Tomato Buckwheat Galette

When it is tomato season, do it right and make it the star of the dish and give it a solid side kick, like this crispy and buttery whole grain crust. I used similar techniques to make a Pate Brisee (a French flaky tart dough) and turned it into a French galette, which can be stuffed with sweet or savory fillings. That means you can use the galette recipe for anything and have some fun by switching out the filling ingredients by using whatever your heart desires!

In the meantime, it is beautiful, delicious and smells out of this world when it comes out of the oven, which is why I’m all about serving this for breakfast, as an appetizer or side or as the main event (vegetarians, you are welcome).

Quick tip: Especially when it’s hot and/or humid outside, it can make your butter melt faster than you want. To ensure it stay extra cold, freeze your butter in advance and then cube it up. It’ll hold up perfectly!

Total Time: 2 hours

Active Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 6-8 Servings

Ingredients

Dough:

⅓ cup buckwheat flour, plus 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of buckwheat flour for fraisage (see instructions)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

6 tbsp ice cold water

½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Tomato Filling:

10 golden cocktail tomatoes (about less than 1½ lb.), halved 

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp of thyme leaves (about 10 sprigs of thyme)

2 tbsp finely grated Pecorino Romano

1 tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground pepper 

1 egg beaten for brushing

Fleur de sel for the crust 

Directions

Dough:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buckwheat and all-purpose flour, salt and sugar.

2. Place the dry ingredients on a flat work surface and add the butter. Using a bench scraper, begin to chop and cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the dough becomes sandy and the butter pieces are the size of apple seeds (this process is known as sablage).

3. Form a well in the dough. Add 3 tbsp of water. Use the bench scraper to incorporate the water. Add another 3 tbsp of water incorporate until the water is absorbed by the dough.

4. Take small pieces of the dough and use the heel of your palm to push each ball of dough into the work surface in order to homogenize the butter into the dough, also known as fraisage.

5. Form the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes-1 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Filling and Assembly:

1. In a bowl, gently toss together the filling ingredients. Set aside.

2. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about a 14" circle about 1/8" thick. Rotate the dough and sprinkle more flour underneath as necessary to prevent from sticking while rolling. Transfer to a large parchment-lined baking sheet.

3. Add the filling (preferably with the flesh side of the tomatoes facing down) to the center of dough and evenly distribute. Leave a 1½“-2" border. Bring the border of the dough over filling and crease it by overlapping  

4. Brush with egg and sprinkle the border with fleur de del.

5. Bake for 50 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

6. Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Serve.

Note: Dough can be made 1-2 days in advance.