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Easy Gluten Free Pastry Recipe

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I would be grateful if you shared this recipe :-)

Gluten free pastries. You read that right! If you love flaky pastry, you will want to dive right into this gluten free pastry recipe. You can fill the gluten free pastries with jam, pastry cream, Nutella, or any filling you like.

Learning how to eat gluten free has never been so delicious!

Flaky Gluten Free pastry filled with jam on a plate with a fork next to the plate

Those three words just don’t seem to go together at all.

Flaky.

Pastries.

Gluten free.

I don’t even know what initially inspired me to attempt to convert one of Martha Stewart’s pastry recipes to a gluten free pastry recipe. Scanning though her baking handbook and I just saw this flaky Danish dough recipe.

Totally silly of me, but I stared….drooled…and grew more and more determined to make this pastry recipe work with gluten free flour. Making gluten free pastries is easy and the results are mouth-watering. These pastries are great for dessert, or any time of day!

(* It is obvious I drool a lot. Here are two more delicious gluten free recipes to make your mouth water: Fool Proof Gluten Free Apple Cake and Gluten Free French Apple Cakes.)

It is a lot easier to make gluten free pastries than I thought.

These Gluten Free Flaky Pastries on a plate with a spoonful of jam

(Couldn’t resist taking a big bite :-). These delicious pastries will not last long.

My gluten free flaky pastry recipe is totally worth trying!

homemade Gluten Free Pastries on dessert plates

A note about making homemade gluten free pastries:

This is not a recipe for those in a hurry. Making this pastry dough has a lot of steps to get the flakiness into the dough.

There are a lot of photographs of each step so you can see in detail how to make this recipe. I hope you can give this a try in your own kitchen.

What is the best gluten free flour to make gluten free pastry dough?

For this recipe, I used a light gluten free flour blend by Authentic Foods called Bette’s Gourmet Rice Featherlite flour. I have also made this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend.

If you decide to use a different gluten free flour blend, make sure it has NO bean flours. Bean flour will negatively impact the taste and consistency of this gluten free pastry dough.”

You will also want to make sure your gluten free flour blend contains Xanthan Gum. If yours doesn’t have Xanthan Gum, please add 1 teaspoon to your mix.

Can you make this gluten free pastry recipe dairy free?

Unfortunately, the secret to the flaky pastry is butter so I do not know a way to make this recipe dairy free.

How do you make gluten free flaky pastry?

Are you ready to see how to make this gluten free flaky pastry dough step by step?

wet and dry ingredients in a bowl to make a gluten free pastry dough recipe

Add frothy yeast mixture and other wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

pastry dough on waxed paper

After lots of rising, roll the dough flat to about 1/4 inch thickness.

butter chunks on top of homemade pastry dough

Add butter chunks to half the dough.

folding butter into pastry dough

Fold the dough up over the butter.

rolling the dough again

Roll it to 1/4 inch thickness again. (If you look closely, you can see the butter inside.)

add more butter folding the dough over the butter chunks

Add more butter. You will then fold the dough over the butter again. Repeat this process of rolling, adding butter, and folding, one more time after this for a total of 3 times. This process is what gives the pastry its flaky layers.

Then it goes back into the refrigerator to rise again.

Adding jam to the gluten free pastry dough to make gluten free pastries

Cut the dough into the shape you want and add filling. This one has cream cheese and apricot preserves.

brushing egg wash onto pastry dough

Roll or fold and then brush egg wash over the dough.

cooling homemade pastries on a rack

Allow cooling after baking.

Sprinkling powdered sugar onto Flaky Gluten Free Pastries

Optional….dust the gluten free pastries with powdered sugar.

(*This post was updated from the 2/23/15 post date.)

More Delicious Gluten Free Dessert Recipes To Try:

(*Please note this post has affiliate links. Ordering through my site will not change the price you pay. A tiny commission will come to Fearless Dining to help offset the cost of running this blog. I truly appreciate the support!)

Tools You Need To Make This Gluten Free Pastry Recipe:

  1. Cookie sheet. This will help you because you can lay the pastries out on this easily to bake.
  2. Rolling pin. You want the dough to be consistently flat and this rolling pin is really easy to control when rolling. Even better it is dishwasher safe.
  3. Authentic Foods Bette’s Featherlite Flour Blend. This is super light and is helpful so you get those flaky layers.

recipe love

How to Make Gluten Free Pastries:

5 from 1 vote
flaky gluten free pastries filled with jam
Print
Flaky Gluten Free Pastries
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
40 mins
 

If you love flaky French pastry, you will want to dive right into this gluten free pastries recipe. You can fill gluten free pastry dough with jam, pastry cream, Nutella, or any filling you like.

Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: French
Keyword: gluten free baking, gluten free pastries
Servings: 8 pastries
Calories: 193 kcal
Author: Sandi Gaertner
Ingredients
  • 2 1/4 cup gluten free flour blend I used Bette's Gourmet Rice Featherlight Blend.
  • 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 stick butter cold
  • Filling (chocolate, jam, fruit, etc are all fun options.)
  • 2 eggs plus one egg for wash
Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, add yeast and the 1/2 cup warm milk. Make sure your milk isn't too hot or it can kill the yeast.

  2. Allow yeast to get foamy. I would say about 3-5 minutes.

  3. In a large bowl add dry ingredients.

  4. Add melted butter, eggs, and frothy yeast mixture to dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to blend dough. (Add a little milk if dough looks dry.)

  5. Cover bowl and allow to rise for 1 hour.
  6. Remove dough and put onto a floured work surface.
  7. Roll dough into a rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick.
  8. Put small chunks of cold butter over half of the dough.
  9. Fold the dough over the butter.
  10. Roll again to 1/4 inch thickness and add butter.

  11. Repeat this process so you add butter and roll three times. This is how you get the flaky layers!

  12. After the last turn, wrap dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
  13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  14. Remove dough and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.
  15. Cut dough into shape you want your pastries to be.

  16. Add filling like jam, Nutella, chocolate chips, etc.

  17. Brush beaten egg mixture over the top of the pastry.

  18. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until done.
  19. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Nutrition Facts
Flaky Gluten Free Pastries
Amount Per Serving (1 g)
Calories 193 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g 8%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 49mg 16%
Sodium 95mg 4%
Potassium 49mg 1%
Total Carbohydrates 32g 11%
Dietary Fiber 4g 16%
Sugars 8g
Protein 5g 10%
Vitamin A 3.4%
Calcium 4.6%
Iron 8.1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

(*Please note this post has affiliate links. Ordering through my site will not change the price you pay. A tiny commission will come to Fearless Dining to help offset the cost of running this blog. I truly appreciate the support.)

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I would be grateful if you shared this recipe :-)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I love how clear your directions are and the step-by-step photographs make it look easy! Drool-worthy? Oh yes! I understand why you’re drooling! Looks just amazing, what a treat!!

    Reply

  2. These sound amazing! Two questions. Which yeast do you use and can I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks in place of regular butter as I am dairy free.

    Reply

    • Hi Lorraine, I haven’t tried Earth Balance in this recipe. If you try this, will you please let us all know how it turns out? I am sure it would benefit other readers as well. Thank you 🙂

      Reply

  3. Hello. Can’t wait to try this recipe. A couple questions. What brand GF flour did you use? And did you add xanthum gum even if the GF flour had it?

    Reply

    • Hi Susie,
      I am so glad he liked these. My kids are teens too and I know how hard it can be. Everything on my blog, with the exception of a few spicy dinner recipes, is “teen” approved so please encourage him to come and explore the recipes. He is old enough that he can make any of these himself 🙂

      Reply

  5. You are making it very east for me to accommodate all of my friends who are going gluten free! Another delicious recipe for me to make for them!

    Reply

    • Hi Phyllis, I don’t see why not, but I haven’t tried it. My family ate these way to quickly to try freezing. If you do freeze some, please come back and let us know how it worked. Your feedback can help a lot of other readers 🙂

      Reply

  12. Want to try these but have a question. You let the dough rise to start with and then again after it has been rolled with butter three times. That time you put it in the frig. You said to return it to the frig. Does it go in the frig the first time after it is mixed? I would have left it out for the heat of the room to let it rise. So help me please. In the frig or out of it. You just say let it rise but later it sounds like it had been in the frig the first time. Thank you so much.

    Reply

    • Hi Judy, I know there are a lot of steps and it can be confusing. I let the dough rise in the refrigerator before the initial rolling. I suspect letting the dough rise out of the refrigerator might be better with gluten free dough as my dough didn’t get as big as I had hoped. Then I put it into the refrigerator again after the rolling three times. The butter needs to stay cold for when it goes into the oven to get it to flake up. (I hope this makes sense.)

      Reply

  14. I can’t wait to try these out! I have been wanting some sort of flakey pastries for over 3 years now. =) Thanks so much for sharing this! I’m going to try some kind of chocolate filling, any advice?

    Reply

  16. I’m really impressed that you were able to get flakey GF pastries. I saw you post about these on Facebook, but haven’t gotten the time to stop by and say how impressive these look until now. I definitely want to try to make these. These cream cheese pastries were always my favorite at the bakery, and to make them at home would be fabulous. Maybe for Mother’s day! Thanks for the recipe. I’ve yummed it for later.

    Reply

  17. I have a friend that can’t eat gluten at all she is aways on the look out for recipes that she can enjoy with her sweet tooth! I will share this recipe with her.

    Reply

    • Why not order it online? I tried a vegan option last night and it turned out OK. I think the vegan butter was ok, but I wasn’t sure how “frothy” the yeast/milk should be, and I think I rushed it. How long does it usually take? I just started through the recipe, and assumed that because there were no timing instructions, it was something that should take a few minutes. Novice pastry maker here 🙂

      Reply

      • Hi Suzanne, thank you so much for writing. I should clarify a bit. I wrote that post a long time ago when I first started blogging. You do want your yeast frothy before mixing it in. It should be fine as this pastry isn’t the “puffy” type. I will clarify the directions too. Thank you.

        Reply

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