Oat Pastry

Although there are plenty of recipes for wheat-free pastry in cook books, many use mostly refined flours and butter or margarine to get the light texture we're used to in shops and restaurants. Although these tastes and feels great, it certainly isn't going to give sustained energy and is not likely to survive a trip as a packed lunch.

This pastry once baked is crunchy and doesn't crumble too much (warning: it is not flaky so don't be disappointed when it's not). It's full of flavour, a bit nutty and functional. It even passes the test of someone who doesn't really like pastry and normally leaves bits on the side. So here goes...

Mix/blast in processor:

• 125g brown rice flour
• 100g maize flour/maize meal
• 100g oats
• 25g ground almonds
• 25g sesame seeds or poppy seeds

Whisk in a separate bowl:

• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 egg
• 6 tbsp water

Gently stir/pulse the wet ingredients into the dry, adding further tbsps of water one by one, until the mixture forms clumps then starts to stick together without being too goopey (I needed a further 4 tbsps).

Roll the pastry out under clingfilm as this helps it stick together, and not stick to you (thank you, Lucinda, for this top tip). Roll out as thinly as you can while still feeling confident you can get it into the tin without it breaking. At last rolling, this quantity of pastry gave me cases for one 9" pan and three individual 3"pans. I've also managed two 9"ers, although this certainly makes you work up a sweat.

Although I'm a fan of cutting corners, make sure you blind bake the pastry (200 degrees, 10 minutes weighed down with a thin layer of uncooked beans/rice on greaseproof paper, and then 15 minutes without). Take it out and let it cool. You now have a good pastry case in which to pop your fillings and make a nudelicious tart or quiche.

Why? This morning I lazily spronged holes in a rising air-bubble as I blind baked the case without it being weighted. The result? The filling seeped out of the case and created a souffle-effect on the outside of one of my tarts. Not particularly attractive and was kind of a weird texture in your mouth. Although still edible, it wasn't worth cutting a 10 minute corner on.