Making gluten-free pastry- any tips?

[bloggingvirgin]

I fancied a quiche so out came Dove's Farm gluten free bread flour recommended for pastry. I added an 1/4 teaspon extra Xanthan gum. it's like concrete- will prob throw out.

Anyone make GF pastry that is edible?

Copied this from a thread I've had in my watch list for a while. Not tried it yet ...

225g doves farm GF plain flour
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
60g butter
60g vegetable shortening
2 tbsp caster sugar ( for sweet version)

Rub flour, gum, butter and shortening together until mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar for sweet pastry. Add 3-5 tbsp of water until mixture just forms a dough. Wrap on clingfilm Nd put in fridge for 20 mins.
Take out of fridge and place between 2 sheets of clingfilm, then roll to a thickness of 3mm. Take off top sheet of clingfilm, then invert the pastry into the tin. (don't worry if it tears, just patch up any gaps.
Fill the pastry with the filling of your choice and bake.

This pastry isn't baked blind first.
I've haven't tried it with runny fillings like a quiche yet. I've made sweet potato pie, pecan pie, apple/ pear tarts and it's cooked well and made a nice crisp pastry.
I've cooked it at around 180c for 35-45 mins depending on recipe.

I have always found it really hard to make GF pastry and I am a pro at normal pastry! I have had to resort to Mrs Crimbles pastry mix which is very good. Sorry that is probably not that helpful....

Where do I buy Mrs Crimbles??? I've just briefly looked at her website, I feel elated!!!

Tesco have it. I've failed too often in my own homemade attempts.

The pastry above comes from this book.

It's very good for all sorts of egg- dairy- and wheat- free recipes. She does use some oat products. You can get gluten free oats from Alara, but I am not sure if Oatly products contain gluten.

My Sainsburys stock the pastry mix....Tescos do some of her range too including a yummy pancake mix which makes pancakes which you can flip! Amazon also sell it...

I'm going to buy this book to save my sanity!! Thankyou. Hope I've not hijacked the thread

I low carb, so tend to steer clear of gluten free cake etc except as an occasional treat.

I wonder if anyone else reacts really badly to any gf products with xanthan gum in? Or is it just me? After a few reactions (migraine, gum pain, sore dry lips) to baked goods I now react to tiny amounts (like in some toothpaste brands).

Thanks all!

The recipe I used was pretty much like the one from Frazzle except I used all marg nadnot 50:50 shortening/ butter etc. It was very rock like- had to throw away or risk having crowns and new fillings!

I rarely eat pastry but just fancied a change.

GF flour makes super cakes IME though scones are rather 'dense'.

I'll have a look at the mixes.

Are you avoiding gluten, or just wheat. If just wheat then substitute spelt flour for wheat flour and you can make decent pastry.

The key to gf pastry is to do the exact opposite of normal pastry - knead the hell out of it! Plus you must chill it before rolling out.

Wheat free bakery sell it n ready to roll blocks. I make almost everything form scratch but I can't get the pastry right. This ready to use pastry freezes fine so I cut it into blocks and freeze. Non gf people eating as well as tastes "normal"

Avoiding gluten- not just wheat.

Will try kneeding like hell- did chill which made it easy to roll but it was soooooooooo hard- impossible to eat.