Heirloom Tomato Galette

This galette recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's favorite pie crust recipe. This recipe can be used for traditional pie crusts or for a more rustic galette. In the galette, you can go savory or sweet. If doing sweet, use in-season fruits and you'll want to sugar the crust. If going savory, like I did here, you'll want to lightly salt the crust with flaky sea salt.

Adding just a little ice water at a time ensures that the dough attains the right texture. Double this recipe for a double-crust pie.

Prep time: 40 mins

Total time: 3 hrs 30 min

Allergens: gluten, wheat, dairy

Ingredients

1 1/4 c white spelt flour or organic all-purpose flour, plus some for rolling

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

8 Tbs unsalted, grass-fed butter, cold, cut into pieces

2 Tbs ice water, plus 2 more if needed

Cooking instructions

1. By hand, mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the chilled butter. Using both hands and working as quickly as possible, squeeze the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a course meal, with small pieces of butter the size of peas remaining visible.

2. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the flour mixture and continue to blend with your hands. Squeeze a handful of dough, if it just holds its shape, it's done. If it crumbles, adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time and incorporate. Check consistency after each addition. Add as little additional water as possible.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface. Form dough into a 3/4 inch thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.

4. Before baking, unwrap dough. Place on a large piece of floured waxed paper. Roll dough to a 12-14 inch round. When rolling dough, always flour lightly to prevent sticking. The goal is to use as little flour as possible, the more you use the tougher the dough becomes.

5. Used as desired.

   
   

For galette:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Take a fork and poke some holes in the rolled out dough. Have your desired filling cut up and place it in the center of the dough round, leaving enough of an edge to fold them up into the galette shape.

3. For this, I used sliced heirloom tomatoes and thinly sliced moz. When using tomatoes, salt 10-minutes prior on a dry, clean dishtowel, to release some of the moisture. While baking, tomatoes will release more moisture, and I tend to pull it out and dab with paper towels to ensure extra moisture isn't going to prevent crust underneath from baking through.

4. Fold edges over each other. This is supposed to look rustic, so no need to be precious here!

5. Brush outside of crust with an egg wash (one egg and a little bit of water). Be sure to only egg wash the crust. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.

6. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, checking regularly for moisture content in the filling and if the crust is getting too brown. You want golden brown!

7. Top with a garnish of thinly sliced basil.