I have a lead regarding vegan substitutes for laminated pastry:
http://www.veganbaking.net/recipes/fats/vegan-butters/vegan-butter
This seems very well researched.
That is a really useful link - thank you.
I was going to suggest coconut oil and I see that is recommended in the article.
I have to adapt lots of recipes to be gluten free and dairy free. I also make them vegan and nut-free if I am cooking for a friend too. So I've had lots of failures
I've got a list of tips - more like a list of links to lists of tips (I'll fish this out and post). One thing I found out this week is that gf flour does not absorb as much liquid so I now measure the amount suggested in a recipe but add in slowly until the consistency looks right as I did for the cupcakes I made this week.
Bread is a particular favourite when it comes to spectacular failed attempts. I have tried MANY times. Hard on the outside and uncooked in the middle, flat and solid. I can do flatbread, but I failed that once when we had a chef coming for lunch. I used gf breadflour instead of gf SR and the things were solid.
I must start taking photos of the failed appempts
Oh, I've just remembered one of the first meals I made my husband. We were students and I had heard about how economical dried pulses are (my mum only used the soup mix - pearl barley, etc. so had only used that before and that does not need soaking.) So I soaked and boiled the butter beans and added to a sauce (if I recall correctly, this consisted of onions and a can of tomatoes and some dried herbs.) The beans were almost as solid as if they had just come out of the packet
We picked them all out and ate rice and the tomato sauce.
I now use dried pulses all the time (though scared of kidney beans).