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Gluten Free Pie Dough

June 26, 2016 By Deb Farina 1 Comment

GF Tomato Tart WITH COPYRIGHT

Everyone needs a good gluten free pie dough recipe.  What would Thanksgiving be without pies and how in the world would you be able to make the beautiful Gluten Free Tomato Pie I’m about to post.

I know pie pastry intimidates some, including me at the beginning.  But, the secret to a flaky pie crust is the same for Gluten Free as it is in regular baking with wheat flour.  Everything has to be cold.  The reason is that the chunks of butter are what provide your pastry with all that flaky goodness.  The heat in the oven creates lovely air pockets and if the butter melts while you’re making and rolling the pastry, well, you just end up with a texture that’s less than desirable.  One good thing though:  with gluten free flour, you don’t need to worry about tough dough from over development of the gluten.  Yay!

Before I went to culinary school, I was in awe of my then mother-in-law’s pie dough.  To this day, it’s probably the best I’ve ever had.  I was amazed that she did all the mixing by hand.  Took me a while to figure out her secret. Besides her gentle handling of the dough, her hands were like ice.  So, that wasn’t going to help me – ‘miss hot hands.’

My way around that was to use the mixer or the food processor.   I ended up having plenty of practice during the early years of my culinary career.  The restaurant where I was a pastry chef, was known for their pecan pie (I can see why  – it had a bonus layer of cheesecake under all those yummy pecans).    So, I would make 6 pies a day and got plenty of practice getting it right.

So here are my tips for perfect gluten free pie dough.

  1.  Keep everything cold.
    1. You may not be crazy like me, but I even throw my flour in the freezer for 15 minutes before I start.
    2. Cut the butter into 1 inch cubes (divide one stick into 4 pieces) and place in the freezer for 15 minutes before mixing.
    3. Place your food processor bowl and blade in the freezer for 15 minutes before mixing.
    4. Use ice water.
    5. If you have hot hands, dip them in ice water and pat them dry before you start touching the dough.
    6. After the dough is mixed, shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for, at least, 1 hour and up to overnight before rolling.  Let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to make rolling easier.
    7. If you have difficulty rolling, roll the dough out between two pieces of floured parchment.
    8. After carefully removing the top piece of parchment, place the pie pan upside down over the pastry and flip the whole thing over.  Then carefully remove the parchment, trim the edges and form the crust.
    9. After the dough is in the pan, place the pan back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
  2. If this is for a big event, please practice beforehand so you can perfect your technique.  We don’t want any stress here.
  3. And, please don’t be afraid.  What’s the worst that can happen?  Maybe don’t answer that.

One last word.  Shortening and lard (delicious animal (pig) fat) make the best pies.  I love the taste of butter, but it increases the challenges here because it melts quickly.  Butter also contains water, and each brand has different amounts of water.  By law, there is a standard of identity for butter, that requires that butter be made up of 80% milk fat.  That means that the remaining 20% can be water, whey or waxy milk solids.  With shortening and lard, they are 100% fat with higher melting points that are more forgiving.  If you aren’t opposed to using those ingredients, or a combination of them and butter, you might want to give it a try.  Just remember, if using shortening or lard, the water may need to be slightly increased.

No, really, this is the last word.  There are many recipes out there that call for an egg in their pie dough.  I tried it just so I could see what that was all about, cause I’ve just never done that before.  Eggs have a lot of tremendous functionality in baking.  Of course, an egg is just not the whole egg – there’s the white, that can provide leavening and strength and the yolk that can provide fat, taste, color and emulsification (holding liquid and fat together).    Well, what it does in this case is make the dough too tough.  Salt and butter are enough flavor for me and the crust browns nicely.  If you use this pie crust for a hand-held pie, you may choose to add the egg to strengthen things up a bit and enable you to hold the pie without disaster.

You CAN do this!

Buon Appetito!!

Start with everything cold – cut the butter into 4 pieces and freeze for 15 minutes.  Place your food processor bowl and the blade in the freezer for 15 minutes.  Mix the flour, xanthan and salt together and get that in there too.

GF Pie Dough USE FOR BUTTER WITH COPYRIGHT

Pulse the flour mixture a few times to combine.  Add the butter and pulse 6 quick short bursts.  The butter should be the size of hazelnuts or larger.

GF Pie Dough USE for Cuisinart WITH COPYRIGHT

Add 4 Tablespoons of ice water and pulse two quick bursts .  Squeeze a small amount of flour/fat mixture together to see if it’s moist enough.  If not, add 1 Tablespoon at a time followed by two quick pulses.  Dough should come together in a ball.  Shape into a flat disk and refrigerate for, at least 1 hour, before rolling.  Roll out on floured parchment, or, if needed, between two pieces of parchment until the circle is about 2 inches larger in diameter than the pan you’re using.  Place the pan upside down over the rolled out dough and flip the whole thing over.  Carefully, peel away the parchment.  If your dough is pliable enough, you may be able to fold the dough in half and lift it up and into the pie pan.  Unfold and move on.

GF Pie Dough Rolled out dough with copyright

Trim dough around the pan so that it extends about an inch and a half from the pan.

GF Pie Dough USE FOR DOUGH IN PAN WITH COPYRIGHT

Fold the top dough over to the outside and tuck behind.  In the case of the tart pan, I make sure the dough is tucked into the seam and I level off the top.  If this were a pie pan, I would let the dough extend over the top a bit so that I could form a decorative crust.  You don’t want it extending too far over the rim.  That’s when the crust bakes around the pan and the piece will NOT come out with the crust attached.

GF Pie Dough USE for Pressing into Pan WITH COPYRIGHT

To blind bake the crust, dock the dough by using the tines of a fork to make holes in the bottom crust.  Place a square of foil into the pan and fill with dry beans or uncooked rice to weight it down.  Bake in preheated 400F oven for 15 minutes.  Remove weights and bake an additional 15 minutes until lightly browned.  There!  You DID IT!!!

GF Pie Dough USE FOR BLIND BAKE WITH COPYRIGHT

Deb Farina

Yields 1 single pie crust

Gluten Free Pie Dough

1 hr, 30 Prep Time

30 minCook Time

2 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • 1 and 1/4 cups (5.5 ounces) Gluten Free Farina All Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon guar gum or 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (4 ounces) Butter, unsalted
  • 4 to 6 Tablespoons Ice Water

Instructions

  1. Combine flour, gum and salt in a small bowl and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
  2. Cut cold butter into 4 - 1" pieces and place in the freezer for 15 minute
  3. Place food processor bowl and blade in the freezer while the butter and flour are in there.
  4. Place flour mixture in the food processor bowl with blade and pulse 2 times to combine.
  5. Add butter and pulse 6 quick bursts. The butter will still be somewhat big - just what you want.
  6. Add 1/4 cup of water and pulse 2 quick bursts. Pinch a small piece of dough together to see if it holds. Add additional 1 Tablespoon of water at a time, pulsing 1 to 2 times after each addition, until the dough looks moist.
  7. Pull dough together into a ball and flatten into a disk. Resist handling the dough too much. You don't want to melt the butter.
  8. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for, at least, 1 hour and up to overnight before rolling.
  9. Let dough temper for a few minutes to make it slightly easier to roll.
  10. Roll into a circle on floured parchment or between 2 pieces of floured parchment. The circle should be about 2 inches bigger all around than the pan.
  11. Two choices here to get the dough into the pan. If you're confident and your dough is cooperating, fold the dough in half and carefully lift it up and into the pan. Unfold the dough.
  12. The other way would be to place the pan upside down on top of the rolled out pastry. Get your hand under the parchment and with one quick flip, turn the pan and the pastry over. Carefully peel the parchment away.
  13. Now to form it in the pan. Pick the edges of the pastry up so that the pastry is tucked into the pan - lift with one hand and tuck with the other.
  14. Then, using kitchen shears, trim the pastry so that you have about 1 and 1/2 inches all around the pan.
  15. Fold the dough over. For a tart pan, fold it behind, going around the pan ensuring the dough is tucked into the seam and the dough is even with the top.
  16. For a pie pan, the dough should be above the rim of the pan so that you can form a decorative edge.
  17. Refrigerate the pie pan with the rolled dough for 30 minutes before baking.
  18. To Blind Bake:
  19. Place a square of foil on top of the bottom crust and weight the crust down with dried beans or uncooked rice to prevent it from bubbling up.
  20. Preheat oven to 400F. If you want to ensure a browned bottom crust, bake on a baking stone. Place it in the oven while it's preheating.
  21. Place pie or tart pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
  22. Remove weights and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the crust is browned.
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http://glutenfreefarina.com/2016/06/26/gluten-free-pie-dough/
©glutenfreefarina.com

*Gluten Free Farina All Purpose Flour Mix Formula here.

Linens by http://www.dotandarmy.com

Gluten Free Pie Pastry

Filed Under: All Posts, Pastry Tagged With: breakfast, Brunch, gluten free, Gluten Free Pie Dough Recipe, Gluten Free Pie Pastry Recipe, pastry, Pie Crust, Pie Dough, www.dotandarmy.com

Gluten Free Nutella Eclair with Hazelnut Praline and Milk Chocolate Ganache

June 19, 2016 By Deb Farina 2 Comments

 

GF Nutella Eclair outside (8) with copyright Choice 2

Are eclairs the new food trend?  There are certainly enough articles about these, ‘not your father’s eclairs,’ that the replacement for the Macaron or the Cronut might just be here.

Jump to Recipe

Forget about what you think an eclair is – ‘the big-as-your-hand’ choux paste filled with vanilla pudding-like stuff and dipped in a glaze that looks like chocolate, but I’m not sure contains any at all.

These beautiful works-of-art, that are elegantly long and narrow, are popping up in South Kensington, London and have already started migrating to the States.  Maitre Choux, the bakery that started creating these masterpieces,  literally means Master Cabbage  (choux paste, when piped as a cream puff and baked resembles a Cabbage).  But, I think here they were going for Master of Choux.  That sounds better.

You must take a look at their gorgeous work here.  The myriad of colors and flavors all finished to perfection will make your mouth water.  They are a bit pricey, however.  For example, they have an eclair called Red Love that is a combination of two things you ‘can’t live without’ as they say:  an eclair filled with Tahitian Vanilla Cream and Raspberry Puree, topped with a raspberry macaron, drizzled with white chocolate and fresh raspberries and gold leaf.  Well that absolutely divine invention is 5.8 Pounds or $8.33 in today’s conversion.  This is the new $5 cup of coffee that I’m absolutely willing to pay for.

Well – since June 22nd is National Eclair Day, I thought I’d take a deeper look into this and see what I could create that might fit this category.  You need to start with a Gluten Free Pate a Choux recipe which you can find here.  I repeated the recipe below as well.  Just remove the sugar from the dough recipe and you’re good to go.

GF Nutella Eclair Choux Paste (2) with copyright

And, I made a template to make it easy to pipe the eclair.  Just made my markings on parchment and slipped it under another piece of parchment on a cookie sheet.

GF Nutella Eclair Template with copyright

You can use a #10 or #12 round tip to pipe the eclairs.  Should you have any points sticking up, dip your finger in water and tap those down.

 

GF Nutella Eclair Piped Choux with copyright

Did you make note of how incredibly smooth the top of the eclairs at Maitre Choux are?  Well, I know when I make choux paste that the tops crack, so I read up on this a bit and thought I’d try a different baking method to see if I could get the tops smooth.  I normally bake the first 10 minutes at 425F and then reduce the oven and bake an additional 375F for 20 to 25 minutes.   But, the recommendation I saw was to bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done.  Well, here are the results.  I’ll stay with my method, thank you very much.

GF Nutella Eclair two temps (3) with copyright

And, why reinvent the wheel?  I see that Maitre Choux has an eclair with Hazelnuts and Milk Chocolate.  I absolutely adore Gianduja (hazelnut combined with milk chocolate), so that’s where I’m headed.  Since Gianduja isn’t so readily available in grocery stores, I’m going to substitute Nutella, which is absolutely delicious, so I don’t think it’s a huge sacrifice.  But, if you ever have the opportunity to eat a delectable piece of Gianduja chocolate, please go for it.

So, I’m starting with a Hazelnut Praline.  You’ll need to blanch the hazelnuts.  You can toast them in the oven for 10 minutes at 375F or you can refer to my earlier post where the hazelnuts are boiled with baking soda, skinned and then toasted.  I assure you that the baking soda method works very well.  With the oven method, it’s quick, but, I’m never very successful removing the skins this way.  Just take a look.  But, the skins weren’t offensive.  So, if you want to toast the hazelnuts to bring out the flavor, this is the way to go.

GF Nutella Eclair Blanch Hazelnuts (2) with copyright

You’ll caramelize sugar and pour it over the toasted, blanched hazelnuts, let it cool for about 30 minutes and buzz it up in your food processor until no sharp pieces are left.  And, I apologize – no picture of the buzzed praline.  Not sure what happened there.

GF Nutella Eclair Hazelnut Praline. with copyrightjpg

Then on to a basic pastry cream, which you’ll see here.  Just remove the orange zest.  But, I’ve also included it below.  To that, I’ve added a 1/2 cup of nutella, while the pastry cream is slightly warm, as well as a 1/4 cup of hazelnut praline for a delicious, sweet, nutty crunch.  Cover that with plastic wrap touching the top of the pastry cream and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, you’ll whip heavy cream to stiff peaks and add that to the cooled pastry cream to lighten it up a bit.

GF Nutella Eclair Nutella Pastry Cream (2) WITH COPYRIGHT

And, now you’re ready to fill the cream puffs.  These get filled from the bottom.  You’ll need that same #10 tip as above.  In order to ensure that the entire eclair is filled, you’ll fill from two different spots.  You’ll be able to feel when the eclair starts to get heavy.  You want to stop right before it explodes.  Keep them upside down on the cookie sheet.  It will make it easier to dip in the milk chocolate ganache, which is up next.

GF Nutella Eclair filled (3) WITH COPYRIGHT

The milk chocolate ganache is super easy.  Place your chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.  Heat the heavy cream to boiling and pour over the chocolate.  Let it steep for about 2 minutes and whisk until the mixture comes together.  You will want to let it cool a few minutes to get a bit thicker.  Don’t panic if it gets solid.  That’s why it’s in a microwave-safe bowl.  You just need to heat it up 10 seconds at a time until you get back to the right viscosity.

GF Nutella Eclair Milk Choc Ganache (3) WITH COPYRIGHT

GF Nutella Milk Choc Ganache mixed WITH COPYRIGHT

Before you start dipping, get a clean cookie sheet lined with a clean piece of parchment.  Put your hazelnut praline in a shallow bowl and working left to right you’ll have your ganache, the praline and the clean cookie sheet.  Dip the eclair in the ganache letting any excess drip off.  Turn right side up and place a generous amount of hazelnut praline on top of the ganache.  When you place the eclairs on the cookie sheet, place the dipped eclairs at the far right of the cookie sheet and work your way back.  You don’t want to drip over your dipped product.

GF Nutella Eclair dipped and topped with copyright

And, if you want to mimic the gilded eclair that Maitre Choux is selling, you could take this next step.  You’ll need gold lustre dust, a small paint brush and everclear.  Place the dipped eclairs in the refrigerator until the ganache is hard.  Add the lustre dust to the everclear, dip the brush in and paint the entire top of the eclair.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have everclear, so I used lemon extract, which is what I would normally use if I was painting fondant.  I just wanted to show you how it would turn out.

GF Nutella Eclair painted gold WITH COPYRIGHT

I know it’s a lot of components, but anything this good is worth the effort.  And, all the components can be made ahead of time, which makes it easier.

Hop on the new trend before it goes away!

Buon Appetito!!

Deb Farina

Yields 18 eclairs

Gluten Free Nutella Eclair with Hazelnut Praline and Milk Chocolate Ganache

An elegant gilded (or not) eclair filled with Nutella Pastry Cream and Hazelnut Praline topped with Milk Chocolate Ganache.

1 hr, 30 Prep Time

1 hr, 30 Cook Time

3 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

    Hazelnut Praline
  • 1 and 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup Hazelnuts, blanched, toasted
  • Pate a Choux for the Eclairs
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) water
  • 1 stick (4 ounces) butter, unsalted
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (4.4 ounces) Gluten Free Farina All Purpose Flour*
  • 4 large eggs
  • Nutella Pastry Cream
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) half and half
  • 1/3 cup sugar (2.4 ounces), divided
  • 3 large yolks
  • 1/4 cup (1.1 ounces) Gluten Free Farina All Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (5 ounces) Nutella
  • 1/4 cup (1.3 ounces) Hazelnut Praline
  • 1/2 cup (4 ounces) Heavy Whipping Cream
  • Milk Chocolate Ganache
  • 6 ounces Milk Chocolate
  • 3 ounces Heavy Cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon Hazelnut Extract, optional
  • For the Gilding
  • 1/4 cup Everclear
  • Gold Lustre Dust
  • Small Flat Paintbrush

Instructions

    For the Hazelnut Praline
  1. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with non-stick foil or coat regular foil with a thin layer of oil.
  2. Place the hazelnuts in the middle of the cookie sheet.
  3. Combine lemon juice and sugar in medium saucepan.
  4. Cook over medium heat without stirring.
  5. Continuously brush down sides with cold water to eliminate any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan.
  6. Cook to a beautiful amber color - about 9 minutes.
  7. Immediately pour the cooked sugar over the hazelnuts.
  8. Let cool without touching for 30 minutes.
  9. Place cooled mixture in a food processor and process until no sharp shards remain and mixture is uniform in size. Set aside.
  10. For the Eclairs
  11. Preheat oven to 425F.
  12. Prepare two templates by drawing 4" lines spaced evenly 3 x 3 onto parchment to fit your cookie sheet. Place another piece of parchment over the template.
  13. Set up a pastry bag with a #10 tip.
  14. Place the water and butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
  15. Combine the flour and salt and dump into the water/butter mixture off the heat. Stir until combined and return to heat.
  16. Heat, stirring constantly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and starts to leave a film on the pan.
  17. Place mixture into the bowl of the electric mixer and mix for about 1 to 2 minutes to cool slightly.
  18. Add one egg at a time and mix until completely incorporated before adding the next egg.
  19. Place in pastry bag and pipe onto the parchment following the template.
  20. Place pans in the 425 preheated over and bake for 10 minutes.
  21. Reduce heat to 375F and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
  22. For the Nutella Pastry Cream
  23. In a medium-sized bowl, combine yolks with half of sugar. Add flour mixture and mix to combine.
  24. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring half and half to a boil. Temper the eggs by whisking half of the half and half mixture into the egg mixture.
  25. Add the tempered egg mixture into the remaining half and half while whisking contantly.
  26. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to thicken and starts to boil. Boil for 1 minute.
  27. Immediately place into a medium-sized bowl. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes.
  28. Whisk in Nutella.
  29. Stir in Hazelnut Praline.
  30. Cover with plastic wrap with it touching the top of the pastry cream and cool in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes.
  31. Whip cream to stiff peaks and fold into cooled pastry cream.
  32. To fill the Eclairs
  33. Place pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a #10 tip. Fill the eclairs from the bottom by inserting the tip into one side and filling as much of one half as possible.
  34. Make another hole on the other side of the bottom and fill the remainder of the eclair without exploding.
  35. Refrigerate while making ganache.
  36. For the Ganache
  37. Place the milk chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.
  38. Heat the heavy cream in a medium-sized saucepan until it comes to a boil.
  39. Pour over the milk chocolate and let steep for 2 minutes or so. Whisk until the mixture comes together.
  40. Let cool a minute or two to get it to a slightly thicker viscosity for dipping.
  41. Holding the filled eclairs upside down, dip into the milk chocolate ganache allowing any excess to drip off.
  42. Turn right side up and top with hazelnut praline. Refrigerate until set.
  43. For the Gilding
  44. In a small shotglass or bowl, combine a teaspoon of everclear, at a time, with a small amount of gold lustre dust.
  45. Paint the eclairs with the gold covering the hazelnut praline and the ganache. It should dry immediately.
7.8.1.2
197
http://glutenfreefarina.com/2016/06/19/gluten-free-nutella-eclair-hazelnut-praline-milk-chocolate-ganache/
©glutenfreefarina.com

*Gluten Free Farina All Purpose Flour here.

Linens by http://www.dotandarmy.com

Gluten Free Nutella Eclairs

 

 

Filed Under: All Posts, Dessert, Pastry Tagged With: dessert, eclair, gianduja, gilded, gluten free, Gluten Free Nutella Eclair Recipe, hazelnut praline, milk chocolate ganache, nutella, nutella pastry cream, pastry, Pate a Choux, special dessert, www.dotandarmy.com

Meet Gluten Free Farina

Hi there. I'm Deb Farina - an
Executive Pastry Chef, Food Scientist, Wife, Mother, Stepmother, Mother-in-law, Grandmother, Dog Lover, 100% Italian American, Gluten Intolerant. I'm committed to creating and testing Gluten Free recipes for Baked Goods, as well as other delicious foods, that you can easily make at home - downright ‘fabulous,’ not just good for gluten free! You can do this.

Thanks so much for visiting. I just love it when you stop by!

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