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Every week, A Word on Food will give you a term that will make your mouth water. Happy eating.

Galette [guh-LET]: A flat, round free-form cake

Origin: French

A galette is the easiest way to make a delicious, rustic-looking bread filled with whatever you have in your house. All you need for a galette is dough, plus some fruit for a dessert or vegetables, meats and cheeses for a savory galette.

To make a galette, roll the dough into a circle and mound the filling in the center. Then simply fold up the edges of the pastry around the filling. The insides become flavorful and the dough becomes crisp and flaky as it bakes, making a beautiful tart that is extremely forgiving. Even if the dough edges aren’t perfect, the galette will still look elegant. 

Galettes are most commonly filled with fruit and served for dessert. For these simple galettes, you don’t need much more than pastry dough, fruit and sugar. You can even buy the pastry dough if you don’t have time to make it. Stone fruits such as peaches and plums make beautiful and juicy galettes, but berries and other seasonal fruits work as well. That is the beauty of the galette — you can fill it with whatever is in your fridge. The pastries are especially suited for softer fruit that is too ripe to eat, because the juices will caramelize, further enhancing the rich, sweet flavor. 

Try this recipe for a fruit galette, courtesy of The New York Times. 

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon sugar 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

1 large egg

Heavy cream, as needed

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into big pieces

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)

For the Filling:

3 cups fruit of your choice, sliced or cubed if necessary

1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, to taste 

Pinch of salt 

Juice and grated zest of 1/2 lemon (optional)

3 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

For the crust:

1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade or in a large bowl, pulse or mix together flour, sugar and salt. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg, then add just enough cream to get to 1/3 cup. Lightly whisk the egg and cream together.

2. Add butter to flour mixture, and use a food processor, pastry cutter or your fingers to break up the butter. If using a food processor, do not over-process; you need chickpea-size chunks of butter. Drizzle up to 1/4 cup of the egg mixture over the dough, and pulse or stir until it just starts to come together but is still mostly large crumbs. Mix in lemon juice and zest if using. 

3. Put dough on lightly floured counter and pat it together to make a uniform piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for 2 hours or up to 3 days. 

4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll the dough out to a 12-inch round (it can be ragged). Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill while preparing the filling. 

For the filling:

1. Toss together fruit, all but a tablespoon of sugar, salt, lemon juice and zest, and cornstarch. Use more cornstarch for juicy stone fruits and less for blueberries, raspberries and figs. Pile fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Gently fold the pastry over the fruit, pleating to hold it in (sloppy is fine). Brush pastry generously with leftover egg and cream mixture. Sprinkle remaining sugar on the crust.

2. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the filling bubbles up vigorously and the crust is golden. Cool for at least 20 minutes on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

For a savory galette, try Food52’s leek, fennel and mushroom galette for a hearty winter dinner. If you want to try out more recipes, here are 15 sweet and savory options, courtesy of Brit + Co and 14 more galettes, tarts and crostatas compiled by The Huffington Post.