This is one of my favorite desserts on earth but I only get to have it every few years. Until now, that is.

See, this dessert is specific to a tiny medieval village in France called Pérouges. I’ve never had it anywhere else. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. You generally buy it through a window in an old stone building and you almost always pair it with some hard cider. It’s delicious and unique and the type of thing you keep thinking about long after you’ve finished eating it. I grew up visiting my family in France almost every summer and we loved to visit Pérouges, but those visits have spaced out over the years. I was so glad to happen upon this recipe and have a little nostalgic taste of the French countryside right in my own kitchen.

What is Galette Perougienne?

A great question. Galette generally means “flat cake” and often refers to free-form tarts that encase fruit or other filling. This one is a yeasted dough that’s closer to a bread dough than pastry and has a filling that’s really more of a topping and is only comprised of butter and sugar. It’s deliciously simple with a chewy yet crusty base, the slightest hint of lemon, and a sugary crust that tops it all off. It’s not overly sweet and is the kind of thing that works for an afternoon snack (what the French call ‘le goûter’) as well as it does for dessert.

What Ingredients Do You Need for Galette Perougienne?

It’s a very simple list! You’ll need:

• Active dry yeast.
• Butter.
• An egg.
• Some lemon zest.
• Sugar.
• Flour.

See? Very simple.

How Do You Make Galette Perougienne?

It’s also very simple. (Don’t let that yeast scare you.)

You just want to mix up the water and yeast and let it rest while you mix together the softened butter, egg, lemon zest, and just a touch of sugar. Next, you’ll work in the flour but that’s easily done with a wooden spoon. The yeast mixture goes in next and pretty soon you’ll have a very soft and moist dough. You’ll want to place it in a butter-greased bowl, cover it, and let it sit until it doubles in size, which will take about two hours.

You then roll it out — but that is much easier than pie dough since it’s so soft — and top it with the rest of the sugar and some pats of butter.

Then you bake. In just fifteen minutes, that sugar will get crusty and mix with the butter and caramelize while the dough puffs slightly.

The sugar crunch on the top is the most tantalizing part but the chew of the crust below carries it perfectly. And don’t worry — while the sugar looks very apparent here, there’s a very nice balance since the dough is barely sweetened at all.