This savory tomato galette can be made all year round with any mix of tomatoes you have on hand! It's also a great recipe for using up those soft tomatoes that are on the verge of not being so fresh. It can take some time because you'll want your dough to be nice and chilled but you can make the filling while the dough is chilling to save time!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of the garlic bulb just enough so that the cloves are exposed (about ¼ to ½-inch) and remove any excess papery outer layers.
Make a small bowl with tall sides using aluminum foil and place the garlic bulb inside. Drizzle with olive oil, rubbing it over the bulb and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place the aluminum foil bowl in a baking dish, making sure it is sturdy and won’t fall over. Loosely fold the sides of the aluminum foil bowl up over the garlic bulb. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
(Alternately, you can also place the bulb in a very small baking dish, such as a ramekin, or a muffin tin and cover the top loosely with foil. Muffin tins work well if you want to roast several bulbs at a time.)
Using tongs, remove the garlic bulb from the foil. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their paper sections. You can also use a small spoon to scoop out the cloves.
Place the flour, salt, and butter in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut and mix the butter into the flour and salt until you get a crumbly coarse meal mixture with a few pea-sized pieces of butter remaining. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can also pulse in a food processor or use your hands by pinching and rubbing the butter into the dough and mixing together.
Drizzle this mixture with the apple cider vinegar and a quarter cup ice-cold water. Mix lightly with a fork, adding more water by the tablespoon as needed, until a shaggy dough comes together. Turn out onto a very lightly floured work surface and knead until no more dry spots remain in the dough, being careful not to over work. Pat the dough into a thick disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours or up to 48 hours.
Layer a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towel. Place the sliced tomatoes, in a single layer, on the paper towels and sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. black pepper. Let sit for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Unwrap the chilled dough and place on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper. Roll out to a 14-inch round that is about ⅛-inch thick. Transfer the dough and parchment to a baking sheet.
Scatter and dot the cheese over the dough, leaving about a 1 ½-inch border. Next, scatter the roasted garlic cloves and shallots over the cheese layer. Sprinkle the herbs over the garlic and shallots. And finally, arrange the tomatoes over the top so that they overlap and cover the entire filling.
Sprinkle with the juice from half a lemon. Fold the edges of dough up and over the filling, overlapping as needed to create about a 1½-inch border. Brush the dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle tomatoes with sea or kosher salt and black pepper. Chill in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from the freezer and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the galette is cooked through and the crust is a golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Sprinkle with more cheese and fresh herbs and serve. You can eat right away or transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. This galette is delicious hot, room temperature, or even cold.
