Vegan Gluten Free Puff Pastry

This is definitely a recipe that takes effort and time but the result is pretty awesome. It involves making dough and then a slab of butter that is slowly folded in, set then folded again and so forth. The result is  Vegan Gluten Free Puff Pastry - at the least the best I've come across so far. You can make a bigger batch and then freeze what you don't need. Prep time is around 1 hour and it makes nearly 2lbs of dough. Original recipe courtesy of Gluten Free on a Shoestring. There is a video there that is helpful as well.

Vegan Gluten Free Puff Pastry

Ingredients    

For the dough

2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour, plus more for sprinkling (my Better Than Cup4Cup Flour work best here)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted vegan butter, diced and kept cold

1/2 to 3/4 cup (4 to 6 fluid ounces) cold water, iced (ice doesn’t count in volume measurement), plus more as necessary

For the butter packet

4 tablespoons (35 g) all purpose gluten free flour

16 tablespoons (224 g) cold unsalted vegan butter

Method

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 then 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.

Butter Packet: Dust a sheet of parchment paper or bare flat surface with 2 tablespoons of flour. 

Place the two sticks of butter, side by side and touching one another, in the center of the flour. 

Sprinkle the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. 

Cover with another sheet of parchment paper (or not), and pound the butter with the rolling pin to begin to flatten it and to press the two sticks of butter together. 

Remove the top sheet of parchment, fold the butter in half, and cover once more. 

Pound 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 15 minutes, or until beginning to firm.

Combine dough and butter packet: Remove the chilled 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 the first fold: Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, and roll the dough away from you into a long rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick and about 3 times as long as it is wide. 

Shift and turn the dough frequently to prevent sticking. 

Starting at a short side, fold the rectangle into thirds as you would a business letter. 

Beginning from a long side, roll the dough again, into another long rectangle, the same size and shape. Fold in the same manner, once again, starting at a short side and folding into thirds. 

You have just completed the first fold.

With a floured knuckle, make one single impression on the dough, to represent the completion of one turn. 

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until firm, about 15 minutes.

Once the dough is firm, remove it from the refrigerator, flour the outside and once again, with a long side of the folded dough facing you, roll away from you and into a long rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. 

Fold once more, and mark the dough twice with your knuckle, to represent two completed turns. Refrigerate until firm, and repeat the process of rolling, folding, marking and chilling for at least 4, and up to 6, turns.

After the final fold,  fold the “business letter” of dough in half or thirds to create a smaller packet. Wrap tightly and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. If you freeze the puff pastry, defrost overnight in the refrigerator before using.