This pear and blue cheese galette is the perfect mix of rustic and unreasonably elegant; buttery flaky crust, slow caramelized onions, sweet pear slices, and sharp blue cheese. It’s that salty/sweet combo that always hits, especially once it’s finished with walnuts for crunch, peppery arugula, prosciutto, and a drizzle of honey. Basically a bakery worthy tart that looks dramatic without requiring pastry perfection.

What is the difference between raw honey and ‘regular’ honey?

Raw honey is honey that has been minimally processed; usually just strained to remove big bits of wax or debris but not heavily heated or ultra-filtered. Because of that it often looks a little cloudy, can crystallize faster, and may keep more of its natural pollen, enzymes, and flavor complexity. ‘Regular’ honey from most grocery stores is typically pasteurized or heat treated and more finely filtered, which makes it smoother, clearer, and slower to crystallize but can also mellow out some of the more delicate floral notes. For something like a honey drizzle on this galette, raw honey tends to taste a little more vibrant but both work.

How to make a galette?

Now let’s get baking! Whisk together 1 1/2 cups of flour and the salt and put it in a food processor. Add half of the cubed butter and pulse 4 times, then add in rest of the butter and blend for about 20 seconds. Pour in rest of the flour and blend for 15 more seconds. Move the dough in a medium bowl and knead in water and vodka until well combined. Form a small disk and wrap it with plastic, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Meanwhile over very low heat, melt butter in a cast iron pan. Add oil and a pinch of salt and sugar, and then sliced onions. Cook for about an hour until golden brown and tender. Set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place parchment paper on a counter top and the cold dough disk in the middle of it. Roll the dough out into large circle about 1cm (2/5”) thick, and then brush it with egg white. Add the cooked onions in the middle and evenly spread them around, but leave about 5cm (2”) of the border empty to fold at the end. Then neatly place pear slices on top of the onions, and lastly add desired amount of blue cheese on top. Fold the blank border in over the toppings, lightly pressing down to make it stay. Then use egg wash to brush the border. Carefully transfer the galette on an upside down cookie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden. Let the galette cool for 10 minutes and then garnish with chopped walnuts, arugula, prosciutto, and little bit of honey.

Tips

In this dough recipe the vodka is used to break down some of the gluten to create a flakier crust, if you do not wish to use alcohol or don’t have any on hand just use water!
Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before making the galette. It can also be made ahead and frozen - just let it thaw in the refrigerator when ready to use.