I was in the mood for pastry that was short but slightly flaky & sweet but slightly sour - bitsa this & bitsa that. I have seen recipes for sour cream pastry before but most of them are for savoury dishes and not many are flaky. I thought the combination would work well with the Strawberry & Rhubarb pie filling - I loved it (so did the kids & our guests).

To ensure the pastry is flaky you need a relatively cool kitchen when making it.

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour. 

Ingredients

300 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

1/4 - 1/2 tsp Salt

50 g Butter cold & chopped

200 ml Sour cream

45 g Caster sugar

1 Egg yolk

Extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour for flouring worksurface & rolling pin.

 

To make it flaky 

~100 g Butter (preferably overnight in the freezer)

  

Method

Thermomix

Put the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sour cream, sugar, salt & egg yolk into the TM bowl.

Mix for 20 sec on speed 4.

If the dough is still marble sized pieces mix for another 4 - 5 secs on speed 4.

Stand mixer

Mix together the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sugar & salt. 

Put the flour combo, chopped butter, sour cream & yolk into the mixing bowl.

Mix on low/medium until it forms a ball.

Food Processor

Put the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sour cream, sugar, salt & egg yolk into the bowl.

Mix until it comes together as a dough.

All methods

Use some of the extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour to lightly flour a clean work surface & rolling pin. I usually put a piece of baking paper on my kitchen bench as I don't have a pastry mat (perhaps I should get myself one).

Transfer the dough to the floured surface.

Knead the dough. Kneading the dough helps with the flexibility. 

Roll out the pastry, trying to keep it in a ~rectangular shape (~30 x 50 cm). Take out the chunk of butter from the freezer. Grate the butter over the top of the dough like you would cheese on to a pizza base. The photos below are from Fabulous Flaky pastry. 

Fold in the sides a little bit, enough to have a folded edge the length of the dough.

Fold over the end that is the furthest away from you a little bit. Roll the pastry up.

Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (~30 x 50 cm). You will see the streaks of butter in the dough. I usually lift the dough up every now & then & put a bit more flour to prevent it sticking to the work surface. Fold in one long side of dough to approximately the middle, fold the other long side into the middle. The rectangle will now be ~15 x 50 cm. Fold in one end to approximately the middle then fold the other end in to the middle. The rectangle will now be ~15 x 25 cm. Then fold it up one side on to the other like a book (~15 x ~12 cm). Repeat the rolling out & folding up. 

 

Using the dough

Place dough onto a floured work surface. To ensure the dough is an even thickness follow this tip. Find 2 placemats (dinner setting - my placemats are ~4 mm thick) or two pieces of cardboard (I use ones that are 2-3 mm thick) place one on either side of the dough. When rolling out the dough ensure the rolling pin is wide enough to span the dough and part of the top of the placemats/cardboard. My rolling pin is large – 61 cm from handle to handle. If your rolling pin is smaller it may be easy to half the dough. Initially when rolling the pin may not necessarily rest on the placemats/cardboard, however, when the dough is the same thickness as the placemats/cardboard it will. At this stage the dough should be all the same thickness.

Cut the dough into the required shapes. Some shrinkage will occur during baking, I usually cut the pastry larger than I need. 

Bake at 180 - 200 C. The length of time required for baking will depend on; the thickness of the pastry, what the pastry is covering & your oven.