AI-generated illustration of a finished baby tomato galette with a golden folded shortcrust border and red tomato halves

Lunch

Baby Tomato Galette with Mustard and Thyme

Published 01 November 2026 · Updated 01 November 2026

Sweet baby tomatoes soften inside a folded, golden shortcrust, with a thin layer of mustard and thyme underneath. Salting and blotting the tomato halves before filling helps keep their juices away from the pastry base.

Not kitchen tested by The Black Farmer.
Serves 4
Prep 94 min
Cook 50 min
Total 154 min

Timing: Allow about 154 minutes: 25 initial preparation, 30 tomato draining alongside 30 pastry chilling, 15 assembly, 20 assembled chilling alongside 20 oven preheating, 2 glazing/oven transfer, 45 baking, 5 continued baking and checks, 10 rack rest and 2 cutting/serving. Preparation metadata of 94 minutes comprises 44 preparation/assembly minutes, 30 draining minutes and 20 additional refrigerated chilling minutes. The first 30-minute pastry chill is real and explicitly timed but fully overlaps draining, so it is not added to cooling_minutes again. Equal-duration parallel groups list the phase owning the elapsed budget first. Cooking is 50 minutes including centre checks and 30-second holds; rest is separate. Extra hydration adjustment, turning tomatoes and handling are included in their named stages. All times are editorial estimates, not kitchen-tested measurements; add actual extra time for slow oven preheating, pastry firmness or full baking. Side dishes and any storage/reheating route are excluded.

Ingredients

  • Baby Tomatoes on the Vine - 250g

    Baby tomatoes

    500g as sold (2 × 250g packs)

    Use all fruit from both packs. Remove and discard every vine, stalk and calyx, rinse the fruit and dry, then halve through the stalk end. Choose small tomatoes around 2–3cm across; quarter any larger ones into similar-sized pieces. As-sold weight is before stalk removal; no exact de-stemmed yield is promised.

    £4.70

Adds 2 items across 1 products — £9.40 total.

Pantry ingredients such as oil, salt and herbs are not included.

Other Ingredients You'll Need

  • Plain flour — 210g, divided: 200g for the dough and up to 10g for dusting (200g for the dough; up to 10g for dusting the parchment, rolling pin and pastry. Brush off loose excess rather than kneading it into the dough. Contains wheat/gluten.)
  • Unsalted butter — 100g (Cold, pasteurised butter cut into roughly 1cm cubes; all in the pastry. Contains milk.)
  • Cold water — 50ml, plus up to 5ml only if needed (50ml in the dough initially; the additional 5ml is optional hydration correction, added in small drops, not a wash or filling liquid.)
  • Dijon mustard — 15g (All spread in a thin layer beneath the tomatoes; not extra liquid in the filling. Contains mustard; check the label for other allergens.)
  • Dried thyme — 1g (Rub between fingers; all on the mustard-covered filling area.)
  • Milk — 10ml (Cold pasteurised milk for a thin pastry glaze; discard any surplus left in the brush bowl. Contains milk.)
  • Fine salt — 4g, divided: 2g for the pastry and 2g for draining the tomatoes (2g for the pastry and 2g for draining the tomatoes; some tomato salt leaves with the discarded juice. No further salt is added.)
  • Ground black pepper — 0.5g (All over the blotted tomatoes during assembly.)

Method

Prepare the fruit and make the shortcrust

Allow 25 minutes for weighing, washing and cutting, making the dough and preparing the tray. Check a shallow metal tray with a usable base at least 35 × 40cm fits both oven and fridge, and line it with baking parchment. Remove all vines, stalks and calyces from the tomatoes, rinse and dry the fruit, then halve through the stalk end; quarter any larger tomatoes so pieces are about 2–3cm across. Keep them in a bowl for now. In a separate mixing bowl, combine 200g flour with 2g salt. Rub in all 100g cold cubed butter with fingertips until mostly sandy with some small, flattened butter flecks; do not let it turn greasy. Stir in 50ml cold water, then gently press into a dough without kneading. If it will not hold together when squeezed, add up to the optional 5ml water in small drops. Shape into a disc about 2cm thick and wrap. Do not taste raw flour dough. Keep the milk refrigerated.

Drain the tomatoes while the pastry chills

Toss all the prepared tomatoes with the remaining 2g salt in a colander set over a bowl of at least 1 litre. Leave to drain for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through; the turning is included in this stage. At the same time, refrigerate the wrapped pastry for 30 minutes until firm. These waits run together, not one after the other. Leave the oven off for now. Discard the collected tomato liquid rather than adding it to the filling.

Dry, roll and fill

Allow 15 minutes for this assembly. Spread the drained tomatoes on clean kitchen paper or a clean tea towel and gently blot the cut surfaces; do not rinse or squeeze them. Use up to the reserved 10g flour to dust the parchment and rolling pin. Roll the dough directly on the parchment into a rough 32cm circle about 3–4mm thick, rotating the paper as you work. Gently press small edge cracks together rather than stretching the dough. Spread all 15g mustard over a central circle about 24cm across, leaving a clear 4cm border, then scatter over all the dried thyme. Arrange all the tomato pieces over this area, cut sides upwards, in a shallow layer with only slight overlap; do not pile them into a mound or pour over any remaining juice. Scatter over all the black pepper. Fold the clear border over the outer tomatoes, making broad overlapping pleats and pressing cracks closed without sealing the open centre. Slide the parchment and galette onto the lined tray if you rolled off the tray; keep it flat and supported.

Firm the folded pastry and heat the oven

Refrigerate the assembled galette on its tray for 20 minutes, until the folded pastry feels firm. At the start of this chill, set the oven to 200°C conventional / 180°C fan / gas 6 with a shelf in the lower-middle position; allow the same 20 minutes for preheating. Do not put the tray in until the oven has reached temperature. If the oven takes longer, keep the galette refrigerated and add the extra waiting time.

Glaze the border

Allow 2 minutes to brush a thin coat of the 10ml milk over the folded pastry border, not the tomatoes, and put the tray in the oven. Avoid puddles on the parchment; discard any milk left in the brush bowl and wash the brush. This is a milk glaze, not an egg wash.

Bake and check the base and centre

Bake for about 45 minutes at the same temperature. The pastry should be deep golden, including the thick pleats, and the tomatoes softened with lightly wrinkled edges. Then allow a further 5 minutes for checking and continued baking: using a broad spatula, carefully lift an edge to check the underside is browned and firm rather than pale and pasty. With a clean thin-tip food thermometer, check the centre of the tomato filling without touching the tray; it should reach at least 75°C and remain at or above that temperature for 30 seconds. Check another central spot, cleaning the probe between readings. The holds and handling are included in the 5-minute allowance. If either the base or centre is not ready, continue baking and recheck, adding the actual extra time. Loosely shield the border with foil if it darkens too far while the base finishes; do not cover the open filling tightly. A golden rim alone does not mean the flour underneath is cooked.

Rest on a rack and serve

When cooked, use the parchment and a broad supporting spatula to move the galette onto a wire rack; allow 10 minutes to rest. Once supported, gently draw the parchment away to let steam escape from beneath the pastry. Allow 2 minutes to transfer to a board, cut into four quarters and serve warm. This makes four light lunch portions; add dressed watercress, cucumber and radishes prepared separately. The tomatoes remain juicy, so a small amount of juice on cutting is normal, but the base should not be raw or sodden.

Serving Suggestion

Serve one quarter per person as a light lunch with watercress, thinly sliced cucumber and radishes dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. For warm greens, prepare Garlic Butter Kale separately. Accompaniments are optional and excluded from the galette's ingredients, basket and timetable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why salt and blot baby tomatoes?

Even small tomatoes release juice during baking. Draining removes some free liquid before the fruit meets the pastry; blotting the cut surfaces and placing them upwards helps avoid a wet layer underneath. Do not pour the collected juice back into the galette.

Is this puff pastry or shortcrust?

It is homemade water shortcrust, made from flour, butter, salt and cold water. It is not a ready-rolled puff sheet, a laminated dough or an egg-enriched pastry; those would need different handling and dimensions.

Do I need a tart tin or a blind-baking stage?

No. The pastry is rolled on parchment and its border folds around the filling on a shallow metal tray. There is no blind bake or hidden cooling stage; the lower-middle oven shelf and the underside check matter because the fruit sits directly over the base.

Does 500g mean fruit weighed after removing the vines?

No. It means two nominal 250g shopping packs as sold. Remove every vine, stalk and calyx and use all the fruit; the remaining edible weight will be lower if stalks were included. Do not buy an extra pack to chase a claimed exact prepared weight.

Why chill the galette after filling it?

Rolling and folding soften the butter. Refrigerating the assembled galette until firm helps the border keep its shape; the oven preheats during this same wait. Do not skip the chill to shorten the displayed time.

What if the rim is golden but the base is pale?

Continue baking, loosely shielding the rim if necessary. Lift carefully with a broad spatula and look for a browned, firm underside, not a soft floury layer. Tomato tenderness, a golden top and the centre-temperature check do not replace the pastry-base check.