Nutrition Point's retail brand manager, Emma Herring, said: "The shortcrust pastry has been really well received but it was notoriously difficult to make it from scratch.

"The main problem is finding alternatives to the gluten because it's key to maintaining the elasticity of the product. We've certainly managed it with the shortcrust pastry because you can roll it out without breaking it up."

The firm has also been developing a puff pastry, which it will launch in spring 2011.

"The difficulty with making puff pastry is in replicating the layering structure: this pastry relies on many fine layers of dough and fat to ensure its texture and a crisp final product.

"When developing our free -rom puff pastry, we need to ensure that we have the perfect mix of gums and fibres to mimic the job that gluten does," said Herring.

"This dough mixture is then folded up to nine times to perfectly integrate layers of fat and dough. This folding process is, in itself, also difficult, as without gluten, pastry is prone to splitting or sticking together."