Gluten free puff pastry dough

By Robin_h

The rolling instructions are fairly complicated, but the dough came out PERFECTLY. Cooking time depends on what you are making. Just watch it closely and adjust!

Ingredients

• 345 grams (3/4 pound or 1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks) unsalted butter
• 137 grams (4 7/8 ounces or 3/4 cup) potato starch (or tapioca flour)
• 137 grams (4 1/2 ounces or 1 cup) cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
• 52 grams (1 7/8 ounces or 1/3 cup) superfine brown rice flour (or sorghum)
• 52 grams (1 7/8 ounces or 1/3 cup) superfine sweet rice flour (or millet flour)
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 180 ml (3/4 cup) ice water

Details

Preparation time 320mins
Adapted from glutenfreegirl.com

Preparation

Step 1

Prepping the butter. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes. (I slice each stick into tablespoons, then cut each of those in half.) Arrange them on a plate, making sure they are separated. Put the plate in the freezer until the butter is frozen, at least 1 hour.

Combining the flours. Mix the potato starch, cornstarch, brown rice flour, and superfine sweet rice flour together. Whisk the flours together to aerate them. (I like to whirl the flours in the food processor for a few moments, to fully combine them.) Add the xanthan gum, guar gum, and salt. Stir to combine.

Making the rough dough. Put the combined flours in the bowl of a stand mixer. (This batch was too big for my standard-size food processor, or I might have done it there. You can also do this by hand, with the help of a pastry scraper.) Add the frozen butter. Now, this is where you’re going to think that David Lebovitz and I are crazy. When you turn on the mixer, on the lowest speed, the butter will fly and your stand mixer will sound like it is suffering. Keep going. Turn it off and on a few times until the edges of the butter pieces have started to soften. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the ice water and turn on the mixer again. Let it run until the flours have absorbed the water. This dough is going to look crazy ragged and unfinished, like the first photo in that collage up there.

Rolling out and turning. Pour the dough onto a Silpat or piece of parchment paper about the same size as a Silpat. Knead it together with your hands for a moment or two, just enough to bring it together.

I like to put a piece of parchment paper on top and roll this out to a rough rectangle, with a rolling pin. (Aim for roughly the size of a piece of notebook paper, with just a bit more length.) You might like to pat it down with your hands. Roll from the center outward, going both ways. Take care not to roll over the edges. Go gently. At the end of this first rolling session, the dough will look like the photograph in the top-right-hand photograph in that collage up there.

Gently, using the edges of the Silpat or parchment paper, fold the bottom third of the dough toward the middle, then fold the top third on top of it. Eventually, this will look like a book. Right now, it might be hard to distinguish the folds from each other. Have faith. Proceed.

Rotate the dough one-quarter turn to your right (clockwise). You have now completed one turn.

Again, roll out the dough to roughly the same size as a piece of notebook paper, with just a bit more length. Go gently. This will take your biceps and your patience. In these early turns, you’re going to think this is impossible. Keep going. With each turn, the dough will become smoother and more cohesive. Once you are done rolling, fold the bottom third up, and overlap the top third over it. Try as best you can to align the edges.

Rotate the dough one-quarter turn to your right (clockwise). You have now completed two turns.

Follow the same process, rolling carefully, then turning, until you have completed four turns. Believe it or not, by the time you are done with the fourth turn, the dough will look like the photograph in the bottom right-hand corner. (I cut the ragged edges off in that one, to make a nice neat rectangle. You don’t have to do that.)

Wrap the folded dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Finishing the dough. Pull the puff pastry dough out of the refrigerator. Generally, I let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes before working with it again, since it will be hard from the cold. Don’t let it sit out too long, however. You want the dough to be cold but pliable. Complete the fifth and sixth turns, following the same procedure as above. Wrap the dough in plastic again and refrigerate for at least another 2 hours.

And there you have it. Rough puff pastry, gluten-free.

This batch makes enough for 2 large tarts or 1 beef wellington or 2 salmon en croutes or dozens of little palmiers. Experiment. You’ll find your way.

This dough does well in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for 1 month.