Xanthan Gum Free Classic Puff Pastry
Flaky, buttery, and impossibly layered, classic puff pastry is one of those kitchen achievements that feels like pure magic the moment it comes out of the oven. The good news is that this recipe relies on nothing more than flour, butter, salt, and water — no stabilizers, no additives, no fillers of any kind. That makes it a natural fit for anyone avoiding xanthan gum, which often sneaks into store-bought pastry doughs and gluten-free blends as a binder. Here, the lamination process itself does all the structural work: six careful turns of folding and chilling create hundreds of distinct butter layers that steam and puff in the oven the old-fashioned way. The technique takes patience, but each step is straightforward — chill, roll, fold, repeat — and the result is a deeply golden, shatteringly crisp pastry with a clean ingredient list you can actually read. Use it for tarts, turnovers, or vol-au-vents and you'll wonder why you ever reached for the freezer aisle version.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
For the détrempe (dough)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ cup cold water, plus more as needed
For the beurrage (butter block)
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 225 g) unsalted butter, cold
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Instructions
- 1
Make the détrempe: whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour and the salt in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle in the melted butter and toss with a fork. Add the cold water a little at a time, stirring with the fork until the dough just comes together — it should be shaggy and slightly rough, not smooth. Turn it out, press into a flat square, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 2
Make the beurrage: scatter the 2 tbsp flour over a sheet of parchment paper. Place the cold butter sticks side by side on the flour, fold the parchment over to enclose them, and beat firmly with a rolling pin until the butter is pliable and roughly 6 inches (15 cm) square. Fold the parchment edges in to square up the block, then roll lightly to even it out. The butter should be cool and pliable — not soft or greasy. Refrigerate for 10 minutes if it has warmed.
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