Pastry

   3 weeks ago, I had a craving for apple pie, I searched the internet for a GF recipe for pastry and found one to try. It was disappointing. The pastry did not stay together and was rather holey on the top. It tasted ok but it was not the smooth texture I love in a pie.

The local foodworks sells a brand of apple pie that Honey and I both like... actually I loved it until I experimented and realised I liked the apple filling better from the pie I made (Which was made from raw apples not steamed) and I also realised that there is palm oil in it.

I decided to look for alternatives, while talking to my awesome cook friend Ebony... we realised that every GF thing she makes me is just her regular recipe with white wings GF flour substituted with the wheat flour. She has a secret family recipe that she shared with me. Maybe you are aware of a great recipe for pastry too but are unsure how to convert it... I backed off the water slightly so that the dough was not too sticky and added 1 tsp of xantham gum. It may be helpful to know that the recipe called for eggs which is also another good substitute for gluten in the GF flour... giving the dough elasticity.

The result... very yummy apple pie.

 This is where I found the apple filling recipe, I do not recommend the pastry however. The second time I made this my computer was playing up and I remembered the basic ingredients but had to guess at the ratios. It worked just fine.

But how does the EDC recipes for pastry compare to my BFFs Aunty Thel's biscuit pastry? Well tonight I found out. Its not easy to miss out on pies when you know what you are missing. Honey is fantastic about not “rubbing it in” that his digestive system is more cooperative than mine... but today he was hungry and while he was eating... I remembered how much I loved an O'Grady's pie back in the day.

So the mince I had taken out of the freezer yesterday with the intention of making bolognese was re-purposed and I made a GF pie with TM shortcrust pastry on the bottom, TM savoury mince in the middle, TM puff pastry on top and TM mushy peas on the side.

The idea was to take the recipe, use White Wings GF flour, xantham gum and back off the liquid just a bit. Well I forgot the Xanthum Gum in the shortcrust pastry. It was nice raw; held together in a ball quite well but very uncooperative for the rolling pin. I ended up pressing it into the pie plate and putting the mince on top. I will try this again another time with the gum.

I just chucked a bit here and there from the fridge... 400g mince, 1 onion (Chopped it first on speed 7 and cooked on varoma speed slow with a dash of oil) 1 medium red capsicum (wizzed speed 7 with cooked onions, cooked a further minute) a few chopped mushrooms, an MC of red wine, MC of water, stock pdr, vegemite and a very heaped tbs for corn flour. Cooked on Varoma temp for 15 minutes. While I rolled out the pastry.

Looking back I perhaps should have rolled the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper. It would have saved the fold marks from appearing in the top. This one was much easier to roll but picking it up in one go was a challenge. Perhaps there is a trick to it. There was just enough left over to try making a vol au vent or 2. They turned out more like a savoury biscuit, but were nice enough but certainly not like ordinary puff pastry, more akin to a shortcrust.

The pie was very filling and very nice (we usually like a ¼ slice of quiche but a 1/5 slice is probably more do-able for the pie- unless you are fanging... really hungry). It held together better than I expected (esp considering that I was tired of waiting and did not give it standing time before cutting). I can also confirm that the pie was very lovely re-heated and cold the day after. I now dream of making small pies, popping them in the freezer and having them for lunches. I think next time, I would use cubed beef rather than minced beef for a more gourmet “feel” to the pie. For an evening meal pie, I would probably do a mashed potato lid next as there is rather a lot of butter in the pastry.

I had cooked the pie in the oven at 200c for 20 mins and backed it off to 180 for another 20 mins (as per puff pastry directions). While that was going, I cleaned my TM bowl and popped half a bag of baby peas into Thermie cooked it with a tsp of sugar, dash of salt and an MC or 2 (100-200mL) of water at varoma temp speed slow for 10 mins (MC firmly in place). I then checked it had enough water, popped it onto speed 4 and cooked it for another 5 minutes... the most delicious pie peas ever.

The next recipe I tried and used 40g of iced water

Puff Pastry

• 120g unsalted butter
• 80g lard (I used more butter)
• 250g cake flour (GF) and I tsp xanthum gum
• pinch sea salt
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 50g to 100g icy water

Make your pastry by chopping butter into into cubes. Place into the fridge on a plate or shallow bowl.

Place flour into TM bowl and press turbo button 2x to seive.

Place remaining pastry ingredients except water into Thermomix bowl and blend for 5 sec/speed 6. You should have a breadcrumb look.

Add water starting with 50g and add more if needed... and knead for 10-20 seconds until dough forms a rough mass. You should still be able to see small chunks of butter. Remove dough and roll out into a rectangle on floured surface.

Fold each end of the pastry over on top of itself in thirds.

Roll again and repeat this process 3-4 times.

There are a few more puff pastry recipes around I would love to try but they require a silicone mat (which are $40 to $60). So that will be not for a while.

Its funny I thought if I packed my TM away I would “never” use it (and was quite annoyed at Honey when he wanted it to be in its home more)...but since I have to pack it away each night... I'm using it more than ever. The more I use it; the more I love it. We lent our Kogan to a friend... maybe I can get him to write a blog or 2... I cannot say I would be lending my Thermomix any time soon though, I'm just not that generous.

Judie