Summer means gorgeous fresh produce and an abundance of fresh heirloom tomato recipes! This heirloom tomato galette has a flaky parmesan pie crust, creamy goat cheese, fresh pesto, and flavorful fresh heirloom tomatoes! It's super easy to make and the perfect savory summer treat!
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What is a Galette?
A galette is a French tart that’s essentially a free-form pie. Galettes can be either sweet or savory! [Also called a crostata in Italian!]
The best thing about galettes vs traditional pies is that they're super easy to make and meant to look rustic and imperfect! To make a galette, you just make circles of pie dough, pile your filling into the center, and fold the edges over to hold it together. That's it!
So you might also like my peach galette or this savory honeynut squash galette!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make this savory heirloom tomato galette!
Pastry Flour - I always use pastry flour in my pie crust because it yields a lighter, more tender crust. However, all purpose flour will work great if that's all you have!
Parmesan Cheese - This is optional, but I love adding some fresh grated parmesan cheese to the pie dough! It makes a delightfully savory, cheesy crust.
Butter - The most important consideration for making pastry dough is cold butter!! If the butter gets too warm while you're making the dough, the crust won't be as flaky.
Goat Cheese - I love the slight tang of goat cheese paired with the heirloom tomatoes. But you could also substitute herbed ricotta, cream cheese, or shredded gruyere!
Fresh Pesto - I like to use my homemade fresh pesto for this heirloom tomato tart! But if you have a different fresh pesto recipe you prefer, feel free to use that instead (I also love this fresh spinach pesto). I generally don't recommend using store-bought pesto because it's not as flavorful, but you do you!
Heirloom Tomatoes - Fresh heirloom tomatoes are my favorite because they're full of flavor, but also they come in a ton of different colors for a super pretty galette! In the summer you can find heirloom tomatoes at most grocery stores and local farmers markets!
Flaky sea salt - I always had flaky sea salt to the galette crust for both flavor and looks! I love using Maldon Flaky Sea Salt because it has the best flavor and texture.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Parmesan Pie Dough
For more tips and tricks on how to make perfect flaky pie crust, check out this post!
Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, parmesan cheese, and salt. Add in the cold butter and use your hands to press it into the flour mixture until you get quarter sized crumbs.
Add cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
Take the formed ball of dough and shape into slightly flattened disk.
Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to work with for rolling out.
You can also make the pie dough up to 2 days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to use!
How to Make a Fresh Tomato Galette
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Then slice the heirloom tomatoes and place the slices on top of the paper towels. Sprinkle with kosher salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Then pat the slices dry with a paper towel. This helps the tomatoes release extra moisture so that the galette doesn't get soggy in the oven.
Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out pie dough to about ¼ inch thick and about 12 inches across. If you want a cleaner looking galette, you can use a knife to trim the edges of dough to make a perfect circle but it's not necessary.
Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Spread the goat cheese over the pie dough, leaving about an inch around the edges. Note: room temperature goat cheese will spread much more easily than cold!
Then smooth the fresh pesto over top of the goat cheese.
Arrange the sliced heirloom tomatoes over the pesto in overlapping circles.
Gently fold over the edges of the dough, overlapping as you go.
Brush the edges lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt, if desired.
Bake at 400°F for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let the heirloom tomato galette rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Then garnish with some more fresh pesto and basil!
Tips for Flaky Pastries
Use cold ingredients! For most baked goods you want to use room temperature ingredients, but for flaky pastries (like scones, biscuits, or pie crust) the ingredients need to be very cold! Keep any butter, eggs, milk, etc. in the fridge until right before you need to use them!
Chill before baking! Chilling the dough for at least 15-20 minutes before baking helps ensure the butter in the dough is nice and cold and helps the pastries hold their shape. Cold dough + hot oven = perfect flaky pastry!
Don't overwork the dough! You want to mix the ingredients until just combined so that there are still distinct pieces of butter in the dough. This is what gives you those buttery, flaky, air pockets!
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping certain baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature. Some ovens also take longer than the standard "preheat" time to actually come up to the proper temperature.
Recipe FAQ's
This heirloom tomato galette is best eaten the same day, but can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can serve it cold or warm it up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes to crisp up the crust.
I like using heirloom tomatoes because they're the most colorful and full of flavor! However, most varieties of tomato would work -- just choose your favorite!
Chilling the dough helps hydrate the flour and ensures the fresh tomato galette will hold its shape when baked! Chilling the dough also makes it much easier to work with and roll out!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Heirloom Tomato Galette with Pesto & Goat Cheese
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Pie Dough
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese, shredded (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 2 tablespoons water, cold
- 1 large egg , beaten for egg wash
- flaky sea salt
Galette
- 3 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounces goat cheese, softened
- ¼ cup fresh pesto
Garnish
- fresh pesto
- fresh basil
Instructions
Pie Dough
- For more tips and tricks on how to make perfect flaky pie crust, check out this post!
- Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, parmesan cheese, and salt. Add in the cold butter and use your hands to press it into the flour mixture until you get quarter sized crumbs.
- Add cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
- Take the formed ball of dough and shape into slightly flattened disk.
- Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to work with for rolling out.
- You can also make the pie dough up to 2 days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to use!
Galette
- Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Then slice the heirloom tomatoes and place the slices on top of the paper towels. Sprinkle with kosher salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Then pat the slices dry with a paper towel. This helps the tomatoes release extra moisture so that the galette doesn't get soggy in the oven.
- Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out pie dough to about ¼ inch thick and about 12 inches across. If you want a cleaner looking galette, you can use a knife to trim the edges of dough to make a perfect circle but it's not necessary.
- Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Spread the goat cheese over the pie dough, leaving about an inch around the edges. Note: room temperature goat cheese will spread much more easily than cold!
- Then smooth the fresh pesto over top of the goat cheese.
- Arrange the sliced heirloom tomatoes over the pesto in overlapping circles.
- Gently fold over the edges of the dough, overlapping as you go.
- Brush the edges lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt, if desired.
- Bake at 400°F for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the heirloom tomato galette rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Then garnish with some more fresh pesto and basil!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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