Rice Flour Pastry – Croissants

Makes 7 croissants

  • 300g rice flour
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp xanthum gum
  • 170g coconut oil (solidified)
  • 100mls cold rice milk
  • 130mls cold water
  1. Mix together flour, salt, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and xanthum gum
  2. Cut the coconut oil into chunks and add into the flour mix IMG_0190[1]
  3. Gently incorporate the fat into the flour. You want to leave chunks of fat the size of large peas
  4. Drizzle the rice milk and water over the flour/fat mixture and gently incorporate with a spatula.  The dough will be sticky
  5. When all of the liquid has been evenly incorporated, cover the bowl and store at room temperature overnight, and for up to three days. Do not place in the fridge!
  6. On baking day, remove the dough from the fridge.  It will have risen some in the cold, and will be sticky and spongy
  7. Roll the dough into a rectangle and square off the corners as best you can
  8. Now the tricky bit: Fold the top edge down to the middle, and the bottom edge up to the middle. Then fold in half along the middle line
  9. Rotate 90 degrees so that the folded edge is on your left and, keeping everything adequately floured, repeat steps 7 and 8 several more times IMG_0198[1]
  10. By now, the dough will have firmed up.  If the dough bounces back too much, let it rest a few minutes before continuing to roll it out
  11. Once you have finished this process, cover the dough and let rest at room temperature for 30 mins
  12. After 30 minutes and keeping everything adequately floured, gently roll the dough into a rectangle and cut the dough into triangles IMG_0201[1]
  13. If possible, gently stretch the base of the triangle and then carefully pull the tip of the triangle to extend the croissant’s length. If the underside it too floury, dust off as much as you can
  14. Start rolling from the base to the tip.  Anchor the tip to the counter with your finger so you can gently pull back on the base as you roll the croissant.  Make sure the tip is on the bottom and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  15. Tuck in the ends to get the crescent shape  IMG_0203[1]
  16. Loosely cover the croissants with clingfilm and let rise at room temperature for about 2.5 hours
  17. Heat the oven to 175°C and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the baking tray and bake for another 10 mins until croissants are evenly golden. IMG_0207[1]
  18. Let cool for 1 hour, and enjoy!