Can I Make The Pastry For The Blackberry Galette Gluten-Free?

Our answer

Nigella's Blackberry Galette (from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) is a rustic-looking freeform tart that uses a crust containing cornmeal. The cornmeal helps to soak up the juices that seep out of the crust as the galette bakes.

We suspect it would be possible to use gluten-free flour instead of regular plain flour if you used a flour blend that is specifically designed for baking and pastry or pie crusts. Popular brands are Dove's Farm in the UK and Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur in the US, and other brands are available. Some of these contain xanthan gum, as this helps to improve the elasticity of the dough when it is being rolled out but some have a specific blend of flours that should help the dough to roll out easily, so xanthan gum may not be necessary. You will probably need to add slightly more water to bring the dough together and we would suggest rolling the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment (parchment paper) for ease as the dough can be very tender. If the edges of the dough circle crack slightly you can fold them inwards all the way around the pastry circle to make a 1/2 cm (1/4-inch) border around the edge of the galette. The baking time should be the same as for the main recipe. However, as we have not tried this ourselves, we are unable to guarantee the results. Nigella does have a gluten-free pastry recipe in her Gluten-Free Apple And Blackberry Pie that you could possibly use as an alternative. You would only need 1/4 - 1/3 of the recipe to make the galette and you could sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of cornmeal over the pastry disc before adding the fruit and baking the galette.