Geefree makes gluten-free phyllo, but I've never tried it so can't say how good it is.

There is a GF puff pastry available here; it's OK but not great.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how you can make GF puff pastry. It has to stretch to be puff, and stretch=gluten. But then I don't consider the gluten free "bread" I've encountered to be bread. It isn't risen. It has no spring. I wish they'd call it something else. It's for religious reasons about the definition of "matzah", but I like that Yehuda (brand) calls their GF "gluten free matzahlike squares). :)

There are commercial versions of both available.

This sounds nothing like what I think filo dough should be like, but it sounds as easy as its name--http://betterbatter.org/easy-filo-dough.  They suggest for baklava, and it would likely be fine for that, or for the pie kind of spanakopita (you explained the names once, but I forget). I don't think it would hold together well for borekes style (long strip rolled like a flag into a triangle around the filling). But I think it would work anywhere you're using it in a stack and not folded and maybe close enough.

Something else to throw in the mix, if you don't mind eggs, is this Martha Stewart pie crust. I made it for a quiche for a friend who has FODMAP issues, which means she can't have the same grains as have gluten for different reasons. She said she liked it better than regular pie crust. It's a disgusting mess to work with but comes out really nice, and I think you could adapt it for some of the uses that you were thinking of puff for. You could roll it really thin. The tricks are that you have to roll it between sheets of plastic wrap, carefully peel off the top layer, and, if possible, bring the dish to the pastry, rather than vice versa, and use the bottom layer to invert. Obviously that wouldn't be possible for a top crust, but maybe roll out on an open sided cookie sheet or a pizza peel to make lifting it easier.

Do you read Greek? I was wondering if there were good alternatives in Greece that you could find online...

Best of luck finding something that works!

Even though this isn't puff pastry, gluten free pie crust taste excellent with brown rice flour. Flakier than normal crust.

Thanks for the replies. I'll look online for the GeeFree product, and I bookmarked the BetterBatter recipe.

Pllog, I've tried numerous times to teach myself how to read Greek using my mother's elementary school primer. Unfortunately, I never got beyond that. My family was weird. My dad spoke broken English, at best. So he & my mom conversed in Greek. He'd speak Greek to me, while my mom & I conversed in English. My dad was one of those, "Children should be seen and not heard" fellows. He expected me to listen to him, but I really wasn't supposed to engage him in conversation. As a result, I understood Greek but didn't master speaking it. I guess you could say that I spoke broken Greek.

I totally get that, but wouldn't it be great if you could find the answer there? So, just for grins I googled "gluten free Greek food". I think the bulk of the hits are from crazy American GF people trying to eat on vacation in Greece, but there might be some interesting ideas in there about how to cope with traditional foods, if your DIL or yourself are interested in combing through them.

Another possibility, would be to just totally rethink the traditional recipes if you don't find a good GF pastry solution. The flavors are in the fillings, mostly. Have you ever made a rice crust? It's just cooked rice mixed with egg or egg white and whatever flavoring you would put in pastry (butter and/or salt, or parm,, or herbs, or whatever). Press into a thin, even layer in the the bottom of a sided pan and bake until good and firm, and slightly dry, but still with a little give to the touch. I think you could make a spanakopita pie on this, or even a baklava, and still get the flavors if not the crackly and crunch of filo. But then, I think you could do that with any kind of GF pastry too, if the flours aren't assertive, the way buckwheat is.

Pllog, I was actually considering just rethinking the whole baklava thing. I agree that it's the flavors that count. And if we could find some vehicle that would be sort of crispy, that would suffice. I honestly don't think there's a really good option for GF fillo. But I could try some pie crusts at Whole Foods and other stores and see if any are decent. I like the idea of a rice crust too. Unfortunately, eggs are restricted too.

I really appreciate your research on this. I'd like to give my daughter-in-law some ideas she could work on. For me, this would be one instance where I'd prefer a store-bought option, if possible.

Their family is now gluten free, egg free, dairy free, cinnamon free, citrus free, and poultry free. I just don't think it's worth it to me to stock my pantry with a bunch of GF/dairy & egg free ingredients. It's easier for me to buy specific items at local natural food stores, etc. when they come to visit. Or I just fix things that they can eat but are already in my pantry.

Here's my thought: I have been playing around with dehydrated zucchini puree. It makes a very thin sheet but it is very, very fragile. I wonder if it could be used in place of filo? Maybe if I added a bit of rice flour for body and then dehydrated/baked on parchment paper in a very low oven it might work. I have also used cauliflower puree with a splash of oilive oil and a bit of tapioca added with fair results.

It's still a work in process but I'm getting closer...LOL

Moosemac, I'm not sure about baklava, but your zucchini puree sounds really interesting and something I'd enjoy eating. How do you use it? I'm intrigued.

I've been trying to use it for wraps. I also layered it for lasagna. It has no taste per se and you can get it thin so I thought it might work for filo. I wold probably bake it to crisp, thin wafer stage then make the baklava.

That sounds really good!

Trader Joe's small bag of GF flour is better than others I've tried. It's mostly starch. Egg free gets so much harder, and I totally get the desire for commercial products. They have better ways of producing foods using gums and the like. The commercial GF puff pastry that looks okay has eggs and butter. :( I think by the time you remove the gluten and butter, its not puff even through squinty eyes. You have to have some kind of protein, and I don't think pea protein would work. And the fat globules of vegetable fat probably wouldn't work either. :(

I found this blog, but what's in the picture proves she's so far down the rabbit hole, she doesn't know what she's making. OTOH, it looks crisp and flakey and might suit the purpose on the homemade side. There's another one that claims to have made GF vegan profiteroles. Well, I made some savory choux paste puffs last year that looked just the same. They're NOT puffs. They're nasty, dry squatty things. Much better to invent something new with what you have than go to these lengths to make a really bad version.

The rice crust I described doesn't have to have egg. That just makes it stick together. You could use chia goo or gum or honey or anything that'll make it stick together enough to get it out of the pan. And from that point of view, something like baklava or spankopita filling could be baked by itself in a glazed baking dish and be scooped out and served on GF/eggF/dairyF water crackers (or gluten free matzah-like squares), or just eaten with a spoon. ;) Or GF toast points.

Hm... I wonder what would happen if you toasted GF bread, dampened it, and rolled it out thin then baked it?

Moosemac, your zucchini sheets sound interesting. I can definitely see it for something like spanakopita!

What do you think about this idea? Baklava nests with rice paper? It seems like it would work and be super easy. I got this off the link you posted Plllog about gluten free Greek food. Edited to add: I kept searching and came across a paleo baklava using coconut wraps. The blog writer uses the wraps for spanakopita too.

shambo, I'm sitting here and thinking I might try it with *fried* rice papers. lol! Have you ever fried rice noodles? they puff up and get so light and crispy. Makes me wonder.... it would be different from real baklava, but might be really good for a gf substitute. :)

This is an excellent pie crust. I can't have dairy so I use 1 full cup of lard and I try to avoid potato so sub the potato starch with tapioca. My MIL made it as is, and said it was better than her traditional pie crust. I make spinach pie with my crust (spanakopita style). I will precook the pastry a bit before filling.

http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2008/10/gluten-free-pastry.html

Oh, my goodness! Everyone keeps coming up with such good ideas!

Party, I never thought about the puffy fried noodles. Perhaps the rice sheets might do the same if fried.

Or here's a real brainstorm -- another very popular Greek dessert, sort of another version of baklava, is made with khadaif . It's shredded fillo dough. I wonder about simply frying the noodles, and then making kadaif instead of baklava. My grandmother, mother, and aunt would make it every once in a while. Sometimes it was hard to come by, so they'd substitute the big shredded wheat pillows. A quick dunk in water to soften a bit and then crumbled onto the baking pan. Once the nuts were added and everything was drenched in syrup, it tasted pretty good.

Cookie, I'm going to save that pie crust recipe for my daughter-in-law. I know she'd love to have something workable.

Thanks for all your wonderful ideas, suggestions, links, etc. It's made me hopeful and given me plenty of new ideas to pass on to my daughter-in-law.

The fried rice noodles/sheets is a great idea! I think it would improve the taste if you can find whole grain of it, too. Would definitely work instead of the shredded filo.