22 Gourmet-Tier Savory Galette Recipes That Will Stun The Dinner Table (2024)

FAQs

Do you eat galette hot or cold? ›

The Galette des Rois is essentially frangipane encased within puff pastry and decorated by making cuts in the surface of the pastry. It's served in slices and can be eaten both hot and cold.

Galette (from the Norman word gale, meaning "flat cake") is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or freeform crusty cakes, or, in the case of a Breton galette (French: Galette bretonne [galɛt bʁətɔn]; Breton: Krampouezhenn gwinizh du), a pancake made with buckwheat flour usually with a ...

Galettes (also known by their Italian name, "crostatas") are flat, freeform tarts baked on a baking sheet instead of in a pie or tart pan. The pastry is folded up around the filling so that it holds itself together, resulting in a rustic, uneven crust.

Galette can be eaten with your hands, especially if it is served as a casual snack or appetizer. However, if the filling is particularly juicy or the galette is served as part of a formal meal, it is best to use utensils to avoid any mess.

Bake on a baking sheet placed on top of the baking stone. Don't skip the cornstarch in the recipe, to avoid a runny filling and soggy bottom. Drain the excess liquid from the peach mixture as you add them to the crust. Most importantly, be sure to cook the galette completely.

Serving Traditions

The “king” is represented by the fève, once a fava bean, now a porcelain or plastic figurine, hidden inside the cake. The person who discovers the fève in their serving is declared le roi (the king) or la reine (the queen) and gets to wear the golden paper couronne (crown) that comes with cake.

The galette itself is simple: puff pastry covering a disc of damp frangipane, hidden within which is a china bean or charm; the person who gets this charm becomes king for the day and is crowned with the gold-paper crown which comes automatically with the cake as sold in French pâtisseries.

Crostata is an Italian term, and galette is French; however, by definition, you can use these terms interchangeably. They're referring to the same, easy and distinctly elegant dessert. By whichever name, this free-form pastry is always a great choice when you find yourself with a bounty of peak season produce.

The Galette des Rois has become a symbol of January, so does its bean. But by the way, why is it a bean inside? Because during the Saturnals, it was a dry bean that was hidden in the galette. With time, it has become something to collect each year.

The galette should bake until the crust is a deep golden-brown and the fruit is bubbly and cooked. This usually takes about 30 minutes or so.

What is hidden in the galette? ›

Every galette has a secret – tucked somewhere inside the galette is a prize. In early times, the prize was a dried bean, or fève. Over the centuries, the beans were replaced by all manner of trinkets, usually made of porcelain, but they've never stopped being called fèves.

Galette Bretonne

Essentially a crepe (or pancake) made with buckwheat flour, it was a staple food in the region during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as buckwheat was an easy, hardy crop to grow that was readily available.

These galettes, as they are usually known, can be made as individual pastries or as one large pizza-like dessert to be cut in wedges. Sometimes the fruit is baked on the pastry. And the ones with baked fruit can be served warm or at room temperature.

The galette des rois is a cake traditionally shared at Epiphany, on 6 January. It celebrates the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem. Composed of a puff pastry cake, with a small charm, the fève, hidden inside, it is usually filled with frangipane, a cream made from sweet almonds, butter, eggs and sugar.

Fun Facts. The French president is not allowed to play the “Galette des Rois” game. A giant 1.2m galette is prepared for the Elysée each year but the pastry chef is not allowed to bake a fève into it. This is because it's considered inappropriate for a king to be crowned in the presidential palace.

Store your galette at room temperature, lightly covered. To refresh, you can heat in the oven to help re crisp the pastry.

Storage: Galette is best eaten the day it is baked. Store leftovers, loosely covered, at room temperature for up to 2 days.

This is more a personal commandment, but cobbler is made more perfect when it's served warm with the cool and creamy contrast of whipped cream or ice cream.

Fruit pie is good both cold and hot, but especially cold if I am having it for breakfast. Meat pies are also good both cold and hot: hot for dinner and cold for lunch the next day. Egg pie, aka quiche, is also good both cold and hot. And so is pecan pie and many custard-based pies.