Tian galette
Ingredients:
Makes 1 galette which makes 6-8 slices for a meal, or about 14 thin slices as an appetizer
Pastry (this pastry recipe makes enough for two sheets of pastry):
340g plain flour
260g cold butter, diced into 2-3cm dice
1 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. salt
140-160ml ice cold water
Or you can use a sheet of good quality butter puff pastry, I like Careme in Australia
Olive, tomato and caramelized onion base:
2 Tbls. olive oil + more for drizzling
1 onion, sliced thin
70g semi dried tomato
50g pitted black olives
1 garlic clove
4-5 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped from the stem + more for garnish
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. white or red wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Toppings:
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 green zucchini, thinly sliced
1 yellow zucchini, thinly sliced (if you cant find just use two green zucchini)
1 Japanese eggplant, thinly sliced
1 egg, for egg wash
Approx. 50g crumbled goats cheese
A few sprigs thyme
Olive oil
Method:
Pastry method:
1. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. If it’s a very hot day, mix and put in the fridge or freezer to chill the flour and bowl.
2. Add in the cold diced butter and use your fingertips to break the butter up. Again, if your hands are very warm, dip them in ice water before proceeding. You are not looking for even consistency here, you want some large chunks of butter and some little pieces as well. Next, use your hands to flatten the chunks of butter by crushing them in between the palms of your hand creating little sheets. Alternatively, you can dump everything onto your bench and press the butter down into the bench if that’s easier.
3. Make a well in the flour and butter mixture and pour in 120ml of the cold water and use your hands and bench scraper to help you mix the water into the flour. If there is still a lot of dry bits of dough and floury pieces add another 20 ml of water until the dough feels like it will stick together without becoming sticky and wet.
4. Use the bench scraper to cut the dough in half and stack it onto itself and press down. Repeat this once more and then cut the dough in half and press the dough into two thin disks. Wrap in baking paper and foil and place into your fridge for at least 2 hours but up to 48 hours. Up until this point, you can also freeze the dough and defrost it in the fridge overnight before using. Go ahead and freeze the 2nd dough as soon as it wrapped if you’re not using it straight away.
5. On a well-floured bench, roll out your dough to about 3mm in thickness. Cut out a circle that’s about 30cm in diameter and place it onto a sheet of baking paper on a flat sheet pan and then put that into the fridge while you gather the ingredients for topping. A round pizza pan at that size is helpful here.
To make the black olive base:
6. Heat a sauté pan over low heat. Add olive oil and the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté until deeply caramelized. This should take about 20 minutes.
7. In the bowl of a food processor, combine caramelized onion, the dried tomatoes, black olives, garlic clove, rosemary leaves, honey and vinegar and process until its cohesive. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside.
To assemble and bake:
8. Preheat your oven to 220C conventional (200C fan-forced). Its great to bake directly on a baking stone so put that in the oven to preheat with the oven, if using.
9. Fold over a thin rim of the edge of the pastry to form a pretty crust. Brush it with egg wash. For store bought puff, score an edge around the edge of the pastry by using a pairing knife and cutting a shallow cut around the edge about 1cm wide. Do not cut all the way through and do not attempt to crimp. This allows the edge to puff up higher than the toppings.
10. Spread the black olive paste on the base of the pastry, excluding the crust. Being sure to get it to completely cover the bottom.
11. Begin shingling your toppings starting with zucchini in a circular shape and then the tomatoes, then more zucchini, then eggplant and repeat until you’ve reached the center of the tart. Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with sea salt.
12. Bake the galette directly on the baking stone or in the center of the oven, for 10 minutes at that high temperature and then drop the temperature down to 180C conventional (160C fan-forced) for a further 40-50 minutes until the base is browned and crispy on the bottom and the vegetables are roasted but not burnt. Allow it to cool on a cooling rack without any baking paper or tray on the bottom so it doesn’t go soggy as it cools.
NOTE: If using store bought puff pastry, you can shingle the puff pastry in rows instead of round and it will only take about 40-45 minutes to bake in total.
To finish:
13. Crumble some delicious goats cheese over the top and sprinkle with some fresh thyme leaves. Serve with a green salad or as a snack with an aperitif.