Potato Galette Recipe: How to Make a Classic Potato Galette
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Jun 6, 2022 • 3 min read
With a simple recipe that’s almost impossible to mess up, galettes are a pie-like pastry that even the most novice home cooks can execute to perfection.
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What Is a Potato Galette?
A potato galette is a rustic French tart composed of free-form pastry dough topped with a savory potato and cheese filling. The word "galette” comes from the Norman word “gale,” meaning flat cake. Galettes are popular both for their ease of creation and their versatility. While a traditional galette filling consists of fruit, butter, and sugar, you can prepare galettes with rich, savory fillings like potatoes and cheese.
Potato Galette vs. Pommes Anna: What’s the Difference?
Potato galette and the French potato dish pommes anna are both crispy, buttery potato tarts. However, pommes anna is traditionally cooked stovetop and then inverted for a shatteringly crisp top. Potato galette is baked and features a crisp bottom crust.
What Are the Best Potatoes for Potato Galette?
While regular russet potatoes make a delicious galette topping, try elevating the flavor and texture with these other potato varieties:
- 1. Yukon Gold: Yukon Golds were developed in the ’60s and named after the Yukon River in Canada. They’re very high in vitamin C, with firm, dry, fine-textured flesh high in amylopectin. This makes them ideal for mashed potatoes as well as puréeing and roasting.
- 2. La Ratte: This French heirloom fingerling variety is very dense and holds a lot of fat, which is why they are an ideal potato to use for puréed potatoes. La Rattes have thin golden skin and waxy yellow flesh that holds its shape when cooked, making them good for roasting, as well. They have a buttery, hazelnutty flavor.
- 3. Kennebec: One of the most common varieties in the US, lumpy Kennebecs were developed in the 1940s. They have thin, tan skin with brown spots and white flesh that’s high in amylopectin. They’re all-purpose potatoes that maintain their shape when cooked, making them good for fries, potato chips, and hash browns.
Simple Potato Galette Recipe
makes
1 10-inch galetteprep time
2 hr 15 mintotal time
cook time
50 minIngredients
For the pie crust:
For the potato filling:
- 1
Preheat the oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2
For the pie crust, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
- 3
Add the cold cubed butter to the flour mixture, and work it between your fingers until the dough resembles coarse crumbs and there are no large pieces left (the dough should just hold together when pressed in a handful). Alternatively, use the pulse function on a food processor, taking care not to overwork the dough.
- 4
Turn the dough out onto a clean floured surface, and add the cold water and vinegar. Comb through the dough with your fingers until well-combined, then begin to knead the dough until it comes together, no more than a couple of minutes.
- 5
Divide and form into a shaggy disc about 1-inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
- 6
While the dough rests, in a medium bowl, toss to combine potatoes, kosher salt, Parmesan, garlic, 6 tablespoons of the melted butter, cornstarch, black pepper, rosemary, and thyme.
- 7
Generously dust a clean work surface with flour, and roll the dough into a 12-inch circle.
- 8
Gently transfer the dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- 9
Working quickly, arrange a single layer of shingled potato slices over the center of the dough in a circular pattern, leaving a two-inch border. Repeat with another layer of potatoes over top with remaining potatoes as needed.
- 10
Brush potatoes with the remaining tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- 11
Then, using the parchment paper to guide you, fold the edges of the dough up and onto itself, one section at a time.
- 12
Brush the exposed dough with egg wash.
- 13
Transfer the sheet pan to the oven and bake galette for 40-50 minutes, until crust is golden-brown and the potatoes are soft. If bits of potato begin to burn in the high heat before the crust is finished, simply tent a piece of foil over the filling and continue baking.
- 14
Cool the galette to room temperature before serving. Finish with a few cracks of black pepper and more Parmesan cheese, if desired. Garnish with chives.
- 15
Leftover potato galette can be refrigerated or frozen. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until warmed through.
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