Wheat based, and topping pies, supporting tarts and wrapping sausages and cornish minced beef and potato, pastry is something many gluten intolerant and gluten sensitive people miss. There is good and bad news when it comes to substitues: because gluten is a glue – something which allows foods to become stretchier, some pastries are hard to produce – but the ‘shorter’ the pastry is, the easier. So my search for adequate puss pastry hasn’t really worked, but shortcrust pastry is manageable – either as a recipe or buying it frozen. I’ve mad perfectly passable meat pies based on Dietary Special’s frozen pastry that I picked up from the freezer cabinet in Tesco.
You can also get pre-packaged gluten free pies, pasties and sausage rolls, all frozen as gluten free convenience food. In general, they’re not bad – they certainly fill a hole when you’re craving something you can’t otherwise eat
