Gluten Free Pastry for Pies and Tarts
This from scratch Gluten free Pastry for Pies and Tarts could not be easier to make because it comes with a little help from the grocery store. Perfect for savory and sweet pies, tarts and the British classic, sausage rolls.
I have many popular recipes that call for homemade shortcrust pastry; Steak and Ale Pie, Maple Sweet Potato Pie and even my Homemade Sausage Rolls (pictures below). Given this, I get a lot of requests of how to make the pastry gluten-free.
Best gluten-free flour
The flour I found to make life easier is Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten free baking flour. I find this in my grocery store and also on Amazon. The 1 to 1 means that it measures the same (or measure for measure) as regular all-purpose flour.
I see other recipes that make the gluten-free flour with all the necessary ingredients like rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch and xanthan gum. There’s no need to buy all of these if you can find the 1 to 1 flour.
Xanthan gum; an ingredient that you usually see in products but don’t know what it does. In this recipe, it plays and important part to replace the gluten in the flour to stabilize and thicken the dough. I have read that corn starch is a good substitute for xanthan gum, but I have not tried it yet.
Egg in gluten-free pastry
The egg replaced the protein missing in the flour and makes for a more tender crust.
This recipe makes 1 pie crust and can be doubled to make a top and a bottom pie crust. This is also a savory crust, to make it a sweet crust for pies add 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
If you’ve made this Gluten Free Pastry for Pies and Tarts or any other recipe, leave me a comment or question below. I love to hear from my readers.
Gluten Free Pastry for Pies and Tarts
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (194 grams) 1 to 1 gluten free flour, plus extra for rolling out pastry (see note), Check the ingredients of your flour. If it does not contain xanthan gum, you will need to buy some and add 1 teaspoon to the flour.
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup 170 grams unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes kept refrigerated until ready to use
- 1 teaspoon sugar if making a sweet crust, optional
- 1 egg, room temperature whisked
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
Instructions
To a make the pastry in a food processor:
- Add the flour, salt and butter. Pulse until you get the texture of breadcrumbs (add the sugar at this stage if making a sweet dough). With the processor running, add the egg, then slowly drizzle in cold water until it forms a ball. You may need more or less water depending on the dough.
To make the pastry by hand:
- Add the flour, salt and butter to a large bowl. Using your fingertips (or a pastry cutter) rub the butter and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and drizzle in the water and mix using a fork until the it starts to come together and holds together when pressed in your hand. You may not need all of the water.
- The dough is ready when you can grab a little, press it the dough with your fingers it should hold together. Remove and shape into a flat round on a floured board. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the fridge and unwrap. Allow the dough to rest for 10-15 minutes after removing from the fridge to make it easier to roll and prevent cracking. Roll from the center out to achieve a round piece of dough.
I used this recipe to make a GF quiche. Worked really well
This sounds wonderful.
Used this pastry for a tourtiere pie and was a big hit with the family. I did use your other pastry recipe (for sausage rolls) using gf flour which turned out awesome. Really not sure if there is much difference between the two re holding together. Gf is always a little bit harder to handle. Think next time I will make one of each and ask my taste tester (grandson) if he finds a difference. Like I said, both are WONDERFUL. Thanks so much have a super New Year.
Happy New Year to you too! Thank you so much for the feedback, I’m so happy the family enjoyed both.