Mushroom–Bacon Galette

Galette Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces 
• 1/4 cup ice water 

Filling:

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1/2 pound trimmed and coarsely chopped mushrooms, white, cremini, wild, or a mix
• 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, split, washed and thinly sliced, or 1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, thinly sliced, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 finely chopped garlic clove
• Fine sea salt
• 3 tablespoons dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper

Make the dough: put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to blend. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut into the flour. At first, you’ll have a mixture that looks like coarse meal and then, as you pulse more, you’ll get small flake-sized pieces with some larger pea-sized pieces. Add a little of the ice water and pulse. Add more water and continue to pulse until all the water is in. Now, work in longer pulses, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl if needed, until you have a dough that forms nice, bumpy curds that hold together when you pinch them. 

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it gently to bring it together. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk and put it between two large pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough, while it’s still cool, into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Don’t worry about getting the exact size or about having the edges of the round be perfect—ragged is pretty here. The dough will be thicker than you might think it should be—it’s what you need for a free-form pastry. Slide the rolled-out dough, still between the sheets of paper, onto a baking sheet or cutting board and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or (well-wrapped) for up to 3 days. When you’re ready to use the dough, leave it on the counter for a few minutes just so that it’s pliable enough to lift and fold without cracking. 

Make the filling: lay the bacon strips out in a heavy skillet and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crispy and golden brown on both sides. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel–lined plate, cover with more towels and pat dry. Set aside one tablespoon of bacon fat. When the bacon is cool, finely chop or cut it into slender strips.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 400°F. Leave the dough on the counter for about 10 minutes while the oven preheats. You need the dough to be pliable; very cold dough will crack when you work with it.

Pour the olive oil into the skillet with the bacon fat and return the pan to medium heat. Toss in the mushrooms, leeks or onion and garlic, season lightly with salt and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened—the mushrooms will release liquid and then, as you continue to cook, take it up again. Add the white wine and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it evaporates, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the cream and cook, stirring, until it’s mostly absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bacon, walnuts, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, the thyme and pepper. 

Assemble the galette: peel the top piece of paper off the dough but leave on the bottom sheet of parchment and keep it on the baking sheet. Scrape the filling onto the crust and use a spatula to spread it into a circle that’s about 9 inches in diameter. Lift the bare border of dough and fold it over the filling. As you fold, the dough will pleat on itself, and that’s what you want; don’t worry about being neat or about getting everything even. You can refrigerate the galette for a few hours before baking and bake it straight from the fridge.

Bake the galette for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is deeply golden and the filling hot. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan over the top of the galette — and, if you’d like, the crust. A drizzle of olive oil is also nice. Let the galette cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

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MUSHROOM-BACON GALETTE is excerpted from Everyday Dorie © 2018 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2018 by Ellen Silverman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.