Rough Puff Pastry
This recipe makes 650g and can be used for lots of recipes in Becky Excell's book "how to make anything gluten free". Search for Creamy Chicken Bakes to make a lovely handheld pie using this pastry.
Credited to: Becky Excell
Kcal:
Serves 1
30 mins prep
Ingredients
- 295g gluten free plain flour*, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- Pinch of salt
- 225g very cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 medium egg white
- Ice cold water
Notes: *Find suitable products on our Food and Drink Information
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together your flour, xanthan gum and salt. Make sure your butter is really cold; if not, put it in the fridge or freezer until chilled. Add the cubes to the bowl and stir it into the flour. With cool hands, gently squeeze the butter with your fingertips to break the cubes down a little. Definitely don’t try and rub them into the flour as we want to see chunks of butter in the mix at all times.
- Add your egg white to a jug (pitcher) and add ice cold water to the jug until the mixture reaches 130ml in total. Give it a mix. Gradually add three-quarters of the wet mixture to your mixing bowl, tossing the mixture with your hands, or using a knife to cut it in, between pouring. This will allow the mix to hydrate, but don’t try to form a dough at this point.
- Once you’ve added three-quarters of the wet mixture, start to add it in even smaller quantities, still tossing in between. If your dough doesn’t come together after adding all of it, you might need to add up to an extra tablespoon of water. Bear in mind that you may need to add more or less water – this just serves as a rough guide. Once a dough starts to form, only then begin bringing it together with your hands – you don’t want it to be too dry or sticky, just somewhere in between.
- Using your hands, form a rectangle with the dough and wrap in cling film. It should have visible streaks of butter in it. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
- Lightly flour a large sheet of nonstick baking parchment. Remove your dough from the fridge and remove the cling film. Roll it out on the parchment until just over 1cm (½in) thick. Fold over the bottom of the dough so it meets the middle, then fold the top of the rolled out dough over that, like a letter in an envelope. Try to get the layers fairly evenly folded, but at this stage, it doesn’t matter if it looks messy.
- Return the dough to the fridge for about 15 minutes, to chill. Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling 3 more times, turning the pastry 90 degrees each time you roll. On its last trip to the fridge, chill it for no less than 30 minutes before using. You can freeze this pastry for up to 2 months; defrost fully before using.
Hints and tips:
Chill! Using cold water, cold butter and chilling the dough makes your gluten free pastry stronger and more workable. Making any type of pastry on an incredibly hot day isn’t advisable as the warmer your dough is, the more fragile it will become.
