This flaky gluten free puff pastry uses just easy 6 ingredients to create the flakiest, most tender puff pastry that you’d never know is gluten free and vegan!

gluten free puff pastry stacked

The ultimate gluten free puff pastry (Better than store bought!)

Forget store bought puff pastry, and just make this DELICIOUSLY easy and shockingly simple gluten free puff pastry recipe. It’s seriously unbelievable. 

Like, you’d be hard pressed to know this puff pastry is entirely gluten free, dairy free, and vegan.

And this is coming from someone who isn’t gluten free! 

This puff pastry is truly unmatched. A flaky and buttery, tender texture that bakes into the most delicious layers of thin pastry crust. Perfect for Danish pastries, pie crusts, savory and sweet tarts, with the most melt in your mouth flavor. 

You truly won’t purchase another puff pastry again, knowing how delicious and easy this gluten free puff pastry dough is to make. 

sliced flaky puff pastry

Plus, you only need 6 simple ingredients that you most likely already have in your cupboard (and no psyllium seed husks needed, though I do love that for my gluten free bread recipes 🙂 ).  

Let’s get to making this gluten free puff pastry!

The only 6 ingredients you need:

  • Gluten free flour: The type of gluten free flour blend you use is super important! First, make sure that it contains xanthan gum. I personally recommend King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour. It’s amazing, and is the brand I used here to achieve that super lovely buttery and tender texture. I would not recommend using almond flour, nor a flour blend that doesn’t contain any xanthan gum.
  • Arrowroot starch: You can also replace this with cornstarch (corn flour outside of the U.S.). This just helps with any grittiness in the flour blend, so don’t skip it!
  • Sugar: For a slightly sweet and tender puff pastry, we’re adding just 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
  • Salt: To balance the flavors.
  • Vegan butter: Like the flour, the type of vegan butter you use is really important. A European style vegan butter, like Miyoko’s, is recommended for best results. If you’re nut-free, however, Violife has another great block of butter.
  • Water: Cold water is key to keep the butter from melting as you’re mixing the dough.
close up of puff pastry baked

What is the rough puff method?

The rough puff method I found to be the least messy and easiest way for new and seasoned bakers to start making puff pastry from scratch. You’ll get clumps of vegan butter showing through the dough, which is perfect for achieving a flaky texture.

The rough puff method is essentially adding rough cubes or grated butter to the flour mixture and mixing the dough that way. It’s almost like pie dough. Whereas the classic puff method used in traditional puff pastry incorporates the butter as one giant slab, much like croissants. 

Overview: How to make gluten free vegan puff pastry step-by-step

Let’s go over how we’ll make the gluten free puff pastry dough recipe, then I’ll show you how to do the letter folds and bake your puff pastry!

The puff pastry dough- rough puff style:

flour mixed in a bowl
First start by freezing your vegan butter, and whisking together the dry ingredients.
grated butter into a bowl
Next, grate the vegan butter on top of the flour. It’s easiest to work with frozen butter here.
making gluten free puff pastry dough
Then rub the flour and butter together into almost a sandy texture. You want some big clumps of butter though, so that you get flaky layers.
making the dough
Begin to add in the ice cold water and mix the dough. If the dough is really too cold, you can mix it with a fork, and then use your hands at the end!
kneaded gluten free puff pastry dough
Begin to form the dough into a soft and slightly tacky dough ball. You almost knead it in the bowl, but it’s more of a press into a clump sort of method.
gluten free puff pastry before chilling
Then form the dough into a large rectangle and wrap it tightly to be stored in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Dough lamination: how to make a letter fold

Now that our dough is made, it’s time to laminate!

rolled puff pastry dough
Now roll the dough to a large rectangle. It doesn’t have to be exact in size.
folding the puff pastry dough into letter folds
Fold a third of the dough down towards the middle of the rectangle.
folding puff pastry dough
Fold the bottom half of the dough up towards the middle.
laminating puff pastry dough
Now rotate the rectangle 90 degrees, and repeat this process 3 more times for 4 laminations.

How to prepare gluten free puff pastry for baking:

wrapped puff pastry dough
Now that your gluten free puff pastry is laminated, you can either chill it as is for whenever you want to use it- or bake it now!
rolled out puff pastry
Roll out and use your gluten free puff pastry however you’d like- as puff pastry squares, in pastry recipes or for tarts.
brushed puff pastry
I like to brush the top of the puff pastry with a vegan egg wash to create a really pretty golden brown coloring on top after baking.
baked puff pastry
Now just bake as directed and serve!

What temperature should I bake puff pastry?

I recommend baking this gluten free puff pastry at 415F to get super tender and flaky layers. Depending on the recipe, it will take about 18-20 minutes to bake until golden. I also recommend brushing with a bit of vegan egg wash on top. 

Ways to use this gluten free puff pastry:

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

The EASIEST Flaky Gluten Free Vegan Puff Pastry (Quick Rough Puff Method) pinterest pin

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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gluten free puff pastry stacked

The EASIEST Flaky Gluten Free Vegan Puff Pastry (Quick Rough Puff Method)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 20
  • Chilling Time: 60
  • Cook Time: 20
  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 1 gluten free puff pastry dough 1x
  • Category: Pastry
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: French
  • Diet: Gluten Free
Print Recipe

Description

This flaky gluten free puff pastry uses just easy 6 ingredients to create the flakiest, most tender puff pastry that you’d never know is gluten free and vegan!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups (250 g) gluten free measure-for-measure flour (see notes)
  • 1 tbsp arrowroot starch or cornstarch 
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup (226 g) salted vegan butter, frozen
  • 8–10 tbsp (118–140 mL) cold water

Instructions

  1. Measure out all ingredients. I recommend using a kitchen scale for the most accurate bake.
  2. Start by whisking together the flour, arrowroot starch, sugar, and sea salt in a bowl.
  3. Using a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter (you can freeze the cold butter for just 10 minutes in the freezer before using) into the flour mixture. 
  4. Gently toss the flour mixture with the butter using your hands to evenly coat the butter pieces. The mixture will look a bit like semi-wet sand.
  5. Add in 4 tablespoons of cold water to start, and mix gently with your hands, almost kneading the dough but really just gripping the dough and gently pressing it into the bowl to create a dough lump. Add in 4 additional tablespoons of water one at a time as you mix until you achieve a semi-sticky dough ball (you can use a large spoon or spatula to help you from warming up the butter too much). Pockets of butter should be visible in the dough.
  6. Form the dough into a flat rectangle and wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before laminating the puff pastry.
  7. When ready to roll out the dough, flour a clean surface and the rolling pin. Roll the cold dough out to be about 15″ long (it doesn’t have to be exact!). It’s okay if some of the edges start to break at first. As the dough warms up, it’ll be easier to roll out. Then do a letter fold by folding a third of the dough into the center, followed by the bottom third. Flip the dough over and rotate it once 90 degrees. Repeat this rolling and laminating process 3 more times for a total of 4 times.
  8. Rest the dough again before baking. Wrap the dough tightly and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking OR store frozen in the freezer for up to 3 months. 
  9. If proceeding onto baking from just a chilled stage, preheat the oven to 415F, and use in your desired recipe.

Notes

Please see blog post for notes on flour and vegan butter options.