Sweet Pastry

Today's challenge was to try a pastry recipe for a boy on a very restricted diet. I sent his dad one adapted from Flying Apron's cookbook, so thought I'd better give it a try!

This pastry was whisked together and a beautiful texture to work with, but on my first attempt shrank from the tin and cracked into about 5 pieces. It was a lovely golden colour (often difficult to achieve in wheat free cooking) and crisp texture, so definitely worth a second shot. I had rolled it quite thin and not left it to rest, because the recipe said it wasn't needed. 

I also added extra xanthan gum to the next batch, so don't know if it was that or the thicker pastry that helped.

Really must get round to getting scales that weigh in grammes so I can weigh the equivalent cups (I've only got balance scales and I've lost my 1/2 oz weight!), but you can buy measuring cups easily and cheaply these days (I think Asda do a £2 set!).

Sweet Pastry

1 1/2 cups Gluten free bread flour, plus extra for rolling (recipe said brown rice flour, but I didn't have any)
1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1/2 cup, plus 3 tbsn white veg fat eg Trex, Cookeen etc (I used a mix of that and Dairy free spread)

3 tbsn maple syrup

1-2 tbsn cold water

Whisk the fat until softened and light.

Carefully whisk in 1 cup of the flour.

Whisk in all other ingredients until smooth and well combined.

Bring the pastry together with floured hands, cover and rest for 20 mins.

Roll out on floured board (if you do it on greaseproof paper it makes it easier to lift onto a pie tin).

Line pie tin (if it breaks, just patch it up with extra bits and press to the same thickness)

My second attempt didn't crack, but it still shrank, so next time, I'd try refrigerating it in the tin for 30 mins before cooking.

Book suggests baking for 15 mins at 200ºC before filling and baking according to your recipe, I wanted to use a cold filling, so baked for 25-30mins - I think I turned the oven down to 180 after 10 minutes, I meant too, but can't remember if I did...

I filled mine with sliced banana and caramel custard...