Saturday 18 January 2014

Gluten free, Stress free Pastry

Over the years I've tried all sorts of recipes for gluten free pastry, with limited success. The main problem has been that the dough is too "wet" to roll out and the best one could hope for was to press it into shape in the flan dish.

I noticed there was a recipe for short crust pasty on the side of a packet of Doves Farm gluten free plain flour but when I read it I have to admit I was rather sceptical about the part which read:

"Roll out the dough between two sheets of cling film..."

However, it seemed such a simple recipe I had nothing to lose by giving it a go.

           200g Plain White Flour blend
           100g Butter
           4 tbsp Cold Water
  • Using a fork, mash the butter into the flour to give a breadcrumb consistency. 
  • Stir in the water and bring the pastry together in a ball of dough.
  • Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins
  • Roll the pastry out onto a floured surface, or between two pieces of cling film 
  • Bake according to your recipe

So that is just what I did and despite my scepticism, it worked! I used the pastry to line a flan dish which was then baked blind for 15 mins. 

Then I added some chopped bacon and onion which had been lightly fried..

This was topped with grated cheese

and a mix of two beaten eggs, 150ml milk, 2 tablespoons single cream, salt and pepper to taste.

Then it was baked for 30mins at Gas 6, 180C fan and the resulting quiche was very much enjoyed by us!

At last, a fuss free pastry courtesy of Doves Farm. I feel almost normal! (I did say "almost"!)


7 comments:

Tim said...

That looks really tasty! How did you get on with mashing the butter into the flour with a fork? I'm intrigued. Tim's taught me the food processor method for pastry, which also avoids rubbing in. P.

GaynorB said...

The pastry looks 'stress-free'. A delicious quiche without a stress crack in sight. I rarely manage normal pastry a neat..... even the ready rolled variety!!

Jean said...

Magnificent!
Well done, I'm glad you've banished your pastry fears for good!
I have looked at those instructions on the Dove's Farm packet myself and thought "the next time Colin and Elizabeth come to tea......"!

Now the world of quiche and tart is tour oyster: leek and goat's cheese, smoked salmon and asparagus, tomato and broccoli, the list is endless. You could even try the pear and almond recipe about to appear on my blog as there's so little flour that the gluten free one would work perfectly, I'm sure.

Jean said...

....."your oyster"......!

Colin and Elizabeth said...

T&P - actually I used the fork method the first time and surprisingly it worked reasonably well. The second time I used the mixer!

Gaynor - Truth be known I found this pastry far easier than the 'normal' one.

Jean - EXACTLY!!

Jean said...

Having just written the post I now realise there is NO FLOUR in the topping, which makes it perfect for a gluten free version !!

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Jean - Even better! Thanks!