The Perfect Pastry
Mastering that "tricky" gluten-free dough!

Once faced with the challenge of having to eat gluten-free, you may consider abandoning your love for delicious cookies and pies. You think ‘they just don’t taste the same, so why should I even bother.’ Or you may learn to accept the gf hard, flavorless, gritty substitutes available at your local health food store. Well, we are here to tell you that all hope is not lost. Through many attempts we have discovered a way to bring those delicious cookies back to the front of your palette.

Choosing the perfect baking flour

Our first challenge was dealing with the flour. After purchasing various bags of flour (everything from Tapioca, Potato, Rice, Xanthum Gum, etc), making a huge dent in our pocket books, and producing less than desirable results, we decided to look towards manufacturers of baking mixes for our solution. As it happens we discovered a mix, made by the Chef's Pantry, called "Country French Bread Mix". The mix has all the flours already mixed together and it requires the "baker" to add the yeast, eggs, etc. So, in an effort to avoid finding the exact chemical equation for good gf baking flour, we decided to try the Chef's Pantry flour as a substitute. To our pleasant surprise it worked wonderfully! Our suggestion is to try this flour mix as a substitute for regular flour in nearly all of your baking. We are confident you will find this to be a must-have in your pantry.

Measuring Ingredients

Extra flour can make a huge difference in your baking results. Carefully measuring out your ingredients, both dry and wet, can make a difference in not only taste but texture as well. When measuring out gf flour, first fluff it with a fork, then spoon it into a dry measuring cup. Level the top with a knife to ensure an even cups worth. It is not always necessary to sift your dry ingredients together. The job can be done sufficiently by mixing the dry ingredients with a whisk or a fork.

In measuring your liquid ingredients be sure to use a glass measuring cup (to ensure proper level of fullness) and place the cup on a level counter. If using a recipe calling for oils and thick, "syrupy" ingredients, measure out the oil first, followed by the thick, sticky ingredients. This will eliminate the sweeteners from sticking to the sides of the cup.

Cutting in Butters or Fats

If your recipe calls for cutting in fats (butter or shortening) into dry ingredients, it is important to use chilled butter to eliminate the possibility of it melting during the mixing process. You will find the best results using a pastry blender (a device that looks like a "U" with a handle at the top, with the U being made up of a series of rigid wires). If a pastry blender is unavailable you can also use 2 knives, crisscrossing them like open scissors and cutting through the butter to blend into flour. The end result should be flour particles coated with butter, resembling small peas or coarse meal. The purpose of is procedure is to allow the butter to melt during the baking. The moisture contained in it produces steam, thereby giving the pastry a flaky, tender texture.

Rolling out gf dough

This you may find a little tricky when using gf doughs. The key is "patience", perseverance and a small bag of tricks — compliments of Glutenfreeda. Depending on the dough you are working with you may need to adopt a few strategies to eliminate the headache of ripped, misshapen pastry tragedies.

For pie crust:

Try using the Chef's Pantry "Perfect Pie Crust" mix. Follow the directions for the mixing of the dough, up to the baking part, then follow directions for the pie you are attempting to make. If you are making a cream-filled pie, or custard pie, or any kind of pie that doesn’t require the filling to be baked (such as the Banana, Chocolate & Coconut Cream Pie) you will need to bake the crust on its own. If you prefer a thicker crust, try using 3/4 of the prepared dough (the package makes 2 balls of dough — intended for either two pies or double crust pies). If a more buttery flavored crust is desired substitute butter for the shortening (you will end up with twice the amount of butter than the package calls for).

In addition to using the appropriate flour and recipe, roll out the flour between 2 sheets of parchment paper. This will accomplish three things: 1) it eliminates the need to flour a surface — of course you can use gf flours, but this will make it easier, 2) it will keep the dough together, eliminating rips, crumbling, etc., and 3) it will facilitate the transfer from your pastry board to the pie dish. Make sure you roll out the dough so that it is about 2 inches larger than the rim of your pie dish. When you are ready to make the transfer to the pie dish, remove the top piece of parchment and invert the pastry over the dish. Slowly and carefully remove the top layer of parchment. Make sure the dough is firmly set in the bottom of dish. Fold under about a 1/2 inch of dough and crimp edges to make a nice decorative pattern.

If you use this Pie mix and follow this procedure for rolling out dough — you will never feel left out from the old gluten-filled pies….this is truly wonderful.

For Cookies:

Make sure that your dough has been chilled for the appropriate time. This will allow the dough to "rest" and also allow the fats (butter or shortening) to harden enough to facilitate the process of rolling out the dough.

Depending on the type of cookie you make you need to be careful on the method you choose to roll out your dough. If the dough has a larger than normal butter content and is wetter than your traditional dough (a good example of this is the Gingerbread Cookie recipe) you will need to roll the dough out on a gffloured surface. However, most cookie recipes that require you to roll out the dough, you will get the best results from rolling it out between two sheets of parchment.

If you are using cookie cutters (as in the Christmas Cookies), and are having difficulty with the cutter not releasing the dough, try placing a small amount of gf flour on a plate or on your pastry board. Move the cutter back and forth, coating the blades with the flour. This will help eliminate any stubborn cookies from releasing.

We hope you enjoy your holiday cooking…and eating this year. Don’t forget to treat yourself with the delicious cookies, desserts and pies available in our recipe file this month.