Tessa: After years and years of suffering horrible stomach pain, bloating, the runs, chronic fatigue and massive stomach aches, I finally figured out that I can’t eat gluten. It was a long rocky road getting there and truthfully I wish that I had figured this out at the beginning of my life rather than the middle of it. The good thing about it is that I was so desperately unhealthy by the time I figured it out that when I was finally able to put two and two together, ie. the impact that this would have on my life as an avid cook and eater, I was too sick to care and extremely grateful to be out of pain.
So what if I could never have pie again, or french bread, or croissant, or freshly baked bread that I love or that eating out was going to be a monumental pain in the ass given that I don’t eat meat either. While the joys of a fresh, hot baguette with unsalted butter and cheese can almost make me weep with joy, I know what it does to me so I don’t even look at it the same way anymore. So I put my rice/soy bread in the toaster and lather it with Earth Balance and try and enjoy it as much as I can mainly because it doesn’t leave me in pain. But there is one thing that I truly miss and would kill to have and that’s pastry. I love pastry with a passion. Pie. Any pie is a good pie. Even a bad pie is a good pie. Pie pie pie. Say it over and over again. Roll on the floor with it. Rub it on your belly. Pie is good. Pie is great. I’d kill for pie with a nice thick crust.
Nothing is better than blackberry pie with ice cream. Hot out of the oven. Roll on the ground again. Scream for joy. That is a little bit of bliss. So you can see where I’m going with this. Life isn’t the same. It bites. But thank god for Dave. The other day he came home with a new cookbook called the Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods by Bette Hagman.
The cookbook is full of all kinds of comfort type foods like chili or pasta salad or quick chicken pot pie, breakfast breads etc…but the best thing about it is that it has a recipe for pastry. YUM. I haven’t tried it yet but will next weekend when I try a new little apple dessert called Tarte Tatin.
But for all of you interested in making gluten free pastry here goes:
First make a basic gluten free flour mix which is 1 part rice flour, 1 part tapioca flour, 1 part corn starch, potato flour, (1 teaspoon per cup). If you want to make up a container full simply mix together 3 cups of each with 3 tablspoons potato flour and that way you’ll have extra.
Now to make pastry:
2 1/2 cups of the above flour mix.
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 liquid egg substitute of 1 egg
4 tablespoons ice water
Sweet Rice flour for rolling
Now make this pastry the way you would any other kind. Stir the flour , gum salt and sugar together. Cut in the shortening and then beat vinegar and egg together with a fork and add water. Work until a smooth ball forms and then refrigerate, then roll away. And hopefully the result will be yummy. I’ve had many gluten free products lately that have been great including waffles, pancake mix, and some pastry from Whole Foods (the name of which I can’t remember right now) There’s hope!
Here’s to pie. Everyone say PIE as loudly as you can.
PIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
PS go get Bette Hagman’s book. It’s full of great recipes and lots of old standbye’s that most of us thought we would never eat again!
Condofire 
In grade 8 cooking class, we had a section on pies. To kick off the lesson, the teacher asked us kids to name some pies so we went around the room and listed the usual suspects…apple pie, blueberry pie, etc.. and then my friend Rosanne pipes up and says “Hair Pie”. Holy crap, I still laugh when I picture that day and I still manage to tell that story at least once or twice a year – even 23 years later. Rosanne probably heard that term for the very first time sometime that week and picked a priceless moment to share her new word with the world! Even the teacher had a giggle.
PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Tess, you have to go see Debra Gibson, Chinese medicine doctor and miracle worker. She cured my friend of this very problem with gluten, and me, allergic to everything under the sun was so inspired by his health change that I went to see her and am now happily eating fish and seafood, and beans and lentils, and … ok I can eat whatever the hell I want no problem.
http://www.acupuncturenow.com
This is a not some flake who will take your money. You’ll love her.
Did I mention that I had fish and chips. So yummy.
Love your gluten-free pasta, but babe, no pastries. Go see Debra.
Hey Monique,
Thanks! If I stay away from all gluten products I’m good but I feel like the list of things I have to stay away from is growing so I might have to consider. Do the needles hurt?
Um… that is really dangerous advice. You ABSOLUTELY can’t cure Coeliac with acupuncture or anything else – there is no cure yet. Doctors and medical researchers are not so stupid that they would be ignoring a cure if it was there! Coeliac is an autoimmune reaction, it’s not going to be fixed by acupuncture.
Also, even if a Coeliac eats gluten without any symptoms (I’m in this situation), they still have to avoid gluten since it’s still doing long-term damage and can lead to nasty things like cancers, osteoporosis, permanent villi damage… whatever an ‘alternative’ health practitioner tells you, don’t assume you are cured unless you have a biopsy that tells you so.
I would expect the best actupuncture would do is reduce your perception of symptoms. If Monique’s friend is really Coeliac and not just allergic, they are putting themselves in real danger by going back on the gluten without advice from a proper expert, ie a gastroenterologist.
Btw, have a look at amaranth, if you can find it – it’s a gluten-free grain that I really like the taste of (kind of expensive though). You can get amaranth flour and add a little bit of it to baked goods for the flavour.
Hey Clare, Thanks for your input. I am relatively new to this and have struggled somewhat with what I can and can’t do. My sister introduced me to spelt and kamut which I tried for a while. Although the effects are less than they are with wheat, they still really bother me so I don’t go near them. I haven’t seen too many baked goods with amaranth but I have seen flour at Capers/Whole Foods. I’m going to give it a go! I also buy bread made by Glutino which is quite good. A bit expensive though…If you have any baked goods recipes I’d love to hear about them.
Thanks again, Tess
PS feels good to know I’m not the only one out there.
I’m soo excited by that recipe – thank you for posting it!!! Having been essentially taken off animal fats, gluten, dairy and eggs over night – i’m at a bit of a loss currently as to what exactly i can eat…and the current craving is definately for a pie or pastie.
Thanks again!!
Claire
Like the recipe and dying to try it but what would happen if I left out the vinegar & sugar as I can anything with it in?
Sorry I should have said that I can’t eat anything with vinegar or sugar in. Also at what temperature would you bake it at, as when I have tried proprietary mixes whatever temperature I use it always comes out hard.
Hi there, I think you can pass on the vinegar…you might have to add a tiny bit more moisture to make up for it. You could try skipping the sugar…I think that is more for taste than anything. If you can eat xylotal which is a sugar substitute (it looks exactly sugar but isn’t sugar) then you could try that. You could also try a nut based crust — I haven’t done that yet but I plan to. Here is one – I just tried one like this. It turned out great but I cooked it for 12 mins (but you might want to start checking it at 10 mins because once it starts browning it goes quick). I used a glass pie pan and a temp of 350. I prebaked it for a cheesecake.
I used 1 cup of almonds and then ground them.
2 tbs melted butter
2 tbs sugar
I also added a shake of salt and cinnamon.
Good luck!