Gluten Free Puff Pastry Recipe

5 from 163 votes

This gluten free puff pastry recipe makes buttery, flaky, elegant pastry. Learn the secrets to making it right the very first time!

Prep Time1

Chilling time2

Total Time3

Course: Pastry

Cuisine: French

Keyword: butter, gluten free flour, gluten free puff pastry, salt, water, xanthan gum

Servings: pounds raw dough

Author: Nicole Hunn

Equipment

French rolling pin the kind that tapers on the ends, not the the kind with handles
Metal bench scraper or knife or other straight edge

Ingredients

For the base dough

2 cups all purpose gluten free flour blend plus more for sprinkling (my Better Than Cup4Cup Flour work best here; click through for full detail on appropriate blends)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it; use a heaping 1 teaspoon
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter diced and kept cold
½ cup cold water iced (ice doesn’t count in volume measurement), plus more as necessary

For the butter packet

4 tablespoons all purpose gluten free flour blend any of my recommended blends will do, with or without xanthan gum, plus more for sprinkling
16 tablespoons unsalted butter very cold

Customary - Metric

Instructions

First, make the base dough.

In a large bowl, place the 2 cups flour and salt, and mix or whisk to combine well. Add the chopped unsalted butter and toss to combine. Press each chunk of butter flat between your thumb and forefinger.
Create a well in the dry ingredients, and add 1/2 cup of ice water to the center. Stir the mixture to combine. Add more ice water by the tablespoon until the dough stays together when pressed.
Press the dough into a ball, place it onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Place in the refrigerator to chill until firm while you make the butter packet.

Make the butter packet.

Dust a sheet of parchment paper or bare flat surface with 2 tablespoons of flour. Chop the two sticks of butter each by cross-section into 4 equal-sized chunks of 2 tablespoons each. You'll have 8 pats of butter.
Arrange the pats of butter on top of the flour into 4 groups of 2 pats, touching one another, making a grid 2 wide by 4 tall. Sprinkle the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour.
Using a French rolling pin, pound the butter to begin to flatten it and to press the pats of butter together. Press and roll the rolling pin until the pats join together and make one butter packet about 1/2-inch thick, sprinkling lightly with extra flour as necessary to prevent sticking.
If the butter starts to get greasy, sprinkle it lightly with flour, and refrigerate it until it firms up.
Fold the butter in half, and roll and pound it again until flat, and repeat the process until you have a butter packet that is about 4-inches square.
Wrap the butter packet tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer to chill for about 5 minutes, or in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, or until beginning to firm.

Combine base dough and butter packet.

Remove the chilled base dough from the refrigerator, and place it on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle lightly with more flour, and press and roll the dough until it is smooth, folding it over on itself as necessary.
Press it into about a 6-inch round. Unwrap and place the chilled butter packet in the center of the round of dough.
Lightly score the perimeter of the butter packet, and set the butter packet aside.
Dust the top of the dough once more with flour, and roll out the dough from the 4 scoring marks and out, away from the center of the dough, to create 4 flaps.
Dust with more flour as necessary to prevent the rolling pin from sticking to the dough and move the dough frequently.
Place the butter packet back in the center of the dough, and fold the 4 flaps onto the butter like you would the bottom of a cardboard box. Press the dough around the butter packet to seal it in.

Complete "turns" 1 and 2.

Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, and roll the dough away from you into a long rectangle that is about 5-inches wide x 12-inches long.
Whenever you're handling the raw dough, sprinkle it lightly with flour to prevent sticking, and shift and turn the dough frequently. Starting at a short side, fold the rectangle in thirds as you would a business letter. This is the first "turn."
You will do two turns at a time, and then wrap and refrigerate the dough in between.
Turn the dough 90° so the short side of the folded dough is facing you. Roll the dough away from you again into another long rectangle, in approximately the same size and shape as before (5 inches x 12 inches).
Fold in the same manner, once again, starting at a short side and folding in thirds like you would a business letter
You have just completed the first two “turns.” With a floured knuckle, make two impressions on the dough, to represent the completion of two turns.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Complete the 3rd & 4th turns.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Unwrap it, and lightly flour the outside once again.
With a short side of the folded dough facing you, roll away from you and into a long rectangle the same size as before, about 5 inches wide x 12 inches long. This is turn #3.
Turn the dough 90° so the short side of the folded dough is facing you. Sprinkle the dough lightly with extra flour if any spots become sticky. Roll the dough away from you again into another long rectangle, in approximately the same size and shape as before (5 inches x 12 inches).
Fold in the same manner, once again, starting at a short side and folding in thirds like you would a business letter.
You have just completed the second two “turns” (numbers 3 and 4). With a floured knuckle, make four impressions on the dough, to represent the completion of 4 turns in total so far.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
If you plan to use the dough today, continue on to the final steps of preparation. If not, keep the dough, wrapped very tightly, in the refrigerator until about 1 hour before you'd like to use it. When you're ready, remove the wrapped dough from the refrigerator, and resume the recipe as instructed below.

Complete the final 2 turns (#5 and #6).

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. If the dough is too stiff to roll, allow it to sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. When it's ready, unwrap it, and lightly flour the outside once again.
Turn the dough 90° so the short side of the folded dough is facing you. Sprinkle the dough lightly with extra flour if any spots become sticky. Roll the dough away from you again into another long rectangle, in approximately the same size and shape as before (5 inches x 12 inches).
Fold in the same manner as before, starting at a short side and folding in thirds like you would a business letter. This is turn #5.
One final time, turn the dough 90° so the short side of the folded dough is facing you. Sprinkle the dough lightly with extra flour if any spots become sticky. Roll the dough away from you again into a final long rectangle, in approximately the same size and shape as before (5 inches x 12 inches).
Fold in the same manner as before, starting at a short side and folding in thirds like you would a business letter. You have completely the final turn.
Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least another 30 minutes.
It is now ready to be rolled out and used in any recipe that you would otherwise use conventional puff pastry. This full recipe makes the equivalent of about 3 sheets of conventional frozen packaged puff pastry.

Video

Notes

Nutrition information is per pound of puff pastry dough, and is for informational purposes only. It should not be relied upon for medical or any other important purposes.

Nutrition