Making puff pastry from scratch can seem a bit daunting, especially when working with gluten-free flour, but set aside enough time and enjoy it – once you get the technique down, it can be rather therapeutic. The pastry freezes well, so we would recommend making double the amount and storing the other half in the freezer.
This tart makes a delicious fancy lunch, or you could serve it as the centrepiece of a picnic or for a relaxed dinner with some side salads. This is a nice simple version, but you can alter the flavours to your tastes – add rosemary, extra garlic or try crumbling over some goat’s cheese or sharp cheddar over the finished tart.
Ingredients
PASTRY
- 8 3/4 oz of gluten-free self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 4 1/4 fl oz of milk
- 6 1/4 oz of butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
TART
- 3 oz of butter
- 1 1/3 lb of shallots, peeled and kept whole
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and bashed but kept whole
- 6 3/4 fl oz of vegetable stock, or chicken stock
- 2 1/3 fl oz of balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/16 oz of brown sugar
- 3 sprigs of thyme
Method
1
Dice 75g of the butter and set aside the remaining 100g of butter for later (it should be in a single block). Place the diced butter and flour into a food processor and blitz to the consistency of sand. Pour in the milk as you continue blending until a dough forms
2
Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and use your hands to bring the pastry together into a rectangular block. Wrap the block in cling film and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
3
Roll the pastry out on a floured surface into a flat rectangle approximately 1cm thick. Keep the sides straight, as this will help you when folding the pastry later on. It should be roughly three times as long as it is wide, with neat edges and corners
4
Place the 100g block of butter between two sheets of greaseproof paper and bash it flat using a rolling pin to around half the size of the pastry. Maintain its rectangular shape as much as possible
5
Remove the butter from the paper and place it on the bottom half of the rectangle of pastry. Fold over the top half of the pastry to cover and ‘seal in’ the butter
6
With the folded edge pointing away from you, roll out the pastry into a rectangle roughly 3 times as long as it is wide (like before)
7
Fold the bottom third of the rectangle into the centre. Now fold the top third on top of that so the pastry is now three layers thick. Rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes
8
Remove from the fridge and repeat this rolling, folding and chilling process 3 more times
9
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
10
For the tart filling, melt half of the butter in a 20cm ovenproof frying pan and add the shallots and garlic clove. Keep the heat quite high to get a nice colour on the shallots, adding the rest of the butter in chunks to keep it from burning
11
Once the shallots are nicely browned, add the stock, vinegar, sugar and thyme and turn down to a simmer for about 10 minutes until the shallots are cooked through but still with a little bite
12
Drain most of the liquid in the pan, but keep a few tablespoons of the reduced balsamic to one side to glaze the tart once it’s cooked. Keep the shallots in the pan bit discard the garlic clove
13
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to 0.5cm thickness. Cut a 21cm circle out and carefully lay over the shallots, tucking the pastry in round the sides
14
Place the frying pan in the oven and cook the tart for 30–40 minutes, or until the pastry is nice and golden and puffed up
15
Remove the tart from the oven, leave to rest for a couple of minutes, then carefully turn out onto a plate. You must do this whilst still warm or the caramel will cool and stick it to the pan
16
Glaze the tart with the leftover balsamic and serve hot or at room temperature
