You simply have not lived until you’ve experienced this hot and bubbly Rustic Tomato Galette with goat cheese and a simple homemade biscuit dough crust!

Homemade tomato pie with fresh tomatoes and warm dough.

Tomato Galette Recipe

This tomato gallet with goat cheese is a casual, free-form biscuit-crust pizza that requires lots of homegrown tomatoes, goat cheese, and fresh basil.

I love to make it because it’s so casual yet stunning to serve. It’s also a perfect recipe to use up all of those fresh tomatoes from the garden!

I love using fresh tomatoes in this galette. If you don’t have any on hand, check out your local farmer’s stand or market. It will be worth it!

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The dough is also a special treat. The buttermilk lends that flavor, and I think it really complements the tomatoes well.

It’s most delicious when eaten directly from the oven, but it does reheat well in the oven or air fryer.

A fresh baked tomato and goat cheese galette made with biscuit crust.

Ingredients for Rustic Tomato Galette

Tomatoes: This pie is SOOO much better with homegrown or farmers market tomatoes!
Mild Goat Cheese: I frequently stock up on goat cheese at Aldi. They have a wonderful 4 oz. goat cheese log that’s got a wonderful, mild flavor and it is a total bargain.
Flour
Corn Meal
Mayonaise
Butter
Buttermilk
Baking Powder
Sugar
Backing Soda
Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Fresh Basil: In a pinch, you can use dried basil, but it’s not nearly as flavorful, so be warned.

How to make a Rustic Tomato Galette

To Make the Crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and the cornmeal together; reserve.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Using a pastry blender or a knife and fork, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal in texture.

Stir in the buttermilk, just until the flour mixture is moistened, taking care not to over mix.

The dough should just come together and should be rather sticky.

Knead the dough 5-6 times, then let it rest for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle a large sheet of parchment paper with half of the flour/cornmeal mixture.

Place the prepared biscuit dough onto the prepared sheet of parchment paper, patting the dough into a 5-inch disc.

Using a floured rolling pin, roll the biscuit dough into a very large circle (approx. 16-18″ in size)until it’s about 1/4-inch in thickness.

Add a bit of the cornmeal/flour mixture beneath the edges of the dough as needed to keep it from sticking to the parchment paper as you roll it out.

To assemble the galette

Slide the parchment sheet holding the prepared dough onto a large, rimmed baking sheet.

Sprinkle the dough with the remaining half of the flour/cornmeal mixture, leaving a 1-inch border.

Arrange the sliced tomatoes over the top of the flour/cornmeal mixture, slightly overlapping the tomatoes as you go.

Meanwhile, combine the goat cheese, mayo, cottage cheese, Parmesan, and basil in a bowl.

Dollop the prepared goat cheese mixture in generous spoonfuls over the sliced tomatoes, then smooth the dollops out into an even layer.

Fold the dough over the edge of the tomatoes, pleating the dough where needed to make folds, working your way around the edge.

Season the tomato pie with freshly ground black pepper.

Bake the tomato pie, uncovered, on the lower oven rack until the bottom crust is a deep golden brown, approx. 8-10 minutes.

Move the pizza to the middle oven rack, baking an additional 10-15 minutes until the top crust is golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly all throughout.

Let the tomato pie cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing into pie-shaped wedges to serve.

Why a flour/cornmeal mixture

This layer of the flour/cornmeal mixture beneath the tomatoes really helps absorb any juices that the tomatoes happen to release, keeping the bottom crust from getting soggy.

It works great to keep the dough from sticking to the parchment paper as you roll it out and it is also an important layer over the top of the dough, beneath the layer of tomatoes, too.

Don’t skip this step!

Make Homemade buttermilk

To make homemade buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon cider vinegar to 3/4 cup milk and let it rest for 10 minutes.

The vinegar will curdle the milk, giving it a similar flavor to the buttermilk. This works great. I don’t always have buttermilk on hand, either!

Baking with Juicy Homegrown Tomatoes

I slice my tomatoes and then lay them on paper towel-lined platters, sprinkling them with a bit of kosher salt.

This keeps the extra juice in homegrown tomatoes from seeping out and making my crust soggy.

The salt pulls the moisture from the tomato slices which then is absorbed into the paper towels.

The other option is slicing the top of the tomato off until you can see pockets of seeds down inside the tomato.

Turn the tomato upside down over the garbage disposal and gently squeeze letting the seeds and juice drip out.

Using a food processor for the dough

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt into the food processor bowl.

Lock the lid into place and give the dry ingredients a quick process to combine them.

Cut the chilled butter into chunks, then drop the pieces into the food processor bowl with the dry ingredients.

Using the pulse button on your food processor, pulse the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like small peas.

Dump this mixture into a large mixing bowl, then add the buttermilk and mix just until blended. Don’t over mix or your crust will be tough and chewy.

Overmixing Biscuit Dough

Over mixing the dough causes it to release the gluten proteins. When this happens it will give the baked product (the crust) a tough chewy texture instead of the tender crust we prefer.

Combine the buttermilk with the dry ingredients just until the dough comes together. It may appear as though it needs to be mixed further, but resist the urge!

Other ways to enjoy Tomatoes