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Squares of a gluten free tomato and pesto tart sit arranged in a line on a mottled sliver baking dish.

Gluten free tomato tart with gruyere and pesto

Gluten free, FODMAP friendly, adaptable to be nut free
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Chilling time 30 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Food Intolerance Friendly
Servings 1 tart

Ingredients
  

For the pastry:

  • 160 g (1 cup) fine white rice flour
  • 30 g (1/4 cup) tapioca flour
  • 30 g (1/4 cup) glutinous (otherwise known as sticky) rice flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 100 g cold butter
  • 100 g full fat sour cream
  • Ice water only as needed

To finish the tart:

  • Gruyere cheese for grating (I’d suggest 50-100g)
  • 3-4 large tomatoes (see notes) I used Oxheart
  • FODMAP friendly pesto (see notes for the link)
  • Extra basil to top
  • Freshly cracked pepper and sea salt flakes to taste
  • 1 egg for eggwash

Instructions
 

To make the pastry:

  • Start by ensuring that all your liquid ingredients are super cold. Put the butter and sour cream in the freezer, and put ice in your water ahead of using it.
  • Mix the flours and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the cubes of cold butter and coat them with the flour mix. Now, use your fingertips to gently rub the butter into the flour mixture. At first it will be slow and difficult, but gradually you’ll melt the butter with the heat of your hands and it will start to be more flexible. You don’t want to completely melt the butter – just rub it into the flour in little sheets. This is what makes the pastry puffy and flaky.
  • Think of the hand motion as being the same as the one you make to click. Use your thumbs to push the butter up and back into the bowl. I’ve linked a couple of Youtube tutorials if you’re more of a visual learner.
  • Once the butter has been rubbed into the flour mixture, it should look a bit like sand that had gotten a little wet.
  • Next, add the sour cream and use a spoon to agitate the mixture – distribute the sour cream without roughly mixing. Once most of the sour cream has been incorporated, use your hands to gently bring the dough together without smushing the butter bits too much.
  • Adding liquid here depends entirely on what your dough looks like at this point. If it comes together in a smooth-ish ball with no dry spots, don’t add any water. If it is still dry and crumbly, add the ice water, a teaspoon at a time. Use your hands to bring the dough together between each teaspoon, and stop as soon as the dough is smooth.
  • Tightly wrap the dough in a beeswax wrap (I don’t feel comfortable recommending cling film anymore) and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. You can make this pastry ahead of time and store in the fridge or freezer.

To assemble the tart:

  • Take the pastry out of the fridge and allow it to come to a workable temperature. You should be able to mould it with your hands and it shouldn’t crack when you roll it out. That said, you never want it to become too warm. If the butter starts to melt at any point, pop it back in the fridge to cool down.
  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
  • Lay the pastry on a large sheet of baking paper that has been liberally dusted with tapioca flour. Roll it out gently (flipping it intermittently to ensure it hasn’t stuck) to a large rectangle. The size doesn’t matter too much, but eating thick pastry isn’t always pleasant so keep it around 1/2 a centimetre or less.
  • Once you have the pastry in a nice rectangular shape, flip the edges of the pastry up over themselves to create a crust or a lifted edge. Once you’ve done this all the way around the tart, liberally flour the top, and use a second sheet of baking paper to gently flip it over. You should have a lifted crust around the edges, seam side on the bottom of the tart. Use your hands to define the crust so no tomato falls out.
  • Dust off any excess tapioca flour if there is a lot. It does help absorb extra liquid though, so leave a little on there (particularly if you have watery tomatoes.)
  • Finely grate gruyere over the base of the tart, and season with sea salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper. Arrange the tomato slices over the top of the gruyere. You can douse the tomatoes in a little olive oil if you fancy.
  • Paint the edges well with egg wash before placing the tart in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes is up, give the pastry another quick paint of eggwash. Turn the oven to the grill setting. If you’re adding mozzarella, now is the time to do it.
  • Return the tart to the oven and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes, watching closely to ensure nothing burns. When the pastry is golden brown to your liking and the mozzarella melted, remove the tart from the oven. Drizzle some pesto over the top before finishing with fresh basil leaves and a little extra seasoning if necessary. Best served while warm, but if you’re serving it cold, wait to add the pesto and basil immediately before serving.

Notes

UPDATE:

Monash has recently updated the FODMAP friendly quantity of common tomatoes to 1/2 a tomato per serve if you have issues with fructose. Similarly, the new safe limit of cherry tomatoes is 3 tomatoes per serve. Please keep this in mind if you have previously reacted to tomatoes. If not, business as usual!
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