This rustic mushroom, leek and bacon galette isn’t only pretty, it’s downright scrumptious. A galette is a free-form pie, simple enough for a beginner, yet challenging enough for an advanced cook.
A galette can be savory or sweet and served at any meal. It does best with a filling that’s not overly juicy – that lovely crust isn’t supported by a traditional pie plate, so it likes a filling that isn’t runny.
How to make a Mushroom, Leek and Bacon Galette
This galette is made in four steps:
- Preparing the filling
- Making the crust while the cooked filling cools
- Forming the crust around the filling
- Baking
Start with the filling
This recipe is very flexible. You can substitute ingredients as you like, but this combo is particularly yummy.
If you’ve never used leeks before, they have a delightful oniony sweetness. Visit my post here for detailed instructions and a video on The Best Way to Clean and Chop Leeks.
To get started on the filling, sauté chopped bacon and remove it. In the same pan, sauté onions, leeks and mushrooms of your choice, adding in herbs and balsamic vinegar. Stir the bacon back in as well as some sour cream and let it cool.
Leeks and onion at the beginning of cooking 
Filling with mushrooms and bacon at the end of cooking
Make the galette pastry dough
This dough is seasoned with black pepper and powdered (ground) dried rosemary. If you’ve never used powdered rosemary before, you should try it! It lends all the flavor of regular dried rosemary, but since it’s pulverized, there’s no issue with it needing hydrating.
I’ve made my dough in the food processor. It behaves well made this way – very tender and flaky, but strong and flexible. Of course you can make yours by hand, just make sure to cut in the butter to the consistency of fine crumbs.
Pulse the dry ingredients in the food processor. Add the cold butter and pulse a few times. Add a few tablespoons of water and let the machine run for about 10 seconds or so. If it still seems crumbly, add a little more water.
Whiz dry ingredients in food processor Proper consistency of mixed dough
The dough should come together in large clumps and feel consistently moist. It’s ready when you can wad it into a ball in your hand it will easily hold its shape with no crumbs.
Turn it out onto a lightly floured countertop and squeeze it together to form a cohesive ball. Form into a disk that’s about 1″ thick, then roll into a 14″ circle. The dough should be 1/8″- 1/4″ thick.
A tip for rolling dough into a circle without it taking on odd shapes: Roll forward and backward only, not rolling off the edge. Give the dough a quarter turn, swirling around to collect some flour on the counter. Forward and backward again, then another quarter turn. Continue until it’s almost the size you want and then you can roll in other directions to finish its shape.
Dough formed into flat disk before rolling Roll into a 14″ circle, about 3/16″ thick
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Slide your dough onto the parchment.
Spoon the filling into the center. Smooth it out so it’s level and there’s a 3″ or so margin of dough all around it.
Pleating your galette dough
Make an egg wash by beating an egg with a little water and have it and a pastry brush handy.
Turn the dough up onto the filling about 6 inches at a time. Every few inches, make a 1 inch pleat. Secure this pleat with some egg wash to glue it in place. Make all of your pleats in the same direction.
The dough should fit snugly against the filling. Don’t leave any gaps at the base.
Once the dough is fitted and all of the pleats are made, brush the pastry dough with egg wash.
Form pleats in the same direction 
Brush the dough with egg wash
Baking the galette
Bake in a 375° oven approximately 40 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling is a little bubbly. You can check to make sure the bottom is golden by very carefully lifting an edge with a spatula.
Cool the galette for a few minutes before transferring to a serving plate. Slice and enjoy!
Looking for something to serve alongside my Mushroom, Leek and Bacon Galette? How about a green salad with grapefruit and my Fresh Grapefruit Vinaigrette?
Enjoy!
Mushroom, Leek & Bacon Galette
Ingredients
Filling
- 5-6 slices bacon, diced ¼"
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large or 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced ½"
- 24 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced ¼"
- 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
- pinch red pepper flakes, optional
- 1½ Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or 2 teaspoons dried
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons sour cream
Pastry Crust
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon powdered dried rosemary, optional
- 4 oz. (1 stick) cold butter, cut up in approximately ¼" slices
- ice water as needed
Egg wash
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water, reserved for assembly
Instructions
Prepare Filling
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- In a large skillet on medium heat, cook bacon until barely crispy. Remove bacon and reserve. Leave about 2 Tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan. If need be, add a little cooking oil if the fat is sparse.
- In that fat on medium heat, sauté the sliced onion for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the chopped leeks and sauté for 15 minutes, don't brown them. Add the mushrooms, cooked bacon, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the salt, pepper, herbs and balsamic vinegar and cook for another 10 minutes or so, until the mushroom liquid has cooked off and they are tender.
- When mushrooms are cooked, remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in sour cream and let the filling cool while you make the pastry.
Making and Rolling the Pastry
- To Make Pastry By Hand: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt and pepper. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or your hands until butter is in fine crumbles throughout (not larger bits as for pastry baked in a pie plate.) Sprinkle in a few tablespoons of water at a time, mixing afterward. Bring it together into a cohesive ball, using water as needed. It should be nice and moist throughout, no dry parts. (It should feel like Play-doh, moist but not sticky.)
- To Make Pastry in the Food Processor: pulse flour, salt and pepper together. Add in butter and pulse a few times until chopped up. Drizzle in water a few tablespoons at a time and then run the food processor just until it forms a solid ball, then stop immediately.
- After mixing by either method, your dough should form a moist ball in your hand with no dry spots or crumbs. Bring it to your lightly floured counter top and squeeze/knead it just a few times to make sure it's all together. Form it into a disk about 1" thick.
- Prepare a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper or foil.
- Using as little flour as necessary, roll out your pastry into a 14" circle that is a little less than ¼" in uniform thickness. Tip: Roll only forward and backward a few times (not rolling off the edge), rotate pastry a quarter turn. Repeat, not rolling sideways until you're nearly at the size you want.
Assembling the Galette
- Gently transfer the pastry circle to the parchment on the baking sheet. Spoon the cooled filling into the center, leaving a 3" or so margin all around. Level off the filling so it's evenly thick, not mounded in the center.
- Have your egg wash and a pastry brush handy. To form the pastry up around the filling, bring up a section of dough and every 2-3" overlap it by forming ½-1" pleats. Brush the egg wash in the pleats as you make them to seal them in place. Work your way around your galette, brushing with egg and pleating in one direction. There should be an open space across the filling approximately 5" wide and the pastry should fit snugly against the filling with no big gaps.
- Once your pastry is all formed, brush the whole surface of the crust (not the filling) with the egg wash. Bake for approximately 40 minutes until golden and the bottom crust is lightly browned. You can gently lift an edge with a spatula and peek under to check.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then gently slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut in wedges like a pie and enjoy!
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