I had a big piece of leftover turkey in my freezer so I decided to make Turkey Pot Pie. There are many different ways to make pot pies but I like to make mine with just a top crust. It’s not as finicky as making an enclosed pie and I don’t really need all the calories from a rich double crust.
Gluten Free Pastry
The reason pastry intimidates many everyday cooks is simply that people don’t work with often. I don’t make pastry too often either so when I wanted to learn to make gluten free pastry I knew I'd need some help. With tips from America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks I successfully mastered gluten free pastry using my own EGFG gluten free flour blend and to me it seems exactly the same as working with wheat flour pastry.
In my Learn To Bake Gluten Free cooking class we make Cherry Hand Pies. I chose hand pies for this class because it is easier to learn to work with a smaller piece of pastry. That means making a top crust Turkey Pot Pie is a good recipe to try, even for anyone not so comfortable with pastry. In this recipe you will have some extra dough so plan to make a few hand pies too.
Here are a few tips for rolling out pastry.
- Work with one piece of dough at a time keeping the other pieces in the fridge while you work.
- The goal is to make the dough an even thickness so roll from the centre of the dough to the edge. Lift the rolling pin up when you get to the edge to avoid making the edges thinner than the centre.
- Sprinkle small amounts of sweet rice flour over the dough and/or the rolling pin to avoid sticking. You can also use tapioca starch but I find sweet rice flour easier to sprinkle and I have both in my kitchen.
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Get The Tools
Every kitchen needs tools for cooking, baking and serving. These are a few of the items I would use for this recipe.
- Flexible baking mats or inexpensive light weight cutting boards are perfect for flipping pastry to ensure it doesn’t stick. I bought these when I was new to gluten free so I could quickly grab a clean surface (avoiding cross contamination) for any job. Since then I've found lots of uses for them.
- Every kitchen needs a rolling pin whether it’s a classic wooden rolling pin, a heavy marble one designed to stay cool for working with pastry or a modern silicone style rolling pin. But a nice wine bottle or a tall drinking glass will do in a pinch.
- Ramekins come in various sizes and can be used for many jobs. From prepping food to serving individual portions of dishes like crème brûlée, cheese soufflé or turkey pot pie. Traditionally they are round with fluted sides but now you can find them in many different shapes and colours. Common sizes are 4-oz, 8-oz and the large 12-oz bowl.
For those interested in more details about why gluten free recipes are different I recommend these two resources from America’s Test Kitchen.
As with all things gluten free you’ve just got to get in the kitchen and try. You may be using a different flour mixture or making a substitution that affects the final outcome. Don’t be discouraged. Just try again and as long as you can eat what you bake I’d call that success. Learn to perfect your recipes from there.
I’d love to hear in the comments below if you made a Pot Pie.
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More Pastry Recipes
- Cherry Hand Pies
- Flaky Pie Crust filled with vanilla cream
- Pumpkin Pie
Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients
PASTRY TOPPING
- 6 tablespoon cold water
- 3 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 380 grams EGFG gluten free flour blend* (2¾ cups + 2 Tbsp)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 cup butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces and frozen for 10-15 minutes
TURKEY FILLING
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, thinly sliced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- 2 cups gluten free turkey stock or chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoon water)
- 2 cups leftover, chopped or shredded cooked turkey
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ¼ cup whipping cream
- 3 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried)
- 1 tablespoon cooking sherry optional
Instructions
MAKING PASTRY
- Measure and cut butter, place in freezer for 10-15 minutes.
- In 1-cup measuring cup combine water, sour cream and vinegar. Set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, salt and xanthan gum in food processor with dough blade.** Process for 5-10 seconds.
- Add butter and process until combined into uniform crumb-like mixture.
- Add sour cream mixture, process until combined and dough begins to stick together.
- Using your hands, and sprinkling the dough with sweet rice flour, form it into a ball incorporating all the crumbs until you have a uniform texture.
- Divide dough into 3-4 pieces and flatten each piece into a round thick disk shape. Wrap each piece in wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to 1 hour. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.
TURKEY FILLING
- Melt butter over medium-high heat in large sauté pan or Dutch oven.
- Saute onion, carrot and celery until beginning to soften, about 8 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, tomato paste and thyme. Stir and cook 1 minute.
- Add stock, stir and cook until warm, 2-3 minutes.
- Make a slurry by whisking together 2 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoon water. Add half to the pan stirring to thicken. Add the remaining slurry and stir until thickened and smooth.
- Add turkey, peas, whipping cream, parsley and sherry (if using). Stir and cook for a about 3 minutes until the mixture is warm.
- Divide mixture into ramekins to about ¾ full. I had about 7 cups of filling and used both 1-cup and 2-cup ramekins.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
ROLLING PASTRY TOPPING
- Remove dough from fridge, let sit a few minutes or up to 20 minutes until it is pliable.
- Unwrap dough and leave the disk in the center of the plastic wrap. Dust both sides with sweet rice flour as you work with it.
- Using a rolling pin start in the center of the dough, rolling out toward the edges. Lift and repeat always starting in the center. Roll out to ⅛-inch thickness. Using a round cutter or a bowl, cut dough into circles slightly larger than your dish. I used a 4-inch circle for the 1-cup ramekins and a slightly larger bowl for the 2-cup ramekins.
- Cut a small hole in each circle before placing it on top of each pie.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Serve.
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