Pastry made with gluten free flour- help.

[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?

Try asking the 'pros' on the Allergies board for their advice & recipes. Someone there is bound to know what works best!

Thanks- I did look there first but all the posts lately are on babies and allergies. Will give it a go.

Its the Xanthan thats your problem there - it makes pastry very tough. I use an egg white, chill for a few hours, then roll out between silicone sheets

What did you use as the fat? What did you mix it with? Did you pre-cook it?
I use a little xanthum gum in my pastry, I use half butter / half GF shortening. I mix it together with a pastry cutter and when forming it into a ball I try to combine it with as little kneading as possible. Wrap in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for 20 mins, then roll out on top of some clingfilm, again with as little handling as possible. I then add the filling and cook.
I've always had good results with this method.

Charming - what do you mean when you say you mix it with a pastry cutter? And where do you get GF shortening?

Sorry to hijack but I had given up ever making pastry again so I'm excited that someone has a good GF method.

Is there anywhere you can get pre-maid, ready to roll, GF pastry?

A pastry cutter / blender is a hand held gadget ( think potato masher with vertical blades) that you use to get the fine bread crumb effect. You can pick them up for around a fiver on amazon. I started using one in my pre GF days with excellent results ( much better than using a food processor).
I get GF vegetable shortening in my local health food store or Planet Organic. I've also heard you can make your own by grating lard/ vegetable shortening, coating it in GF flour and storing in your fridge - but haven't tried it myself yet.
I've only tried this method with quite thick fillings so far and it's worked well. I've not yet attempted it on a quiche ( my early GF baking days included a few disastrous quiches) or other runny fillings as I'm not yet convinced a runny filling will work with raw pastry, but I intend to summon up the courage to try it soon.
As for ready to roll GF pastry, haven't found any yet.

Bloggingvirgin- I've always used Doves Farm plain flour.