With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I am reminded that annual winter festivities are about to commence. I decided to open with a simple recipe for mushroom galette, which makes for a delicious vegan side or main if you are hosting a few vegans at your predominantly not vegan table.
I am a fan of galettes as they are easy to make, very easy to scale up or down – you can double the recipe if you wanted to cater to more people and you don’t have to worry about having the right tin size in your cupboard. You could also half the recipe and make an individual galette instead.
I have published several galette recipes on here before and usually I tend to include a creamy base like in this zucchini galette or that pumpkin one, but it requires an extra preparation step and my intention was to keep this mushroom galette simple.
Instead I topped it with some vegan ricotta towards the end of the baking time for that creamy contrast. You are of course welcome to add a creamy base, especially if you are planning to scale this mushroom galette up and make it into a centerpiece. I recommend flavouring it with roasted garlic and thyme to complement the mushrooms on top.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
FLOUR: There are a variety of flours you can use to make a galette. I really enjoy spelt flour, but wholemeal wheat flour or white flour will work nicely too. If you want something a little rustic, 50% dark rye and 50% white flour also works beautifully. I wouldn’t recommend using 100% rye flour as the dough will be too crumbly. To make it gluten-free, use a reliable gluten-free flour mix and ¾ tsp xanthan gum.
VEGAN BUTTER/COCONUT OIL: You want fat to be about 50% of the weight of flour. I like to use vegan butter when making pastry as it’s easier to work with than coconut oil, but that’s also an option. I used vegan butter block Naturli but any other block of vegan butter will work just as well.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR: A touch of vinegar is added to the pastry to make the dough more tender, pliable and flaky. You can use apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar.
MUSHROOMS: I used commonly available chestnut (or cremini in the US) mushrooms for the filling. You can use any mushrooms you like, including some more exotic ones if you can get them. The key thing is to cook all of the excess moisture out of them before seasoning to make sure the galette does not end up soggy.
BALSAMIC VINEGAR: Mushrooms benefit from a little bit of acid and rich balsamic vinegar is a perfect match. I used thick syrupy one (like this) but cheaper stuff will also work well.
SOY SAUCE: Soy sauce seasons the mushrooms and dials up their natural umami. If you want to make this dish without any gluten, use tamari instead.
GARLIC: Garlic and mushrooms are a classic flavour pairing so adding garlic to the filling of this mushroom galette was a no brainer. I sautéed raw garlic in a bit of olive oil before coating the mushrooms in it.
HERBS: I added some fresh thyme to the filling as mushrooms and thyme are best friends and fried a few sage leaves in olive oil and decorated the galette with them before serving. You can use rosemary instead thyme and fresh parsley instead of fried sage.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) MAKE THE DOUGH
Make the dough by pulsing all of the dry ingredients in a food processor, add cubed vegan butter and plus some more, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Trickle in cold water with a touch of vinegar while pulsing. Stop once the mixture sticks together in the palm of your hand. Bring together with your hands, form into a disc, cover and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
2) MAKE THE FILLING
Pan fry the mushrooms in batches until excess water cooks our and the mushrooms turn brown. Coat the in garlicky oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and soy sauce. Sauté until the marinade has thickened and the mushrooms look glazed.
3) ASSEMBLE
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until you get a rough circle of 26 cm / 10″ diameter. Place the mushroom filling in the middle leaving a margin all the way around. Fold the margin over the filling, glaze the pastry and sprinkle with seeds and flaky salt.
4) BAKE
Bake on a preheated pizza stone (or an upside down baking tray) until golden. If using vegan ricotta or a similar cheese, you may want to scatter it over the galette 5 minutes before it’s due to come out.
- 150 g / 5.3 oz (1¼) cups flour*
- ¾ tsp fine salt
- 75 g / 2.6 oz (1/3 cup) chilled vegan butter (I used Naturli) or odourless coconut oil
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or other acid)
- sweetened plant milk, to glaze
- sesame and popy seeds, to decorate (optional)
MUSHROOM FILLING
- 600 g / 21.5 oz mushrooms (I used chestnut / cremini)
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 45 ml / 3 tbsp quality balsamic vinegar
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari if GF)
- 10 ml / 2 tsp maple syrup
- a few springs of thyme
- a few fried sage leaves, for decoration (optional)
- vegan ricotta or favourite creamy cheese (optional)
- Place 60 ml / ¼ cup water in the fridge for 10-15 minutes or add some ice-cubes to it.
- Cut cold vegan butter or coconut oil into cubes. Place flour, salt and cubed fat in the food processor*.
- Pulse about 12 times – until the fat is cut into the flour and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Combine chilled water with 2 tsp (10 ml) of vinegar and gradually (spoon by spoon) add to the flour while pulsing the mixture. Once the mixture is moist enough to clump together when squeezed with your hand, don’t add any more water. If it’s too dry, add a tiny bit more, but add it very gradually as too much water makes the dough tough.
- Transfer the dough mixture into a bowl and bring it together by hand (but do not knead).
- Form the dough into a disc and cover in clingfilm. Rest it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
MUSHROOM FILLING
- Slice cleaned mushrooms into thick slices.
- Preheat a dry pan/skillet (a well seasoned cast iron skillet is best). Add about a third of the mushrooms plus a good pinch of salt. Allow them to cook, stirring from time to time, until released moisture evaporates and the mushrooms turn brown. Empty the pan and cook the remaining mushrooms in the same way.
- Empty the pan and allow it to cool down. Once cool, set it on low heat, add 2 tbsp (30 ml) of oil and grated garlic. Sautee it on very low heat, until fragrant and no longer raw, then stir in all of the mushrooms.
- Add leaves from a few thyme springs (about 2 tsp), balsamic, soy sauce ad maple syrup. Season to taste and cook on low heat for a couple of minutes, until the liquids thicken a little and the mushrooms look glazed.
ASSEMBLY
- Place an upside down stainless steel baking tray (or a pizza stone if you have one) in the oven and preheat the oven to 200° C / 390° F (no fan).
- Place a large piece of baking paper on the counter, sprinkle it with a little bit of flour and place chilled pastry on top. If you used coconut oil and the pastry is too hard, leave it at room temperature for a bit to soften.
- Sprinkle your rolling pin with a bit of flour and gently roll the dough out into a rough 26 cm / 10″ circle.
- Place the mushroom filling inside the circle leaving a bit of a margin all around the filling.
- Grab sections of the baking paper around the galette and use it to gently lift up and fold the excess pastry over the filling. Brush folded over pastry with plant milk and sprinkle with seeds (or coarse sea salt) if using.
- Bake in 200° C / 390° F oven for about 40 minutes. If using vegan ricotta, scatter it over the galette 5 minutes before it’s ready to come out of the oven. Allow to cool down a little.
- Top with fried sage, a drizzle of chilli oil (or mild chilli flakes) and toasted walnuts if liked.
*MAKING CRUST BY HAND – you can make the crust by hand by cutting the fat into the flour using a pastry cutter or two knifes (as per the photos in this post). When making this dough by hand, I find that more water is usually needed, I think it’s because a food processor is more efficient at incorporating the fat into the flour so the flour is already more hydrated before water is added.