Galette

Parchment paper is a lifesaver when making this rustic tart. Use it when rolling out the tender, delicate crust (it'll keep it from sticking), then use it to fold over the edges of the galette.

Making this rustic, free-form pie couldn’t be more elementary. You still have to know how to prepare the dough and roll it out, but after that it’s quite forgiving. The foldover crust requires less fuss than does a pastry shell baked in a pan. Just arrange the sweetened fruit in the center of the dough, then fold the border up and over the filling and bake. Make sure to taste the fruit before you begin, adding more sugar if it tastes very tart.

There are a handful of dishes that serve as true measures of any good cook: a great omelet, a comforting and well-balanced soup, a perfectly crisp and golden roast chicken, and a tender, flaky pie crust. Perhaps because of the risk of overworking, and turning out something that tears in two or tastes more leaden than light, many home cooks shy away from homemade dough, opting instead for unfold-as-you-go boxed crusts. But making perfect pie dough from scratch should be part of any home cook’s basic skills. And the best dough for homemade pies is pâte brisée. Like pasta dough, pâte brisée is a simple paste containing flour and water, but in this case butter is a key component and plays an integral role in creating the flaky texture. Getting the right proportion of butter to flour is crucial, as is using very cold ingredients and a light hand.

Fran Gage is a wonderful pastry and bread maker as well as a cookbook author. She shares her special recipe for a marvelous fruit tart here. It is simple to make and quite delicious with its classic French apple and prune filling. Fran’s recipe for a sweet crust is wonderful and can be used for other fruit tarts.

This tart can be made with store-bought or homemade puff pastry. If using store-bought, you will need one 17 1/4-ounce package, which includes two sheets; divide the filling and the cherries in half, and bake two galettes instead of one.

This dessert works with a variety of fresh summer fruits; experiment with different combinations of stone fruits and berries, using the same proportions but adjusting the sugar accordingly.

Chopped fresh rosemary, grated parsnip, and cheese flavor the crust of these sensational little tarts. More cheese is sprinkled over the apple-and-onion filling. The tarts are perfect for an autumn picnic, harvest party, or other outdoor occasion.

This stunning dessert may be a showstopper, but its crust is remarkably simple; it’s an easy-to-make oversize almond macaroon. The strawberries are macerated in sugar and liqueur before arranging on the tart; if allowed to rest for a couple of hours, the airy base will begin to soak up some of the deliciously boozy syrup. Since it’s flourless, the galette is an excellent choice for Passover.

Cherries and almonds go hand in hand in many traditional baked goods. To produce this flat tart, lightly sweetened and spiced Bing cherries and ground almonds are heaped onto a rough oval of pâte sucrée; the edges of the pastry are then folded over and pleated to form a border, then the whole thing is baked to a gloriously glossy sheen.

This springtime stunner is gorgeous to behold—and very enjoyable to eat. Thinly sliced strawberries are laid in a concentric pattern atop a large round of pastry dough. Although the galette needs no embellishment, basil-infused cream lends a sophisticated touch to each slice.

Rhubarb paired with raspberries may not be as common a pie filling as rhubarb and strawberries, but the combination is just as delicious (or even more so, depending on who you ask). Here, the two are simply tossed with cornstarch and sugar, then centered on small rounds of pâte brisée to create individual galettes.

A fresh-baked fruit galette is proof that you don’t need specialty equipment—or even a pie plate—to successfully bake a beautiful dessert from scratch. Here, sliced plums are arranged on an irregular round base of pâte brisée (ground almonds are sprinkled over the crust first). The dough is then simply folded over the filling to make a rough border. There’s no crimping or embellishment required; the unfinished edge is a big part of the appeal.

This glorious galette, or rustic pie, will accommodate just about any fruit, but its open top makes a particularly pretty frame for the jeweled hues of summer’s stone fruits and berries; my favorites are apricot/blueberry for the beginning of summer, and peach/blackberry for the Fourth of July. Fig/raspberry, though not stone fruit, is great in the late summer and early fall. You could trim the dough into a neat round, but I prefer the rustic look of jaggedy edges—and leaving it untrimmed ensures that not a bit of the buttery dough goes to waste. Serve with plenty of fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

If I’m going to make a fruit tart or pie, it is most often a galette—a thin, free-form open-face tart. The pastry is easy to make and roll out, and is crisp and light when baked. The dough is not sweet and can be used for savory tarts as well as dessert. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 tarts. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days or in the freezer for several months.

Served on the street in the medieval city of Pérouges, not far from Lyons, this sweet, crisp pastry, preferably served hot, makes a fantastic snack or a surprising dessert. Serve, if you like, with crème fraîche, whipped cream, or sour cream and cut-up fruit.

Anyone intimidated by making dough will quickly get over it in the 3 minutes that it takes to make this one. It’s very easy to put together, very forgiving, and almost impossible to botch. Any flaws, cracks, or imperfections are part of its rustic charm, although I’m confident that even the most inexperienced baker will master it with the very first try. It will likely become your favorite dough to use for any number of open-faced fruit tarts. This recipe can be doubled—an extra disk is good to have on hand in the freezer for later use.

This rustic free-form tart is great with raspberries, but you can just as easily substitute blueberries or blackberries. The cornmeal gives the crust a slightly crunchy texture, which complements the berries beautifully.