Pastry adventure

Having gone gluten-free, there are several things that I occasionally miss: bread and roasted garlic as a meal, spaghetti and other pastas, Cornish pasties.  The bread I’ve worked out and I can’t say I really miss pasta all that much but the Cornish pasty has been a big one.  Those wonderful stuffed pastries with meat, potatoes, or cheese and onions, or veggies and mushrooms or whatever happens to strike your fancy.  They used to be sent with miners and farmers in lunch boxes as a hearty, satisfying meal.  And they are, believe me. 

In the days BGF (before gluten free) I used to make them frequently.  I would double the recipe and eat them for lunch most of the week.  I loved steak and potato, but would occasionally try chicken or something else.  I used to pack them as full as possible.  Given that gluten in regular pastry dough makes it extremely springy, I could easily pack these things to bursting and they wouldn’t split.  Since going GF I basically kissed these marvelous creations goodbye.

Until tonight.

I decided I would atempt a gluten free pastry dough.  Now bear in mind, with my rice allergy, rice flour is out of the question.  I’ve read several ideas for pastry on various sites, so I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult.

That was a bit of an error in judgement.

I tried making the pastry according to the various directions on the sites I’ve seen and in the actual recipe itself.  I couldn’t get the dough to hold on a bet.  I know there shouldn’t be a lot of water in pastry dough, but there was no way it was going to hold without it, even with refrigeration.  Or would it?  I decided to chuck all convention out the window and try it my own way.  What can act as binders?  Hmmm…  Xantham gum, Guar gum… EGG!!  That should do nicely.  So I set to work after the first not-so-great attempt.  I knew I was close, but just not yet there.  This time the dough was great.  It was a bit sticky, but was holding nicely.  While I could’ve/should’ve refrigerated, I decided to delve right in and start rolling it out.  I tried the one tip I found online to roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper, eliminating both the need for additional flour and the messy pastry roller.  Then I cut them round using a bowl (my salad plates are too big for the job now, but if you have saucers that would do the job nicely) and tried stuffing them.  The first one was over stuffed.  I quickly learned that gluten free dough is extremely delicate.  It takes some patience and a bit of a delicate touch to fill these rounds.  And trying to patch the dough does work, but again it takes a very gentle touch to adhere the scraps and not break the dough any further.  I had enough dough for 5 pasties.

The filling today was beef, potato, onion, fresh parsley, freshly grated horseradish, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, freshly made stock from the batch I made earlier today, and some red wine.  These turned out perfect!  I was amazed.  My DH, the resident Brit, was extremely happy with them and said they tasted like he remembered them tasting, so that was high praise indeed.

So here’s the recipe I adapted from my English Cooking cookbook..  I hope you give it a try, as it’s definitely worth the extra bit of effort.  (They are also awesome cold the next day for lunch)

Gluten Free Cornish Pasties

For the pastry:

2 1/2 cups GF flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF All-purpose flour as I’m about out of my homemade blend)

1 tsp ground mustard seeds (this is a must)

1 tsp baking soda


1 tsp Guar gum

2 tsp Xantham gum

4 Tbsp crisco butter flavoured shortening

5 Tbsp dairy free margarine (or you could use all shortening so long as it equals 9 Tbsp or 120g)

1 egg

water

For the filling.  This is a more traditional recipe, but feel free to use whatever you like:

250g (or about 8 oz) steak, finely chopped

3 small old potatoes peeled and finely chopped

1 medium (or 1/2 large) onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (minus the big stems)

1/4 cup beef or chicken stock (or a combo of stock and wine, which I prefer)

pepper and salt to taste

1 tsp English mustard (I prefer Dijon, but stone ground, brown or even yellow would work)

1 tsp grated horseradish (I used to use prepared horseradish but have yet to find it here.  I just bought a root and grated it myself)


beaten egg for glazing/sealing

Preheat oven to 210 C/425 F (gas mark 6 or so).  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it.

Place flour, xantham gum, guar gum, baking soda and mustard in food process or stand mixer (I prefer my mixer, but this can easily be done by hand mixer, pastry cutter or by hand) and add shortening and margarine.  Process or mix til mixture is fine and crumbly.  Add egg and mix until it starts coming together.  Add lukewarm water until it starts to ball up.  Take out of food processor or out of the mixing bowl and give it a few good kneads to make sure it’s a good consistency and isn’t too sticky.  Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to an hour if possible.

In the meantime, mix up all the ingredients for the filling.  Make sure that the filling is well coated with the horseradish, mustard and the liquid.

Roll pastry between two pieces of waxpaper to about 3mm thickness (about an 1/4” or so).  Make the dough circular by using a bowl or a saucer.  It should be about 16 cm (or about 6”) in diameter.  Place some of the filling int the middle of the circle.  You end up leaving about 1 1/2” to the edge of the circle.  Brush some of the beaten egg around the exposed edges of the circle.  Gently bring the sides together to form a half circle with the seam facing up.  Pich the edges to form little frills if desired.  Otherwise, just make sure it’s sealed.  Move to the baking sheet and brush with more of the egg wash.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Place in oven for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 180 C/ 350 F (gas mark 4) and bake another 20 minutes or until golden brown and yummy.