For a while now, I have been pondering the possibility of pastry without all the butter! Once again, ground almonds come to the fore. The oil in the almonds provides the fat without having to add extra oil or butter to the mixture. In addition, the ground almonds provide nutritional value that would not otherwise be present.
Because there is no gluten in the pastry, the raw dough does not have the stretchiness of pastry made with wheat flour. However, it holds together well and is easy to roll and work with.
For Sweet Shortcrust Pastry, just add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the dry ingredients.
I find one quantity is sufficient to make either 10-12 mini tart shells or one 20cm shallow tart shell.
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups ground almonds
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar (for Sweet Shortcrust Pastry)
- 1 egg plus 1 egg white
Method:
Place the ground almonds, brown rice flour, salt and baking powder (and sugar for Sweet Shortcrust Pastry) in the food processor. Blitz three times for about 10 seconds each time – this ensures there are no lumps in the ground almonds.
Add the egg (do not include the extra egg white at this stage) and process to a stiff dough. If needed, (that is, if the dough is too dry and not workable) add enough of the egg white to make a smooth, pliable dough.
I have had it happen where I add too much egg white at once and the dough is then sticky. If this happens, add some more brown rice flour about a tablespoon at a time until the dough is smooth and pliable.
Place the dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll out to 3mm thick.
Line the desired tin with the pastry. Mini tarts are handy as finger food but the tins are quite awkward (not to mention time consuming!) to line with pastry. I find it easiest to start by carefully bringing the edges of the pastry together and placing it in the tin.
Then gradually and carefully work the pastry into the shape of the tin.
Carefully trim the excess pastry so that the pastry case is even with the top of the tin.
Then bake the pastry blind as follows. This pre-cooks the shell to ensure it does not go soggy once a filling is added.
Line the pastry shell or shells with tin foil.
Fill the foil lined shell or shells with baking beans, or uncooked pasta or uncooked rice.
Bake at 160º C for 15 minutes.
Take the tray out of the oven and remove the baking beans and foil.
Return the tray to the oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes (until lightly coloured) with the beans removed.
The pastry shell is now ready to be filled with a sweet or savoury filling.
