I have been working on my galette (freeform rustic tart) game for the better part of a decade. Up until this past year I always used regular old full gluten flour and was getting pretty damn good at perfecting a pastry dough. I found a favorite in Thomas Keller’s heavy-on-the-butter dough recipe and have used that for many a meal. When I cut out gluten earlier this year I had to go back to the drawing board and find a new recipe. After a handful of ho-hum pastries and a few tweaks, I finally came to a recipe I was really happy with. You can use this gluten free dough for sweet or savory recipes. This is just a basic dough that I encourage you to personalize. Add a sprinkling of raw sugar for texture and flavor in a sweet tart or try some minced fresh herbs or grated hard aged cheese to make it savory. Galettes are a wonderful way to use up what is in your fridge and turn an average meal into something special. They make excellent leftovers. And the best part is you don’t need a pie pan - you can make it whatever size and shape that speaks to your heart!

RECIPE

1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

4 tablespoons of chilled unsalted butter cut into chuncks

1/2 cup of chilled ice water

1 large egg shaken in a lidded ball jar (or just beat it extremely well)

large pinch of sea salt

• Heat your oven to 400 degrees

• In a large mixing bowl or food processor quickly combine the salt and flour. Add in the butter using a pastry cutter or fork & knife if you are not using a food processor. The mix should resemble a course meal.

• Pour in half of the beaten egg.

• Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Form into a ball, press into a disc shape and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about an hour. Unlike regular pastry dough - GF dough does not need to rest or be chilled as long. It will be much harder to roll out if you leave it chilling for too long.

• Roll out your dough into the shape of your choice (I went rectangle this time) on a piece of parchment paper. Turn the parchment as needed to roll out your dough in different directions. Do not attempt to move the dough off of the paper as it will likely stick and tear.

• Fill with whatever tickles you. Make sure to leave 1-1.5” of dough around the edges of your filling. For this particular tart I spread ricotta cheese all over the inside of the dough. That was then topped with sauteed leeks, baby eggplant and broccoli. Before stuffing your galette, I recommend cooking your veggies softly instead of using raw, especially for more fibrous veg. I shaved asiago cheese over the finished pie when it was fresh out of the oven and sprinkled ground pepper, sea salt and crushed red pepper over the entire top.

• The last step, once you have your tart filled is turning the edges of your dough over onto the tart to seal in the filling. I find it helpful to lift up the parchment and let the dough edges fall off the paper back onto the tart. Brush the remaining beaten egg over the now folded pastry edges. If you have a little egg left feel free to pour over the tart ingredients.

Once the oven comes to temp, slide the galette, still on the parchment paper, directly onto your oven rack or a pizza stone if you have one. Bake on 400 for 25-35 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.

Enjoy fresh out of the oven or room temp.