Savory Breakfast Galette

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Do you have a late summer harvest of zucchini and squash?  Zucchini and summer squash are combined with creamy scrambled eggs and Gruyere cheese in a flaky and rustic Savory Breakfast Galette.

Unfussy, this free-form breakfast pastry is crunchy, creamy, and full of vegetables.  Add a crisp salad to round out the meal.  

What is a galette?

A galette is made with a pastry or pie dough base.  Less structured than a tart or a pie, galettes are easy to prepare and do not require the same attention to detail as some other baked goods.

Simply made,  the dough is rolled out into a circle and the filling is placed in the center.   The sides are folded on top, partially encasing the filling.

While galettes are considered the rustic cousin of a tart, they have a comforting appearance.  Browned vegetables shine in a flaky golden crust.

What dough should I use?

Generally, galettes are made with pie dough.  If you are a strict practitioner of French pastries, you may want to use pate brisee.  Some recipes call for puff pastry which can be purchased premade.

If you decide to use puff pastry make sure to dock the dough by pricking it all over the surface with a fork.  This will allow some of the steam to be released when the puff pastry is baked.  When it still gets puffy while baking, it won't expand too much.

Savory Breakfast Galette Ingredients

• Pie Dough - one batch of https://tenpoundcakecompany.com/buttery-flaky-pie-dough/
• 2 cups sliced zucchini
• 2 cups sliced summer squash
• 1 ½ cups sliced leeks
• 1 ¼ cups grated gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 10 eggs
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• salt and pepper

How to make a Savory Breakfast Galette

The first step in preparing the galette is making the dough.  I make pie dough in a food processor.  Easy, fast, and it contains some of the mess.  Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  The cool dough is easier to fold and will be somewhat sturdier.

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Line a sheet pan (approximately 11.5 x 16.5) with parchment paper.

Prepare the vegetables

• Cut ¼-inch slices of the zucchini and summer squash. Lay the vegetables in a single layer on paper towels. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt across the zucchini and squash. Cover with paper towels. The salt will extract excess liquid from the vegetables. Leave the vegetables for 30 minutes.
• Rinse whole leeks well to remove any dirt and grit. Using only the white part, cut the leeks into ¼-3/8 inch slices.
• Grate 1 ¼ cups of gruyere cheese.
• Remove fresh thyme from stalks until you have 1 teaspoon of leaves.

Roll out the dough

• After the dough has chilled for 30 minutes, remove it from the refrigerator. Roll the pie dough out on a floured surface into a 15-inch circle. Make sure to keep moving the dough as you roll it out so it doesn't stick to the surface. You can always add small amounts of flour to the surface to prevent sticking. 

• Place the rolled-out dough on a parchment-lined sheet pan. The dough will probably be larger than the width of the pan. That's okay.

• Sprinkle ½ cup of the grated gruyere on top of the pie dough leaving a 2-inch border on the outside edge clean.

Prepare creamy scrambled eggs

• Over medium heat, add 1 ½ tablespoons of butter to a nonstick skillet. Melt the butter and add the leeks with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt.
• Add 9 eggs to a bowl. Whisk the eggs until well beaten. Completely mix the eggs to thoroughly combine the whites and yolks.  Add ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper.
• Slowly sweat the leeks. You do not want them brown, just cooked until they start to soften.

•  Add the eggs to the pan with the leeks. With a rubber spatula, continually stir the eggs in the pan so that there are small curds.
• Add the fresh thyme to the eggs as you gently stir them.
• Only cook the eggs until they are still wet and gently scrambled. This is because the eggs will continue to cook in the galette.

Finish the galette

• Lay the slices of the vegetables on top of the eggs, starting with the outer circle. I like to alternate the zucchini and the squash. Once the outer circle is complete, create another layer of the vegetables inside. Keep making smaller circles of vegetables until all the vegetables are laid on the eggs.

 

• Sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup of gruyere on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle the chopped chives on top of the cheese.

• Now start to fold the 2-inch outside border of dough on top of the filling. This is a rustic tart, so the folding may not be perfect.
• Combine 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the egg wash on the folded dough edge.
• If the dough has started to soften and is getting too warm, place the finished pre-baked galette in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.  If the dough is too warm, the butter will melt and leak out of the galette onto the sheet pan.

Bake the Savory Breakfast Galette

• Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Halfway through the baking process, rotate the sheet pan to evenly cook the galette.
• Let the galette cool for 10 minutes.  Slowly cut the galette into 8 slices. It helps to use a serrated knife to cut through the dough.

Substitutions

• Crumble some breakfast sausage or bacon onto the scrambled eggs.
• Cheese suggestions - asiago, fontina, or Emmental.
• Use basil as a replacement for thyme.

Tips

• To reheat a slice, wrap it in a piece of aluminum foil.  Place it in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

Summer produce

I think this is one of the best ways to cook zucchini and squash together.  A creamy scrambled egg galette is delicious but the added summer vegetables add some fresh flavor.

This Savory Breakfast Gallete is a great vegetarian breakfast option.  But it is equally suitable for lunch or dinner.  So if you are looking for recipes for your abundant crop of zucchini or summer squash, here is the answer!

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