Classic Napoleons, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the rough puff dough

   Whisk the gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum, granulated sugar, and salt in a wide bowl. Add the cold butter cubes and toss to coat, then flatten each cube between your fingertips into a rough coin. You want visible sheets of butter, not pea-sized crumbs. Stir the vinegar into the ice water and drizzle it in, tossing with a fork until the dough holds together when squeezed. Gluten-free blends drink more water than wheat flour, so add an extra tablespoon if it feels sandy.

2. 2

   Hydrate, then laminate

   Press the shaggy dough into a rough rectangle, wrap it, and refrigerate 30 minutes. This rest is doing real work: the starches and gums in the blend need time to absorb water, and skipping it gives you a dough that cracks apart the moment you roll it. Unwrap and roll into a 9 by 14 inch rectangle on a surface dusted with the blend, patching any cracked edges with your fingers.

3. 3

   Fold and chill, three times

   Fold the rectangle in thirds like a letter, rotate it 90 degrees, and roll it out again. Repeat for a total of three letter folds, refrigerating 20 minutes between each if the butter starts to soften. Expect this dough to feel shorter and more fragile than wheat pastry; press cracks closed and keep going. Wrap and chill the finished block at least 1 hour.

4. 4

   Cook the pastry cream

   Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until steaming. Meanwhile, whisk the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt together, then whisk in the egg yolks until pale, thick, and smooth.

5. 5

   Temper and thicken

   Stream about a third of the hot milk into the yolks while whisking hard, return everything to the pan, and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick and bubbling. Let it bubble a full 60 seconds to cook out the starch.

6. 6

   Finish and chill the cream

   Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla, then pass the cream through a fine mesh sieve into a shallow dish. Press plastic wrap onto the surface and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

7. 7

   Roll, dock, and bake under weight

   Heat the oven to 400°F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Cut the chilled dough in half and roll each piece into a rectangle about 10 by 14 inches and a scant 1/8 inch thick, then transfer carefully by rolling it around the pin. Prick all over with a fork. Cover with parchment and an empty baking sheet and bake 15 minutes, then remove the top pan, dust with powdered sugar, and bake 12 to 18 minutes more. Gluten-free pastry browns more slowly and unevenly, so judge by a deep, even golden color and a surface that sounds hollow and crisp when tapped rather than by the clock. Cool completely.

8. 8

   Cut the layers

   With a serrated knife, saw gently through each cooled sheet into twelve rectangles roughly 4 by 2 1/2 inches, 24 total. Gluten-free layers are more brittle, so cut with almost no downward pressure and accept a little crumbling at the edges. Reserve the 8 best-looking pieces for the tops.

9. 9

   Lighten the cream

   Whip the cold heavy cream to soft peaks. Whisk the chilled pastry cream smooth, fold in the whipped cream in two additions, and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip.

10. 10

    Mix the glaze

    Whisk the powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla to the consistency of warm honey, adjusting with drops of milk or spoonfuls of sugar. Melt the chocolate and transfer it to a small piping bag or a zip-top bag with one corner snipped.

11. 11

    Glaze and feather the tops

    Spread a thin coat of glaze on each of the 8 reserved tops. While it is still wet, pipe parallel chocolate lines 1/2 inch apart, then drag a toothpick through them at a right angle, alternating direction with each pass. Work one or two at a time so the glaze never sets before you feather it. Let set 15 minutes.

12. 12

    Assemble and serve soon

    Pipe rows of cream onto a base rectangle, add a second rectangle, press very gently, pipe another layer, and finish with a feathered top. Gluten-free pastry softens faster than wheat puff, so assemble no more than an hour before serving for the crispest contrast.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Keep the puff pastry cold right up until it hits the oven. If it softens while you roll or cut, slide it onto a sheet pan and chill 15 minutes; warm butter leaks out instead of creating steam, and you lose the layers.

• 2.

  If your pastry cream looks grainy or scrambled, whisk it hard off the heat and then sieve it. Nine times out of ten it comes back perfectly smooth.

• 3.

  Chill the pastry cream fully before folding in whipped cream. Fold warm cream and the whipped cream collapses into soup.

• 4.

  An offset spatula and a bench scraper make assembly far less nerve-racking than trying to lift fragile layers with your fingers.

• 5.

  Serve napoleons with a serrated knife and cut straight down with a sawing motion, or the cream squeezes out the sides.

• 6.

  For a cleaner look, trim 1/4 inch off all four edges of each baked sheet before cutting rectangles so every piece shows crisp, exposed layers.