Ideas for Adapting Pastry Recipes

* The reason most pastry made with wheat flour is tricky is that the wheat contains gluten, which makes it stretchy. This is good for bread - it stretches into pockets to hold expanding gases from the leaveners and makes a light, moist loaf. This is not good for pastry, which gets tough when the gluten gets stretched. In fact, special “cake and pastry flour” is made with low-gluten wheat flour. Pastry made with gluten-free flour doesn’t get tough as easily as wheat pastry. It is harder to overwork the dough with mixing or kneading.

* Still, it is possible to make tough pastry with gluten-free flours. I’ve noticed the following errors can toughen the dough:

• Working with dough that is too warm. Use chilled ingredients to mix the dough, then refrigerate it for at least an hour before rolling.
  
• Using recipes that skimp on the fat. Why bother skimping on the fat in pastry? If you’re worried about fat, make fruit sherbet, not fruit pie.
  
• Adding too much water to the dough. Start with the minimum amount of water that will hold the dough together and leave it workable.

* Most pie and tart crust recipes adapt fairly well to gluten-free treatments. For the best chance of success:

• Choose a pastry with some fat and protein from chocolate, sour cream, cream cheese, or plain cheese.
• Or choose a pastry that already has some gluten-free ingredients, such as cornmeal. - Choose a “pat-in” (rather than “roll-out”) pastry crust. It’s likely to work very well.
• Replace the flour with a combination of light starches. For instance, 2 cups wheat flour can be replaced with a mixture of 1 cup sweet rice flour, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1/4 cup corn starch, and 1/4 cup tapioca starch, with 1 tsp xanthan gum.
• If a recipe calls for no egg, add some egg, even if you have to use half a beaten egg and figure out what to do with the other half. Replace 1 tbsp water with 1 tbsp egg. Whisk the egg with 1 tsp vinegar, too. If the recipe calls for an egg already, use a really big egg, reduce the water by 1 tbsp, and add the vinegar, too.

* Other options can always include using crushed gluten-free cookies (or a mix of cookies and gluten-free bread crumbs) in place of graham wafers. Add some chopped or ground nuts for more flavour and texture.

Cornmeal Pastry (for Savoury Tarts)

This makes a slightly thick, crisp and crunchy tart pastry that I used for a yummy roasted tomato and goat cheese tart. Adding the 1/2 an egg or egg white seems to help - add the rest of the egg to an omelet, I guess!

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp dried herbs (if desired)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp beaten egg white or whole egg (about 1/2 an egg)
2-3 tbsp ice water

Whisk the dry ingredients. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter to form smallish crumbs.Whisk vinegar and egg together. Pour into the batter.Add just 2 tbsp ice water to start - stir the dough quickly together with a fork.Test if the dough will hold together. If it is still too dry, add one more tablespoon of water.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Allow to warm up at room temperature for 10 minutes, then roll to fit a 9” tart pan. Prick the surface of the dough with a fork, all over, and bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes, until golden and crisp.

Cream Cheese Pastry for Savouries

This makes perfect little gluten-free turnovers to serve as Christmas finger food. I have only tried this cream-cheese pastry with savoury fillings so far, to bring out the cheesiness of the cream cheese. I bet brie and cranberry chutney would be marvellous, or almost any savoury thing you would ordinarily wrap in phyllo pastry bundles.

3/4 cup cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar and salt. Stir in flours, starches, and xanthan gum just to blend. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least one hour.

Roll out on a rice-floured surface to 1/8” thickness. Cut 3” rounds. Fill with 1 tsp of your favourite savoury pre-cooked filling. Brush edges with beaten egg and fold over rounds to seal. Prick with a fork. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, until golden.

Pumpkin Pies

Why go to the bother of making one pumpkin pie when, for the same amount of effort, you can make two? Two delicious custardy smooth pies in gluten-free crusts. And why make a 9" pie when you can make a 10" pie? This recipe makes two ten-inch pies. Here's the crust recipe.

The filling's smoothness and lightness rely on a tip from Mark Bittman -- slowly warming the custard on the stovetop until it is hot to the touch, then pouring the warm filling into a freshly baked, still warm crust. This makes the custard the smoothest you can imagine -- and prevents burning the crust's delicate edges when you bake the pie. Warm the filling while baking the pie crust.

5 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (or more)
1/4 grated nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
pinch ground cloves
pinch salt
3 cups pumpkin or squash puree (canned okay)
3 cups half-and-half, light cream, or whole milk

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, beat the eggs with the sugar, spices, and salt. Whisk in the pumpkin and then the milk or cream. While the crust is baking, warm the filling mixture over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is hot to the touch; do not boil.

Place two pie plates with two warm crusts on a baking sheet. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the crusts and bake 30 to 40 minutes at 350F, until set but still moist. Cool on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream.

Flaky Pie Crust

This gluten-free pie crust is derived from a Bette Hagman recipe with a few flavourful adaptations and some notes from personal experience. I must admit, I was no wizard with wheat-based pastry, but this GF version makes me feel like a pastry goddess. The recipe makes two 10" pies or one double-crusted pie.

Notes: Gluten-free pie crust can’t be overworked like wheat-flour crust, but it can get too warm or have too much water. Start with the recommended 3 tbsp of water (or even less) and then decide if you need more, if the dough is too dry. The dough also needs to be good and cold when you roll it out. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling it, then roll it out on rice-floured plastic wrap or wax paper. It is too delicate to drape over the rolling pin and lift into the plate after rolling, so bring the pan to it instead. Invert the pie plate onto the rolled-out dough on the plastic wrap, then slide your hand under the plastic wrap and flip the whole shebang right-side up. Press the dough into the plate, remove the plastic wrap, flute the edges, and voilà. If it all falls apart, it’s pretty easy to patch together, too.

1 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup potato starch flour
1 rounded tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
dash sugar
1/2 cup lard or shortening (what's your issue? transfats or animal products?)
1/2 cup butter (cold)
1 egg, beaten (cold)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp ice water
extra sweet rice flour (for rolling)

Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in butter and shortening until soft crumbs form. Mix in egg, vinegar, and water, and gather dough into a ball. If the dough is too dry, add an additional tbsp of water, but read the note above before you do . . . Chill the dough one hour. Divide in two and roll out each half. Press into the pie plates. Prick all over with a fork.

For a pre-baked crust: To bake, line the pie crusts with foil to cover and weigh the foil down with dry beans or pie weights. Bake at 400F for 12 minutes; remove the weights and foil, and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes at 350F, until lightly browned. You must weight the crust down to cook it as a pre-baked crust, or it will lurch upward in the middle as it cooks.

Otherwise, follow the regular cooking instructions in your favourite regular pie recipe and cook until lightly golden and flaky. Be sure to create wide steam vents in double-crust pies -- GF pie crust likes to seal itself back up as it cooks.

Egg and Cheese Brunch Pie

If you use leftover gluten-free pasta in this easy quiche, warm it in the microwave before adding to the pie.

1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch flour
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup butter, melted

1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
6 mushrooms, finely chopped
3/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup hot cooked brown rice or corn noodles (spaghetti or fettucine)
pepper, to taste
2 very large or 3 medium eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup hot milk

Preheat oven to 325F.

To prepare crust, mix together flours, xanthan, cheese, mustard, salt, and butter. Use more butter if needed to hold it together. Press firmly into a 9” pie plate.

Lightly sauté onions and mushrooms in butter until browned. Pour over crust. Top with a layer of warm noodles and sprinkle with cheese, dusting with pepper. Pour beaten eggs over the pasta. Slowly pour in the hot milk. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until well set.

Mousse-Filled Chocolate Tartlets

I tried this chocolate pastry for Valentine's Day and, other than overcooking it so it was a bit smokier than hoped, it was delicious. Filled with mousse and chopped toasted nuts, it was even better.

I wished I had sprinkled a little cayenne pepper into the pastry, for a subtle hit of hotness. A teaspoon of pulverized instant coffee granules would also have been good. I imagine that using ground hazelnuts in the pastry and chopped hazelnuts in the cups would be just as delicious as almond flour and chopped almonds.

1/3 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
3 tbsp potato starch flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
pinch of salt

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and starches, cocoa, xanthan, and salt. Using an electric mixer on a low setting, mix flour mixture into butter mixture until well combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator and from the plastic wrap. Divide into 24 even balls, warming the dough as little as possible with your hands. Set out 2 12-cup mini-muffin or tartlet pans. Place one ball in each of 24 tartlet cups. Press gently and evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the little cups. Prick the bottoms with a fork.

Chill the pastry while the oven preheats to 375F. Bake for about 15 minutes, watching carefully in the last minutes to prevent burning. (The dough is so dark, it's hard to tell if the brown is edging to black.) Turn the pastries out of the pans to cool on a rack. Allow to cool completely before filling.

Chocolate Mousse: Finely chop 8 oz bittersweet chocolate. Place in a heatproof bowl. Heat 3/4 cup of cream in a small saucepan until just beginning to boil. Pour cream over chocolate. Whisk until smooth and chocolate is melted and glossy. Stir in 2 tbsp orange liqueur. Refrigerate for about 1 hour; remove from refrigerator and whip until light.

Assembly:

Coarsely chop 1/2 cup of toasted almonds. Reserving 1/4 cup of the chopped nuts for garnish, sprinkle the remaining nuts into the bottoms of the cooled pastry cups. Mound each cup with mousse, using a knife to make sure the mousse adheres to the outside edges of the pastry and seals in the nuts. Sprinkle the reserved nuts on top of the mousse.

Refrigerate the tartlets until ready to serve.

Makes 24 tartlets.

Gluten-Free Cheddar-Pepper Tartlets

This recipe is another one adapted from Canadian Living for gluten-free diets -- with a few additions that suit our taste for spice. These are a favourite appetizer for any occasion. We use jalapeno pepper jelly made from home-grown organic peppers. A 1/2 cup jar is just enough for one batch of 36 tartlets.

1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup finely grated, well-packed old Cheddar
2 tbsp (approx) ice water
1/2 cup jalapeno pepper jelly -- recipe below (or other savoury jelly)

Whisk together flours, pepper, and salt. Cut in butter until in fine crumbs. Stir in cheese. Add water one tablespoonful at a time, tossing with a fork, until dough begins to form clumps. Do not use too much water in gluten-free pastry; it will cause toughness.

Press dough into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Divide dough into 36 pieces. Press each piece into a tartlet cup, pressing onto bottom and up sides. Prick bottoms with a fork. Spoon about 1/2 tsp of the pepper jelly into each cup.

Bake at 375F for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp and golden. Let cool in the pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly: Mince 5 (or more) jalapeno peppers. Include the seeds to make a hotter jelly; discard the seeds to tame the heat. Place minced jalapenos in a 4 cup measure, and add minced red and green sweet peppers to fill to 4 cups. Pour into a large saucepan and add 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar. In a separate small bowl, whisk 1 box light pectin crystals with 1/4 cup of sugar. Slowly add this mixture to prepared peppers in the saucepan. Place over high heat and stir constantly until mixture returns to a full boil. Stir in 3 cups sugar. Stir constantly as mixture returns to a full boil. Continue to stir and boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Pour quickly into warm jars filling to 1/8” from the top. Process in boiling water bath. Yields about 5 cups.