I’m delighted with this gluten free sweet pastry recipe, as not only is the sweet buttery pastry gorgeous, it’s also an absolute treat to work with!
The original recipe I used to make this gluten free sweet pastry, came from the marvellous website recipetin eats. If you’ve not yet discovered this wonderful site, I urge you to take a peep, as many of the recipes, if not already naturally gluten free, can be easily adapted to make them so.
This recipe for gluten free sweet pastry is yours to keep and use however you wish. It may be that you simply want to make a crisp pastry base to fill with rich chocolate ganache and top with raspberries, or rustle up a delicious fresh fruit flan. Or maybe, you want to recreate your favourite sweet pastry pudding, completely gluten free or use it for a scrumptious recipe you’ve spotted.
Ingredients
220g gluten free plain/all purpose flour (I had great success using ASDA Free From flour)
50g *icing/powdered sugar
15g *ground almonds
¼ teaspoon salt
100g unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg, room temp
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F/Gas 6/180C Fan.
Lightly grease a 24cm x 3cm loose bottom flan/tart tin.
Sift the gluten free flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and ground almonds and whisk to blend the ingredients together.
Add the cubed butter to the bowl and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Pour in the beaten egg and stir through with a fork.
Get your hands in at this point to bring the dough together. You may feel the mixture looks a little dry, but prepare to be amazed as it comes together beautifully.
Once the pastry ‘cleans the bowl’, it’s time to transfer it onto a clean work surface that’s been lightly dusted with gluten free plain flour.
Knead the dough for a couple of minutes until you feel the texture change and it becomes nice and smooth.
Now it’s time to roll the pastry out. To line a 24cm flan tin, roll out the pastry to approximately a 32cm round.
Once the pastry has been rolled out to the required size, dust the rolling pin with gf flour and gently wrap the pastry around, before lowering it into the prepared tin.
Work your way around the tin, gently easing the pastry into place. Be generous with the pastry at this point, and try not to stretch it, as the pastry will shrink as it bakes.
Roll the rolling pin over the top of the flan to trim off any excess pastry; and to make a super neat job too!
Using a fork, gently prick the base of the pastry, but don’t pierce right through.
Line the pastry base with a generous disk of greaseproof paper. Ideally you want the paper to cover the sides and rim of the pastry base, as this will prevent it from catching in the oven.
Pour ceramic baking beans or *rice into the lined pastry base.
To blind bake the pastry base, pop it into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
After this time, take the base from the oven and remove the paper and baking beans.
Pop the pastry base back into the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Remove from the oven. Once cold, the flan can be filled with anything that grabs you.
Recipe notes and suggestions:
The pastry base once fully baked, can be stored for up to 3 days in a cool place (not in the fridge). It can also be frozen, either baked or unbaked. I’d suggest if freezing the base, that you double bag it before popping it into the freezer. Doing this will protect it from freezer burn.
Once the sweet pastry is ready to roll out, it can be used to make whatever you like. Simply adjust the baking time accordingly for different sized tarts and follow the pastry baking instructions within the recipe you’re using for anything else.
I’m so happy that I’ve been able to bring you yet another recipe that I hope will make a positive difference to your gluten free diet, or of someone you love. Credit and thanks for the original recipe must of course go to Nagi over at recipetin eats. What a cracker it is?!!
For now,
Liz x
P.S. I’ve also got a video over on my YouTube channel of me rustling up a batch of gluten free sweet pastry. Click here to watch.
*Check this product out to ensure no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out.
