Gluten-Free Yeasted Puff Pastry Recipe: So Easy To Work With!

Published: Nov 12, 2023 · Modified: Jul 14, 2024 by Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers · This post may contain affiliate links · 37 Comments

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As a cottage food baker, this recipe holds a very special spot in my heart: it's THE recipe that started it all for me. It is inspired by Sally's blueberry pastry braid, which I baked for a friend, and I was obsessed (and upset!) at how wonderfully pleasant it was to bake something with gluten. The dough just did what I wanted it to do. I thought, if I could just somehow figure out my own gluten-free puff pastry dough recipe, my life as a baker would be complete! And best of all, with a couple of easy swaps, we can turn this into a gluten-free dairy-free puff pastry recipe!

A sheet of raw gluten-free puff pastry dough cut to make a braid, next to a pizza wheel and rolling pin.

It's perfect for any occasions! Want to make an intricate braid to wow friends at brunch, this is it! You can make it sweet, my personal favorite filling being cherry-almond and also apple. It's also delicious with savory fillings, like Brie, walnuts, garlic and honey. And best of all, you can accommodate additional allergies with a few easy substitutions making this a gluten-free dairy-free puff pastry! Note that to make the recipe dairy-free, you NEED my recommended DIY gluten-free pastry flour blend. My gluten-free puff pastry dough recipe gets a lot of compliments from my bakery's return customers, and I am so excited to expand its geographical reach by finally publishing it, and reaching more kitchens, more bellies, more gluten-free friends who need NOT be pastry deprived!

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Top tip
FAQ
Gluten-Free Yeasted Puff Pastry

Ingredients

When baking gluten-free, flour matters. A lot. Please click through below for my pastry flour recommendations, and know that if dairy is not a restriction for you, I have successfully baked this recipe using the BLUE bag of Cup4Cup, which is formulated for pastries. No other 1:1 mix will yield a malleable dough here.

Gluten-free pastry flour
Baking powder
Butter
Water
Sugar
Active dry yeast
Milk
Egg

Instructions

Make the Dough

Let's get to it! The gallery below gives a visual for making the dough. The most important things are to work with grated frozen butter, and to be okay with the fact that this is going to be a very sticky dough! If you used the recommended gluten-free pastry flour, it will eventually come together! Be patient, trust the process, you've got this. When you're there, stick it in the fridge overnight. If you can't wait that long, I recommend at least 4 hours in the fridge, or the dough will be completely unworkable.

A cheese grater on a cutting board with cold grated butter.

The ingredients for the recipe organized on the counter.

Laminate the Dough

The next gallery shows the laminating process. The big picture is that we want to roll and fold the dough a total of three times, rotating the dough 90 degrees each time, which will give the dough a nice layering when baking. Between each lamination, refrigerate the dough for roughly thirty minutes to keep the butter cold and the dough malleable. When you begin, the dough will be sticky. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with just enough gluten-free pastry flour to be workable, and pro tip: I like to flip my dough rectangle often to keep both sides well coated in pastry flour. It is possible that during the refrigeration process, your dough lightly puffs. That's yeast doing its thing, nothing to worry about! Shown below are 2 of the 3 laminations.

A ball of gluten-free puff pastry dough resting on a rolling mat, next to a rolling pin and small blue flour bowl.

A rough gluten-free puff pastry dough rectangle being shaped; there are jagged edges, rounded corners and bumps.

Substitutions

Want to make gluten-free AND dairy-free puff pastry instead? Check out these tested substitutions! As of 7/12/24, I've also tested the pastry egg-free and it works!

Dairy-free - you'll need to use the dairy-free version of my pastry flour mix which will require a plant based milk powder, like coconut milk powder. You'll also need to use dairy-free butter, one preferably high in saturated fats. My recommendation: Miyoko's (allergens: coconut, cashew).
Egg-free - substitute the egg with a flax egg, which is 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water. And you'll also need to omit the egg wash at the end, leaving you with a slightly less golden brown result, but still beautiful!
Other - for any other substitutions, you can click through my puff pastry recipe blueprint, which is written in a way that indicates the ingredient's roles.

Variations

Whether you choose to make a savory or sweet use of this gluten-free puff pastry dough recipe, the amount of sugar should remain the same. You can choose to add light flavorings in the dough, like cinnamon or nutmeg.

Once you've made the dough, here's some of my recipes you can try!

Equipment

Kitchen scale
Rolling pin
Rolling mat (or parchment paper)
Pizza wheel cutter or sharp knife

Storage

Once the gluten-free puff pastry dough has been laminated three times, you can store it in the fridge until ready to use (up to 24 hours). Out of this one batch of puff pastry, you will be able to store/use two squares or rectangles of dough. You can also choose to freeze the dough up to one month; simply thaw in the fridge when ready to use. There are different ways to cut the dough for storage depending on what you intend to bake with it:

hand draw diagram with dimensions for storing dough based on how the dough will be used.

four apple turnovers on a cutting board, with a basket of apples in the background

If you plan on making a star bread pastry, you can store the whole laminated sheet folded in thirds, in the fridge.

Top tip

I like to make sure I have a flat surface available in the fridge before I start laminating dough. This ensures that as soon as the dough rectangle is wrapped in plastic, you can quickly put it in the fridge to reharden the butter, without having to rearrange the fridge.

FAQ

How do I bake this gluten-free puff pastry?

I have recipes for you on how to use the dough, such as this cherry-almond braid and cream cheese Danish. Most of my creations are baked at 415F for 12-15 minutes.

Can I use a gluten-free "all-purpose" flour instead?

No. I've made this recipe using Bob Red Mill 1:1, and while it worked, the dough was very unpleasant to work with. The milk powder (plant or cow based) in my pastry flour really work wonders for texture. If you want to use a commercial blend, the only one I recommend is Cup4Cup (blue bag, with milk powder). If you want to make the pastry dairy-free, you must make your own DIY blend.

two gluten-free puff pastry braids on a cutting board, one has purple filling and the other a red filling. There's also three puff pastry turnovers in the background, with a white glaze.

Gluten-Free Yeasted Puff Pastry

This gluten-free yeasted puff pastry dough is a pleasure to work with! Create intricate designs, like braids and stars. Fill it with whatever your heart desires, be it savory or sweet! Best of all, you can easily make this dairy-free too (check the notes for details)!

5 from 22 votes

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Course: Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: dairy-free, gluten-free, malleable, pastry

Prep Time: 1 30

Resting Time: 13

Total Time: 14 30

Servings: 8

Calories: 379kcal

Author: Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers

Cost: 9.00

Equipment

1 kitchen scale
1 large bowl
1 rolling pin
1 rolling mat can be subbed for parchment paper
1 pizza wheel cutter or sharp knife

Ingredients

350 grams gluten-free pastry flour, plus more for rolling please see notes
2 teaspoon baking powder
198 grams cold salted butter if using non-salted butter, add 3 grams of salt to the flour
57 grams water warm
1 tablespoon sugar
2-¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
50 grams sugar
123 grams milk cold
1 egg cold