I was watching Paula Deen on the Food Network make a peach cream tart and it encouraged me to create a gluten-free peach tart recipe. I love peaches and peach season will soon be winding down! More importantly, this recipe does not call for rolling out the dough which makes it an easier recipe!
When looking at gluten recipes for crusts I noticed that the ones that were entitled “flaky crust” called for cold butter and cold or frozen shortening. Paula Deen’s recipe called for room temperature butter and no shortening. I have learned through Robert Landolphi, aka Gluten Free Chef Rob, that shortening is the key to flakiness and butter provides flavor. Therefore, I used both butter and shortening. The more shortening you use the flakier the crust. If you like it more doughy then by all means use your ingredients at room temperature and use more butter than shortening. I actually like my crust doughy, but since I made this for all to learn and most people like flaky crust, and it is more of challenge when cooking gluten-free, I opted for making it flaky. I love the custard in this recipe, and the combination of the the flaky crust and the custard with the peaches make this dish very delicious! The peaches turned out to be the perfect tenderness and this recipe is refined sugar-free!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (As a corn-free substitute, guar gum may be used. Just 1.5 times the amount of xanthan gum.)
- 1/2 baking soda
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cold, cut into about 10-12 pieces
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, refrigerated or frozen (I froze mine for about 20-30 minutes)
- 3 Tablespoons Greek yogurt (I used non-fat because that is what I had on hand.)
- 5 small peaches, peeled and sliced to about 1/3" thick wedges
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup agave syrup (I ran out of regular agave and used 1/3 cup regular and the rest organic blue agave.)
- 1/4 teaspoon organic vanilla
- 4 Tablespoons white rice flour
- 4 Tablespoons tapioca starch/flour
- 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum (As a corn-free substitute, guar gum may be used. Just 1.5 times the amount of xanthan gum.)
- 1/2 cup peach preserves without sugar, warmed (The sweetened kind will make this too sweet.)
Directions
- Preheat the oven the 375°F.
- Place the dry ingredients in a bowl; whisk together.
- Add butter, shortening and yogurt and cut the wet ingredients in with a pastry cutter or 2 knives.
- Once well blended use your hands to form a ball and flatten it.
- Place the dough in the bottom of a 9-inch tart or quiche pan and spread with fingers all the way up the sides. I like thin crust and used a 10" tart pan.
- Bake for about 7 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned.
- Set aside to cool.
- Lower the temperature of the oven to 350°F.
- Place the sliced peaches around the edge in a circle and then fill in the center with more sliced peaches. You can layer them up to the top or just make one layer depending upon the deepness of your dish. In a 1 1/2" deep dish I added a portion of a second layer.
- Combine the egg yolks, Greek yogurt, agave and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, starch and xanthan gum; and add to wet mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.
- Pour the mixture over the peaches.
- Place in the oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the custard sets and is a light golden brown, may be darker if you used amber agave. When you giggle the pan you don't want the custard to be giggly. At about 30 minutes through the baking or whenever the crust becomes brown cover cover the edges with aluminum foil.
- Cool on a baking rack for at least 20 minutes.
- Warm peach or other orange colored (apricot, orange marmalade, etc.) preserve or jelly and spread over the top with the back of a spoon to make it shiny.
- Serve warm or cold.
- Garnish topped with whipping cream (lightly sweetened or unsweetened), if desired.
Tips
Don't be afraid to mix different starches together. You can use a combination of potato, corn and tapioca starch, or just one of them. Though I do not care for potato starch alone; mix with one other starch. It all depends upon your personal preference. Baking soda has a bitter taste and is best used with something to counteract the taste such as buttermilk. I used Greek yogurt. When baking with baking soda do not set the dough in the refrigerator or set it aside for later baking, as baking soda begins to rise your dough upon mixing and will not last long. You can also use baking powder instead of baking soda, but you'll need more. In using baking powder you can always use milk or a milk substitute, but you'll have to play around with the quantities: less milk than yogurt because it is watery; and about 2 - 3 times the amount of baking powder compared to baking powder. If you wish a really flaky crust don't hesitate to substitute some of the butter for more shortening. If you are a veteran pie crust baker you probably already know that you can weigh your crust down with a pie crust weight to prevent the crust from rising, but it is a pleasure to see anything rise in gluten-free baking, therefore I let it rise, especially when starting from a 1/8" thick raw dough. If you wish to stick with the thin crust and do not have a pie crust weight you can use uncooked beans, such as white beans, etc. The color of the custard will be determined by what type of agave and vanilla you use. Non-amber colored agave will give you more of a true custard color and using white powdered or clear liquid vanilla will also help in developing a true color. Tart pans, also known as quiche pans, come in different varieties. You have your regular metal pan, which does not have removable sides, causing you to leave the tart in the pan while serving; you have the springform pans where you can remove the sides; and you have the porcelain dishes which you also leave the tart in the pan. With the non-springform pan you lose a bit in presentation, but if you are making this for your family you may not care. The springform pan works great, as you can show off your beautifully fluted crust! I used the latter, a safe bet, a porcelain dish: no mess; no fuss. It also makes for a nice presentation. I used a stainless pie server to scoop it out and it removed very easily without any broken crust. This recipe takes some time to make. So, if you want to break it up you can peel and slice the peaches in advance. Just make sure you coat them with some lemon juice to prevent browning. This recipe should not be made in advance, as it doesn't look pretty at all once refrigerated. You may want to consider adding lemon juice to the peaches before adding them to the tart, as this will prevent some browning. I could not do this, as I am allergic to citrus.
this is a keeper, definetly will try this one!
Let me know how it turns out for you, Jana. See you soon!
oooh I am sorry those are peaches instead of pears!!
I am so going to make this tasty &fabulously looking pear tarte!! Waw!! Gobsmacked!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,..but I think I will substitute the white rice flour for teff flour with brown rice flour in the crust!
Hi Sophie!
This is actually a peach tart, but pear is my other favorite fruit. That is a great idea! Let us know how your pear tart turns out!
u never fail when i am tired and hungry u always have a desert another one to bookmark :)
Glad you enjoy the recipes, Christina! This one was posted awhile back, but the page got corrupted and I had to repost it. Enjoy!