Are you ready to customize your gluten-free puff pastry? Maybe you have allergies, or limited ingredients available. Well you're in the right place! First step though: do you have your homemade gluten-free pastry flour yet?
Now let's customize the puff pastry recipe, with the of the blueprint.
Recipe Blueprint
- 350g Gluten-Free Pastry Flour
- 198g Saturated Fats (see notes below on dairy-free butter)
- 2 Teaspoon Chemical Leaveners
- 57g Water
- 1 Tablespoon Sweetener
- 2-¼ Teaspoon Yeast
- 123g Milk
- 50g Sweetener
- 50g Binder
- a Pinch of Spice!
Understanding Ingredients
Let's walk through each ingredient and their purpose. When we think about a recipe with the ROLE of ingredients in mind, it becomes easier to customize--and in this case, trust me, we ALL want to make this gluten-free puff pastry recipe!
You should already have your pastry flour mix, unconditionally the most important ingredient for success, so please make sure you have read through how to make your pastry flour!
Saturated Fats
Let's talk saturated fats. If you can use butter, that one is a no brainer. If you have dairy restrictions, I highly recommend a dairy-free butter that is high in saturated fat, such as Trader Joe's vegan butter, or Miyoko's vegan butter. Both are coconut based, and have performed well in this recipe. I also tried Country Crock Plant Base Sticks, which are avocado/olive oil-soy based. While the recipe worked, the dough was much softer and harder to handle. You could also potentially use cold lard, or a mixture of vegan butter-lard! The key for choosing a good fat is that it is a solid at room temperature, and gets hard in the fridge.
Chemical Leavener
The most common chemical leavener is baking powder. It starts an acid-base reaction (both immediately when mixed with liquids AND again when heat is applied in the oven), which creates gas bubbles that are trapped in the crust when heated. If you're sensitive to corn, choose one with no corn starch. Or, make your own: ½ teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar will replace the 2 teaspoons baking powder here. Just note that the latter is single-acting, meaning you may not get much of a rise from it in the oven, as the reaction will happen once water is incorporated in the dough.
Sweeteners
For sweeteners, I suggest sticking to one that is solid at room temperature, eg: white sugar as opposed to molasses or honey. You could use brown sugar, coconut sugar, monk fruit, or stevia. Though I haven't tested them, their role is to feed the yeast!
Yeast
We don't have a lot of options for yeast, you can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. To be honest, the yeast in this puff pastry is there mainly to add a little fermentation taste. You may see the pastry "puff up" slightly in the fridge once it's rolled/folded and wrapped in plastic, and in tandem with the chemical leaveners, it will provide a modest puff when baked.
Milk
For milk, I prefer to use full-fats milk. If you can use whole milk, go for it! If not, I would suggest almond milk. Coconut milk works too but it will impart its taste to your bake (I'm not a huge fan of the taste myself, so I use sparingly!) I have even made this puff pastry with horchata when I was in a pinch, so if you have no full-fat milk option, use what you have!
Binder
My binder of choice here is egg. Eggs typically have two functions in a bake: they can help bind ingredients, and provide rise. One egg is 50 grams, easy peasy. There is only one egg in this recipe, and its purpose is to bind. To replace its role as a binder, you could try a chia egg, or a flax egg (1 tablespoon flaxmeal seed or chia seed with 3 tablespoon of water). There are also commercial egg replacers, each with a different formulation! I have not yet tested this recipe egg-free, so if you do, please tell us your results!
Spice
And of course, the spice! My favorite is a pinch of nutmeg, it is so fragrant, goes well with sweet or savory, and it just makes me happy. But of course, you choose! Cinnamon? Ginger? Allspice? Cumin? Go for it!
Did you use this recipe blueprint? How did you customize your pastry? Let us know in the comments and/or join us on social media!
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