Homemade Gluten Free Vegan Egg Roll and Wonton Wrappers Recipe -- Egg Free and Allergy Friendly

My friend Zoe and I have both been off of gluten for ten years. Something neither of us have had during that time was egg rolls. We've had spring rolls made with rice paper wraps, but it just isn't the same. Perhaps they make gluten free egg roll wrappers available to buy, but I don't know of anything locally. Egg rolls have been something both of us have missed, so we decided that when she came to visit, Zoe and I would make some egg rolls, with homemade egg roll wrappers. This wasn't my first time making this dough, but I'd only used it to make wonton wrappers before, not egg rolls.

The last time I'd made this, even for wontons, though, was at least 7 or 8 years ago. So I was really excited. I posted my recipe for homemade wonton and egg roll wrappers here on my blog 12 years ago but since then I'd converted it to make it gluten free and egg free (since I eat neither) but never ended up sharing it here. 

When Zoe and I were making this, the first time I tried doing it, it failed miserably. You see, I was trying to make life easier for myself and use a store bought gluten free flour mix, but the dough sucked. Even though I added extra xanthan gum to try to make it more pliable, the dough kept ripping, didnt hold together nicely, was so hard to work with, and just made me want to give up. I told Zoe that making the dough shouldn't be nearly this bad, and I think the problem was that I wasn't using my own homemade mix. (There's this assumption that store bought products are more tested and official and better than homemade, which is why I thought it would work.)

Eventually I decided that enough was enough and I started over with my homemade gluten free flour mix, and from the first instant I saw that my memory was correct- while gluten free dough is always harder to work with than gluten dough, and the lack of gluten affects the flexibility of the dough, this dough was a dream to work with compared to the dough from the store bought flour mix.

To make my egg roll wrappers I first rolled it out a bit, then rolled it through my pasta roller (makes it a lot less work on your arms, and makes the dough more even) and then I rolled it some more with a rolling pin. The reason for this is the dough from the pasta roller is not the widest, and you want to have wider egg roll wrappers than what a pasta maker rolls (at least mine), but the pasta maker alone works fine for wonton wrappers which are smaller than egg rolls. The edges can fray a bit, so pressing them together can help, But just be careful, because the dough is fragile.

When making these egg roll wrappers, just note that they will not be as thin as regular egg roll wrappers, so you'll just have to deal with a somewhat thicker wrapper. Again, gluten free dough doesn't have the gluten to allow it to stretch that way.

This recipe makes enough for approximately 10-12 egg rolls. (To be honest, I didn't count, I just ate.)

Please note- do not make substitutions for this one. Use exactly what I say in this recipe or I can't guarantee that it would work- the dough is very finicky. Other than egg. You can use an egg in place of the ground flax seeds and boiling water.

There are some other gluten free (but not egg free) egg roll wrapper recipes out there, but many of them use hard to find ingredients. This recipe is all normal and easy to find ingredients, other than xanthan gum, which is a staple for gluten free cooking, so that falls under "normal" ingredients for this. It was important for me to make this recipe so that it works

Part two will be how to make the actual egg rolls.

Homemade Gluten Free Vegan Egg Roll and Wonton Wrappers Recipe -- Egg Free and Allergy Friendly

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup potato starch (plus more as needed)
2-3 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
2 tablespoons boiling water
Approximately 1/2 cup cold water 

Instructions:

1. Pour boiling water over your ground flax seeds and let it sit for a few minutes, until the flax seed gels

2. Mix your rice flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, and salt. (Xanthan gum is expensive, so you can probably use 2 teaspoons only, but if you want to make sure your dough is as flexible as possible use the full amount).

3. Mix your gelled flax with your flour and add water, a little bit at a time, mixing it together, and working it until you get a good dough.

4. Roll out your dough- if you find it sticking a bit, sprinkle your surfaces with potato starch, and then roll.

5. As mentioned above, I roll out my dough somewhat, then run it through the pasta roller.

6. I then roll it again to make it thinner and wider to make it the right size to fill and roll- I didn't measure mine but google tells me 7x7 inches is the standard for egg rolls. 

Cut them to size with a knife or a pizza cutter.

6. If you find the dough tearing, just press it together again. You can use extra bits of dough to repair holes that are created.

The stuff in the bag is the failed dough from store bought mix.

7. Gather any dough left over and roll it out again and again to make more wrappers.

8. Use to make your egg rolls or wontons. More on that in a future post, or you can just use any recipe you like.

Are you a fan of egg rolls? Do you make them yourself or just eat them in a restaurant? If you make them at home do you make your own wrappers or do you buy yours? Anyone else gluten free and egg free and gone so long without egg rolls? Does this look like something you'd try?

Also, would you assume that store bought all purpose gluten free flour mix would work better or worse than homemade?