt the filling, like in this savory tomato galette, or turn it into a mushroom galette with sautéed mushrooms. What you need for a galette recipe:
- 3 cups of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries (or go for the savory patty). You can use fresh or frozen fruit. Tip: You can add a little more sugar if you’re using frozen fruit, as it’s often not naturally as sweet as fresh, ripe fruit.
- granulated sugar and raw sugar
- Lemon peel
- cornstarch
- Cinammon
- butter: For vegans, vegan butter works as a substitute!
- Plain Flour
- Salt
- baking powder
- egg
Tips for processing the galette dough
Galette dough is very easy to work with: and you don’t have to shape it like a pie. However, there are a few points to note about the method. The following should be noted:
- Pour in the flour and level it or weigh it in grams. The most accurate way to measure flour is to weigh it! If you don’t have a food scale, do this: Pour the flour into the measuring cup, then line it up with the back of the spoon. This allows for a more accurate measurement: removing flour directly from the container may result in more flour in a cup.
- Use a cookie cutter or fork to cut the butter into the dough. Blend the butter into the dry ingredients until a gritty texture forms.
- Add just enough water for the dough to come together. We usually need about 5 tbsp for this, although it depends on the exact amount of flour (again, grams are most accurate).
- Refrigerate for 1 hour. This is important so that the butter cools down again: otherwise the crust can melt in the oven.
- Roll into a 12 inch circle on a floured surface. Scoop up the dough, adding more flour to the surface if necessary if it sticks.
- Add the filling, then gently fold over to form a 2-inch crust. It is necessary to overlap the folds to form a circle: see photos.
- Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle with sugar. An egg wash gives the crust a beautiful golden sheen! If you have it, coarse turbinado sugar makes a nice crunch on the crust; but granulated sugar works too.
Cake Recipes
Do you want specific recipes for your galette recipe? Here are our favorite recipes: or just make your own with any fruit using this recipe below.
- Peach Galette: This seasonal pie is made with juicy, ripe peaches and a browned butter filling wrapped in a puff pastry crust.
- Blueberry Galette: Simple and irresistible, with a flaky crust and sweet, tart berries.
- Salted Tomato Galette: A fun quiche-like twist! It is topped with juicy ripe tomatoes and a ricotta filling.
- Chocolate Cherry Galette: The combination of sweet tart cherries and dark chocolate is heavenly.
- Rustic Apple Galette: A simple version of apple pie with apple slices and pomegranate.
This pancake recipe is…
Vegetarian. For vegans, use vegan butter.
The description
How to make a galette: a rustic French pie that works with any fruit! Use this patty recipe as a guide.
For the pancake batter:
- 1½ cups [210 grams] all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (or vegan butter)
- 5 at 6 tablespoons of cold water
- 1 Egg, for gilding
- Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
For the filling:
- 3 cups Seasonal fruit (or make a savory pancake)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (or more to taste*)
- ½ teaspoon Lemon peel
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon Cinammon
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, kosher salt, and baking powder. Cut the butter into small chunks, then using a pastry blender or fork, cut into the flour mixture until almost incorporated and a gritty texture forms (with chunks the size of a pea or smaller).
- Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of cold water over the flour and gradually mix with a fork until the flour is mostly incorporated. Add another 1-2 tablespoons water until all the flour is incorporated and knead with your fingers until the dough comes together. (Resist the urge to add more water; it should come together!) Shape the dough into a ball and flatten into a thick disk. Wrap in plastic or place in a covered container and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. (To prepare, dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling. Or wrap in plastic wrap or foil and freeze for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator overnight before rolling. )
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling: fruit (thinly sliced for peaches, apples, or pears), sugar, lemon zest, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt. Taste and add a little sugar if needed, depending on the type of fruit used.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough into an even 12-inch circle, leaving the edges rough around the edges (if necessary, stir the dough and add a little more flour underneath to keep it from sticking). Carefully transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Stack the fruit in the center of the crust and spread into an even layer, leaving at least 2 inches of batter around the outer edge. (If using sliced fruit, you can arrange the slices in a spiral as shown in the photos.) Sprinkle the extra sugar evenly over the bottom of the bowl. Fold the outside edges of the dough over the filling to form about a 2-inch crust, overlapping the folds as shown in the photos.
- Beat the egg and brush onto the batter with a pastry brush. Sprinkle crust with turbinado sugar (or more granulated sugar).
- Bake the galette for 28 to 32 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven and place the parchment paper on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool to room temperature (about 1 hour) before slicing and serving. It’s divine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days; Bring to room temperature before serving.
Remarks
*If you are working with very tart fruits like raspberries, you can add a little more sugar. Taste the filling before cooking and add more sugar if you like.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: French inspired
- Diet: vegetarian
Keywords: Galette, galette recipe
