Gluten Free Mushroom Pastries

Dedicated to my mother

The older I get, the more I miss her

My mother was famous for her wonderful yeast dough pastries. She did not make them often, more like on special occasions, and when she made them, nothing else was eaten until all the pastries disappear. She only made savoury treats. I started to bake very early, around 13 years of age, creating my own sweet pastries and cakes, so we each had our own, different interests in baking. I never even tried to make yeast dough myself, and, after discovering I had coeliac disease, I accepted the fact that I will never again try my favourite childhood treats gluten free. How could I expect to create a reasonable gluten free yeast dough, if I never even made a regular wheat one.

After having made gluten free yeast bread from Well&Good Crusty Bread mix, I realised, that with little changes, I could use this mix to make all possible yeast dough pastries both sweet and savoury. So, here goes the first savoury recipe from this bread mix – mushroom and onion individual pastries, which are commonly known as pirozhki.

Ingredients:

the dough

For the dough, the quantities are given for the half of the contents of the Crusty Bread Mix box, if the second half is used to make a bread loaf. Makes 14-16 individual pastries, depending on their size. When using the whole box content to make pastries, double quantities of extra ingredients

200g or half portion of dry ingredient mix from gluten free Crusty Bread Mix box
half of the yeast sachet from the box
dusting flour (half from the box, but any gluten free plain flour will do)

extra ingredients

1 egg, room temperature, just lightly beaten with a fork
200 ml warm water
2 table spoons of melted unsalted butter, cooled
1 table spoon of sugar, 10g

egg wash

1 egg

mushroom filling

500g mushrooms
3 onions
20g unsalted butter (olive or vegetable oil can be used instead of butter)
salt and black pepper for seasoning

Preparation:

mushroom filling

chop onions and lightly fry them in butter on low heat
add finely chopped mushrooms, add salt and pepper
cook mushrooms with onions on low heat until no water from mushrooms is left on the pan
make coarse puree using stick blender, do not make puree too fine, allow some small mushroom pieces in it
put the filling aside and let it cool

the dough

dissolve sugar in warm water, add half of the yeast from the sachet, combine the yeast with water
mix cooled melted butter (just warm) with lightly beaten egg
in a big bowl combine dry ingredient mix with both wet ingredients, stir everything together with a spoon
rest the dough for 10 min
dust the working surface with flour and remove the dough from the bowl, using spatula dipped in water

dust the dough and coat your hands with flour, knead the dough for 1-2 min

cut the dough in medium size pieces and make them in a round shape
roll each piece individually 5-6mm thick circles
add mushroom filling and close the dough to make a parcel, leave tiny opening on top for the air to escape (I did not and some pastries split open during baking)
transfer pastries on a baking tray lined with the baking paper

egg wash

beat the whole egg with 2-3 spoons of water with a fork until completely mixed together
brush pastries with egg wash
put baking tray into the middle level of cold oven (fan forced oven) set to 180 degrees and bake for 30-33 min, until pastries are golden brown
rest pastries on a wire rack

When I first made sweet scrolls from this dough, I let them rise for 40 min at room temperature, (over the bowl of warm water) and baked them at 190 degrees preheated oven. Since then, I have discovered, that there was another option when baking gluten free breads – start the baking instantly in a cold oven, without proving. I took this advice, and baked second set of scrolls according to this advice, and they have risen twice the size, compared to the first regular bake. Now I use this method of baking for all my pastries and scrolls, made from Crusty Bread Mix dough. The details of the original advice can be found in French bread recipe.

I can’t tell you how these pastries tasted when they were cold. We finished them while still warm. I will only say, that I was not disappointed. I got what I wanted for a very long time – proper mushroom pastry, soft with a bit of a crust, the dough not too thick, or hard, or wet. Everything was just right. I am ready to try another childhood favourite – cabbage and eggs.