What is a Galette?

It’s a good question! On the one hand it is a very simple cake but on the other it has so much variety which make it difficult to define. Larousse Gastronomique gives it a pretty loose description of ‘a flat round cake of variable size’ and goes on to say it ‘probably dates from the Neolithic era, when thick cereal pastes were cooked by spreading them out on hot stones’. 

In essence it is a flat pastry that is filled.  A variety of pastries can be used to make them but commonly shortcrust, puff and yeasted pastry, like brioche.  More often than not they are sweet, but they can also be made with savoury fillings.  Different areas of France have their own specialities such as Normandy where they make a puff pastry galette filled with jam and fresh cream, Jura where it is filled with a curd cheese or Roussillon where it is filled with crystallised fruits.

The beauty of a galette is it's simplicity.  Take some pastry (you can easily use some left over pastry or some off cuts), roll it out in whatever size you like, fill it with the ingredients of your choice and then bake it! It is an ideal vehicle for seasonal ingredients as a simple dessert or a savoury snack.