A thin layer of frangipane, a rich almond pastry cream, elevates this simple, classic French dessert into something special. It's made in the style of many French fruit tarts: thin-crusted and only lightly sweetened to let the fruit truly shine. Americans have eagerly adopted French-inspired freeform tarts, even giving them a French name, galette, a word that the French generally use to describe a round, squat pastry, cookie, or buckwheat crêpe. The most famous galette is Galette des Rois, two disks of puff pastry filled with frangipane and eaten on Epiphany. I considered calling this dessert a tart, but decided against it because that term can put off people who are worried about dealing with fussy doughs and trying to achieve picture-perfect results. This pastry is intended to be rustic, and for that reason, it's often my go-to galette. Or tart. Speaking of tart, if your apples are particularly tart, you could sprinkle a bit more sugar on top of them before baking, but if you serve a sweet accompaniment alongside, as I usually do, additional sugar probably won't be necessary.
Storage: The dough can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated. The tart should be served the day it's baked.
Variation: For a nectarine-Frangipane galette, substitute 3 large nectarines (1 3/4 pounds/795 g), pitted and cut in 1/2-inch (1.5-cm) slices, for the apples. (If you want the nectarines to have a very pronounced flavor in the tart, decrease the amount of frangipane; you can use as little as one-half the quantity, or about 1/2 cup/125 ml). Arrange the necctarine slices in barely overlapping concentric circles. You can use peeled peaches in place of the nectarines.
