Don't Worry, tasty spinach and artichoke squares.
One of my January 2018 recipes for Beyond Celiac, formerly National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.
This is based on a Pampered Chef recipe from their gf cookbook. I knew when I read their recipe for crescent roll dough, that their weight quantities were wrong. I made my own gf flaky pastry recipe that I use for pot pies, English sausage rolls, then did my thing with the topping. Just remember this is full of fiber working on your body, not a xc reaction. I also made this with my gf pizza dough, it was good, husband very happy and he's a wheat eater, but to me it lacked the flavor of my butter based gf flaky pastry.
I make this quantity of pastry (makes 1+1/2 lbs of dough) and then freeze half of it to use later.
1/2 recipe for 10" pie crust base or a thick top crust.
Roughly 24 x 2x2" squares.
gf flaky pastry topped with Parmesan
1 c ( 4oz, 112 g) my gf, rice free, flour blend. If you sub a different blend, you need to weigh flour and remember that every gf blend cooks up differently.
1 c (4oz, 112g) almond meal. – almonds with skin so freckly appearance on baking. Almond flour is almonds ground without skin but usually more than $10/lb.
2/3 c (3 oz, 84g) gf cornstarch – I buy Argo labeled gf.
1 tsp (5 ml) baking powder – I buy Rumford’s labeled gf, non GMO and aluminum free
1/2 tsp ( 3ml) xanthan gum
1/3 c (80 ml) ice water – ice cube in small cup with ¼ cup water
1/3 c (80 ml) liquid egg substitute or a large egg plus 1 tbsp egg sub, broken up with a fork.
Salt
2 sticks (8 oz, 224g) butter, cut into thin slices, put in freezer for about half an hour until really hard and cold.
1. Put gf flour, almond meal, cornstarch, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt in bowl of food processor or in mixing bowl. Pulse or stir to combine.
2. In food processor or in bowl, pulse or cut in 4 oz butter until it is in large breadcrumb size- think panko breadcrumbs.
3. I then change to coarse large shredding/grating blade for food processor and shred remaining 4 oz butter into mix.
4. Empty into 8 cup (2 ltr) bowl. Stir to separate butter clumps. Sprinkle on iced water and egg and stir until mix starts coming together. If you still have dry mix at bottom of bowl, scoop it with your fingers without squeezing butter or warming up mix in your hands. Only if mix stays really dry, add about 1-2 tsp more of iced water. This makes a moist dough, not wet. If dough is dry then it crumbles and cracks on rolling out.
5. Divide dough in half, wrap and freeze one half for later use. Refrigerate dough for half an hour.
6. Preheat oven to 375. Put dough on parchment (greaseproof) paper and top with plastic wrap. Dust parchment paper and top of dough with gf flour, dough easily sticks. Roll out to roughly 10 x12", lifting dough to stop it sticking. Try and roll to a rectangle with few cracks or tears, A bit of water on fingers patches cracks, take pieces from uneven edges to patch larger cracks. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect, it still will taste good and will be hidden by topping. I then lift parchment paper with rolled out dough and place it on 10x15 sheet. This is far easier than trying to lift dough from parchment paper. Don't forget to remove plastic wrap.
7. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, it should be golden brown allover, edges will be a bit crispier than middle, as edges tend to be thinner. I find if you don't cook it enough now, it will taste under cooked for serving.
See the difference, pizza dough and 4 cheese pizza blend that melts and browns.
Topping:
Note, that I rarely use just mayo in a recipe but prefer to mix it 50/50 with Greek Yogurt.
1 x 10 oz (280g) block of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry.
1 x ~ 14 oz (400g) can of artichokes, drained and chopped.
2 roasted red bell peppers, rinsed if from jar, patted dry and cut into fingernail size pieces. I normally used freshly roasted red peppers, but with all these flavors, jarred peppers are fine.
1 x ~ 6 oz (180g) can of sliced water chestnuts, chopped small. I like the crunch, neutral flavor. I have tried this with cornichons that taste like bread and butter pickles.
1 c (4 oz, 112g) shredded Swiss cheese. Original recipe used Feta cheese, I preferred flavor of Swiss.
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely crushed.
3/4 c ( 6 fl oz, 180 ml) of mayo and Greek yogurt mixed.
4 green onions (spring onions) trimmed and scissored small.
1/4 c (60ml) Parmesan cheese to top. I have also used 4 cheese Pizza blend with mozzarella and it bakes to lovely golden brown. Parmesan doesn't tend to brown.
I didn't add extra salt. Add some freshly ground pepper.
Optional: add some chopped olives, either black or green with pimiento stuffing.
Use pepper jack cheese for heat. Smoked Gouda. Mozzarella doesn't add much flavor.
Thin slices of baby corn for crunch.
1. Mix all topping ingredients together except for parmesan.
2. Spread topping on pastry base right up to the edge, it won't flow over sides or rise.
3. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake in oven for about 20 more minutes. It won't rise, or really brown. Cooking is to marry the flavors, melt the cheese and cook the garlic and spinach. Parmesan doesn't brown.
4. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly then cut into squares with pizza cutter. Base should be sturdy to pick up in fingers, good cold, base goes soft if microwaved.
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My rice free gf mix:
I use for one cup of GF mix.
½ cup potato starch
¼ c tapioca starch from Asian market or Goya or Yoki brand in supermarkets.
2 tbsp amaranth or millet flour: Bob’s Red Mill (millet is roughly one third the price of amaranth, is not so nutritious, but is more readily available.)
2 tbsp sorghum flour: Bob’s Red Mill.
Larger quantity:
1 x 14 oz bag potato starch, which is 3+1/2 cups - that's the size I can buy.
1+3/4 c of Tapioca Starch is 7 oz
Just under 1 cup of Amaranth or Millet (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz)
Just under 1 cup of Sorghum (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz)
Making about 7 cups total of mix.
