Galettes are French pastries with a flaky crust, traditionally served on Epiphany, but available year-round in sweet or savory varieties. They can be made at home with puff pastry dough and filled with ingredients such as marzipan, meat, cheese, or fruit. The term “galette” can also refer to crêpes made with buckwheat.
A galette is a type of French pastry made with a rich, flaky crust, traditionally served on Epiphany, January 6 each year. Many bakeries also offer galettes year-round, in both savory and sweet incarnations. In general, galettes are rounded and flat and tend to be very crispy due to the type of dough used to make them. They can be made at home with minimal effort.
The term “galette” is used in parts of France to refer specifically to crêpes made with buckwheat. In other countries, pastries made with thicker doughs are sometimes found labeled as galettes. Technically this designation is incorrect, especially if the pastry is left open on top, as is common, but the resemblance to the original galette can be seen. In most cases, a galette is too large for one person to eat and is designed to be cut up before being served to individual guests.
Sweet or savory filling
Depending on the region and the chef, galettes might be made plain, but are more often filled with something. The traditional sweet filling includes marzipan mixed with egg and orange peel flakes. This filling is often used for Epiphany galettes, to which the cook also adds small fevers or charms. An Epiphany galette is known in French as a galette des rois, or “king’s cake,” and the consumer who gets the slice that has its appeal is bravely the king or queen.
Savory fillings and toppings are also not unusual. Meats such as ham and sausage are sometimes served with galletes. You can also use apple slices, cheese such as gruyere and egg. Sometimes the filling is baked into the galettes and other times, supplementary ingredients are placed on top. When ingredients such as cheese are placed on top of a galette, the dish is usually toasted so that the cheese melts onto the galette.
How to make biscuits
To make traditional galettes at home, one can make puff pastry dough or buy it frozen at the market. A baking sheet should be greased and a circle of puff pastry should be placed on it for each of them. A mixture of marzipan, egg and orange zest can then be spread in the middle of each pastry, stopping about 5cm away from the edges.
If the cook intends to include a fever, it is added before layering another sheet of puff pastry and curling the edges. Decorations can be made on top by cutting with a knife or making shapes with additional puff pastry and pasting them with egg before baking the galettes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius) until golden brown and puffy. Care must be taken when opening the oven to check the dough, as the dough can collapse.
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