This recipe is sponsored by California Grown. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Bakes by Brown Sugar possible. And to learn more about what's in season check out this handy California Seasonality Chart.
Filled with meaty shiitake mushrooms, sweet shallots, and fresh herbs and topped with a nutty Gruyere cheese this delicious savory Mushroom Galette is sure to become a dinner-time favorite.
Jump to:
In May of this year, I was invited to a California Grown agricultural tour. We met local producers and growers for artichokes, greens (think lettuce, spinach), but the most fascinating was FarWest Funghi, where the owners walked us through the entire process of growing mushrooms.
After seeing the process, which I describe further down, I was inspired to make this recipe for savory mushroom galette using shiitake and cremini mushrooms. This galette is great for dinner served with a salad or as an appetizer for a dinner party.
What is a Galette
A galette is a French pastry, similar to a tart, that doesn’t require a pie dish since it’s shape is free form. It stems from the French word gale, meaning flat cake and in French cuisine often refers to cakes that don’t require a baking pan.
The beauty of a galette is that unlike a pie the dough doesn’t have to be shaped into a pie pan and then the edges trimmed or crimped. The dough is rolled out, filled with a sweet or savory filling, then the dough is pulled over the filling to partially encase it. It’s a simple technique that produces a beautiful main meal or dessert.
Mushroom Galette Ingredients
Here are the ingredients that you’ll need for this delicious galette recipe:
- Shiitake Mushrooms. These mushrooms have a rich, buttery taste that adds a lot of flavor to this galette. It has a meaty texture that helps make this galette filling.
- Cremini Mushrooms. Cremini mushrooms have a savory flavor and tastes like a milder version of portobello mushrooms.
- Shallots. Shallots have a sweet flavor slightly sharp flavor that pair really well with the mushrooms. If you don’t have shallots you can use the same amount in regular onions
- Garlic. I only used two garlic cloves in the recipe, but if you like a stronger garlic flavor feel free to use more.
- Crème Fraîche. If you don't have crème fraîche you can use sour cream.
- Fresh Thyme and Chives. Fresh herbs especially thyme provide wonderful flavor to the galette. Thyme has a somewhat minty, citrusy flavor that goes really well with the mushrooms; and chives add an oniony taste to the crust and filling.
- Herbes de Provence. Is a combination of 6 or 7 spices. It’s added to the pie crust to add a herby flavor and appearance to match the savory ingredients.
- Gruyere Cheese. Gruyere cheese is nutty and when it melts it coats the mushrooms in a beautiful cheesy layer.
- Parmesan Cheese
- Pie Dough. My all-butter pie crust is used for this recipe with a few adjustments since this is a savory dish.
How to Make the Pie Crust
See my recipe for Pie Crust for tips to successfully make your own homemade crust. Since this is a savory dish I reduced the amount of sugar and added herbes de provence and fresh chives to the crust.
Refrigerate the pie dough for at least 45 minutes. You can also make the dough the day before if you’re making this mushroom galette for a party.
How to Make This Delicious Mushroom Galette
Peel and slice the shallots. Heat the vegetable oil and butter over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Once the shallots are added to the pan, reduce to medium heat to avoid burning them and saute them until they are soft. Remove the shallots from the pan.
Add more vegetable oil and then saute the mushrooms on medium-high heat to remove most of the moisture from the mushrooms and caramelize them. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Towards the end of the cooking, add the chopped garlic and the fresh thyme. Saute for another 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms to the same bowl as the shallots and allow them to cool to room temperature.
Roll the chilled dough into a large circle on top of a large piece of parchment paper. Spread the creme fraiche over the middle of the pie dough leaving a 2-inch border at the edges of your pastry crust.
Pile and spread the cooked mushroom mixture on top of the creme fraiche and sprinkle with fresh herbs and the Gruyere cheese. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling and then brush the dough with an egg wash and refrigerate the galette for 30 minutes.
Place the galette on a rimmed baking sheet and bake the mushroom galette until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Remove the galette from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack before serving.
You'll absolutely love this tart. When you pull it out of the oven, the mushroom and cheese filling are bubbly and the flaky crust is buttery.
Different Types of Mushrooms to Use for Galette
During our California Agricultural Tour we visited Ocean Mist Farms and Lakeside Organic Gardens, but my favorite by far was Far West Fungi which inspired this delicious mushroom galette.
Until I took this tour I assumed mushrooms were grown in-ground, but was surprised to find that the mushrooms are grown in a base made from recycled wood waste. The wood waste is dried, sterilized, and then colonized with spores that Far West imported from Japan.
Over several weeks the spores completely envelop the wood base. Once that step is completed the base is moved to another room where the mushrooms start to grow and are then harvested and sold in local markets.
Far West grows 12 varieties of mushrooms, several of which are perfect for this galette, including Tree Oyster, King Trumpets, and Lion's Mane. The Lion's Mane has a dense, meaty mushroom that tastes like seafood when cooked.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Weigh the flour when making the pie dough to ensure that you don’t use too much or too little flour. Too much flour will result in a dry crust and too little will result in a crust that is too soft.
- Cook the mushrooms before adding them to the pie crust to remove most of the moisture. Mushrooms have a lot of moisture and if they are not cooked first they will release their water into the pie crust resulting in soggy crust.
- Don’t use pre-shredded cheese for this recipe. It has cellulose mixed to prevent the cheese from caking or clumping together. It will still taste okay but it won’t melt the same as freshly grated cheese.
Mushroom Galette Recipe - Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. you can use store-bought crust for this galette. Make sure there is enough dough to roll out to a 14-inch circle.
For this recipe you can also use mozzarella cheese or even blue cheese for a l
I hope you try this amazing mushroom galette. It makes the perfect appetizer or main course for any day of the week. If you do make it please rate the recipe below. And please SUBSCRIBE to the baking newsletter and CONNECT with me on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, and PINTEREST
Mushroom Galette
Ingredients
Pie Dough
- 1-1/4 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons (142 grams) cold unsalted butter cubed
- 1/4 cup ice-cold water or more if required.
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon herbs de Provence
- 1 teaspoon fresh chives chopped
Mushroom Filling
- 12 ounces shiitake mushrooms
- 4 ounces cremini mushrooms
- 1 cup sliced shallots about 2 large shallots
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) crème fraiche
- 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 garlic gloves chopped fine
- 3 teaspoons fresh thyme divided
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon whole milk
Instructions
Mixing Pie Dough by Hand
- Put the flour, sugar, salt, herbs de provence, and chopped chives in a bowl and whisk to combine. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is about the size of lima beans.
- Combine the ice-cold water and the lemon juice. Add the ice water and use a rubber spatula to toss it and the dough together. The dough will still be slightly crumbly or shaggy but will hold together when squeezed into a ball. If more water is needed add it one tablespoon at a time.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press the dough together, folding it over on itself until it starts to hold together. Try not to work the dough too much or it may become overdeveloped and tough.
- Shape the dough into disk 1-inch thick. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least 45 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days and frozen for up to 2 months.
Make the Mushroom Filling
- Clean the mushrooms by the wiping them with a damp paper towel to remove any dirt. Remove the stems and slice the mushrooms into 1/4-inch thick slices. Set these aside in a bowl.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Once the pan is warm, place 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan. When the butter has melted add the shallots, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until the shallots are soft. Occasionally stir the shallots to keep them from burning in one spot. The shallots should be soft with a slight purple color when they are done. Place the shallots in a large bowl.
- Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil to the pan. Increase the heat to medium high and add the mushrooms. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Cook the mushrooms until the water from the mushrooms has evaporated and the mushrooms have started to caramelized. Add the chopped garlic and 2 teaspoons of the fresh thyme and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mushrooms to the same bowl with the shallots. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature before assembling the galette.
Make the Egg Wash
- Whisk the egg and the milk together in a small bowl. Set aside
Assemble and Bake the Galette
- As soon as the mushroom mixture is cool, preheat the oven to 400F with a rack in the center position.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Dust the board or work surface with flour and set the dough on top. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out to a 14-inch circle. Fold the dough in half and lift it onto a large piece of parchment paper.
- Spread the crème fraiche in the center of the dough leaving a 2-inch border all the way around the dough circle. Pile the mushroom mixture on top of the crème fraiche. Sprinkle the remaining thyme on top of the mushrooms, then add the cheese on top of the mushrooms. Fold and pleat the edges of the dough border over the mushrooms and cheese, leaving the center exposed. Transfer the galette and parchment paper to the baking sheet. Lightly brush the dough with the egg wash on top and under the pleats to help the folds stay together as the galette bakes.
- If you're making this galette on a warm day and the dough becomes warm or too soft to work with, place the galette in the refrigerator for 30 minutes then resume making the galette. If you've folded and pleated the dough and it's warm or easily tearing, brush it with egg wash and refrigerate it for 30 minutes before baking it.
- Bake the galette for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway or until the crust is golden brown in color and the cheese is bubbly. Remove it from the oven and place the galette on a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Mary Lynch says
I (sort of) made this recipe, because it looked so delicious, and because I had vegetables from the garden, and it turned out wonderfully! The crust I made pretty much as you said to, but for the filling, I used some Greek yogurt I had,rather than creme fraiche, and I cut up beets, parsnips, and carrots from the garden and added onion, garlic and peas also from the garden. It was absolutely delicious, and turned the vegetables into two meals for two. The recipe is easy enough for a non-cook like me, and obviously very flexible. We had something really elegant at a bargain price.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Mary
Thank you so much for visiting the blog and trying this recipe. I'm so glad you were able to make it your own with the ingredients that you had on hand and that you enjoyed it. That combination of root vegetables with the onions and garlic sounds absolutely delicious.
Christina says
What are your thoughts on substituting Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All purpose baking flour for regular flour? My husband is gluten intolerant but I think he would love these gorgeous veggie delight.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Christina
I haven't made gluten-free pie crust. Bob's Red Mill has a gluten-free pie crust recipe and one of my favorite sites for gluten recipes The Loopy Whisk also has a gluten-free recipe. Both of these recipes should work with the galette.