Sweet winter squash, meltingly tender onions, and vibrant herbs come together for this savory pumpkin galette recipe. It's a lovely fall vegetable recipe that pairs well with an autumn salad of bitter greens and a tart vinaigrette.
Jump to Recipe | What is it? | What's in it? | Tips | Variations
What is it?
A galette is a free-form pie in the tradition of French country baking. Unlike pies, which bake in a deep dish, galettes are baked flat on a sheet pan or baking stone. They can be either savory or sweet, and this version is a savory pumpkin galette touched with herbs and creamy goat cheese.
What's in it?
Like a pie, there are two parts to a galette: its crust and its filling. For this galette, we start with a tender crust blended with all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour. Its filling includes pumpkin purée, melted onions, sage, thyme, parmesan cheese, and chèvre which gives the galette a resonantly savory flavor.
- Whole wheat pastry flour is stoneground from soft white wheat berries which has a lower protein content than flours used for bread. This means it makes a tender galette crust with big, whole-grain flavor.
- Fresh Pumpkin makes the bulk of the filling for the galette. You purchase a canned pumpkin, but roasting fresh pumpkin gives a deeper flavor. Pumpkin is also rich in beta carotene, a potent antioxidant.
- Onions, garlic, and herbs give the galette a pleasant sweet-savory flavor that complements pumpkin - especially when you cook the onions until meltingly tender.
- Parmesan and chèvre help to the galette filling a little bulk, and their salty edge brings balance to the sweetness of pumpkin and onions.
Which kind of flour?
Use a blend of flours for your galette crust. All-purpose flour gives the crust tenderness, and whole wheat pastry flour makes it nutritious and flavorful.
You can snag both from Bob's Red Mill both in stores and online.
Tips
Galettes are decidedly more rustic and a little easier to put together than a pie, but there's a three-step process that you'll follow to make one. This pumpkin galette begins by making the pastry, then the filling, and then assembling them together. Here are a few tips to help the process go smoothly.
- You can make the pastry dough in advance, and store it in the fridge for up to five days. Let it rest at room temperature about an hour before rolling it out.
- You can roast the pumpkin in advance. It'll keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to three days.
- Cook the onions until completely soft, they'll soften and melt into one another. This slow, gentle cooking gives them a mellow sweetness and makes them easier to purée.
- You can use a food processor for both the pastry dough and the filling if you prefer. Just make sure the food processor is fully clean before making the filling.
- Let it cool to room temperature before slicing. That will give the filling a chance to stiffen up a bit, making slicing easier.
Pumpkin Galette Recipe
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon finely ground real salt
- ¾ cup cold butter (diced)
- ½ cup cold water
For the filling
- 2 ½ pounds pumpkin
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion (sliced thin)
- 4 cloves garlic (sliced thin)
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons finely ground real salt
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 ounces chèvre (crumbled)
- 1 medium egg yolk
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
Make the crust.
- Add the flours, salt, and butter to a food processor, and pulse until the mixture turns crumbly and resembles coarse cornmeal. Continue processing, and pour the cold water into the dough until it begins to clump.
- Turn the dough out on a floured surface, and press it into a disc about 1 inch thick. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and then transfer it to the fridge.
Make the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Split the pumpkin in half, and then scrape out the seeds. Place the pumpkin cut-side down on the baking sheet. Bake until soft, about 30 minutes. Allow the pumpkin to cool completely, and then scrape its flesh into a blender.
- Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Dump the onions, garlic, sage, and thyme into the skillet, and then sprinkle them with salt. Let them sweat, stirring occasionally, until they soften and melt - about 15 minutes.
- Spoon the onion mixture into the pumpkin, and then add the parmesan, chèvre, and egg yolk. Purée the ingredients together until they form a smooth, uniform consistency.
- Turn the oven's temperature down to 375 F.
Preparing the galette.
- Line a sheet pan with clean parchment paper.
- Remove the galette dough from the fridge, and then dust your working surface with flour Roll the dough into a circle about ⅛-inch thick.
- Starting in the center, spread the filling evenly across the dough allowing for 1 ½ inches of space at the edges. Fold the edges over the filling, and crimp them to form a crust.
- Make the egg wash by beating an egg with 2 tablespoons water, and then brush the egg wash over the crust. Transfer to the parchment-lined sheet pan, and then bake about 20 to 30 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust golden brown.
- Allow the galette to cool completely before serving. Wrap the leftovers, and store them in the fridge up to 3 days.
Variations
Make it gluten-free. You can use all-purpose gluten-free flour in this crust. Keep in mind that you may need to adjust the amounts of butter and water.
Add lard to the crust. You can substitute cold lard for the butter in this pie crust. Make sure it's from pasture-raised hogs and contains no additives.
Add bacon to the filling. Crumbled bacon gives the filling a pleasant note of salt and smoke.
Skip the chèvre, and substitute additional parmesan cheese instead.
Use other winter squash instead of pumpkin. You can also use acorn, butternut, honeynut, and other hard winter squash in to make the filling.
Make it sweet. While sage, thyme, and onions make delicious savory pumpkin galettes, if you like a sweet version, try using this pumpkin custard as a filling instead of the filling above.
