November 10th, 2009
Fresh Gluten Free Pasta
that's amore!
It is entirely possible, if not probable, that I am creating unrealistic culinary expectations for my children. When I first made my own gluten free pasta, it was one of the first times that my son, Jonathan, made the connection betweenscratch cooking and, well, cooking not-from-scratch.
I boil store-bought brown rice pasta quite often. Jonathan is very accustomed to it. So when I first made my own pasta, a light bulb went on in his mind. That would seem to be a good thing, except he got carried away. Precocious as he is, he’s still only 5 1/2 years old. So when he finished his dinner of homemade ravioli, he asked, “Hey, Mom, wouldn’t it be cool if you made your own water?”
Fresh Gluten Free Pasta
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 extra-large egg
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2-2/3 cup warm water
1. In food processor or stand mixer, mix all ingredients EXCEPT the water together until well-blended. Let it go for a couple of minutes to activate the xanthan gum.
2. After blending for a couple minutes, add the water in a slow but steady stream while the machine is on, until the mixture comes together in a ball. It should look like very stiff play-doh (imagine gluten free play-doh, of course).
3. Divide the dough into 4 balls. Roll out each ball of dough between two sheets of plastic wrap until it’s about 1/8″ thick (about the thickness of a nickel). You don’t want it to be too thin or it will fall apart when you boil it; if it’s too thick, it will be gummy. Blech.
4. Create whatever shaped pasta you like. Cut the pasta into thin strips and make linguini, or try your hand at ravioli like I did (all you need is a metal ravioli cutter – it cuts and seals and costs a pittance at any kitchen supply store worth its salt). It also makes great cannelloni or lasagna noodles.
5. Boil a BIG pot of water, salt it liberally once it’s boiling, and place your pasta, in thirds, into the water. Cooking times will depend upon shape, but should range from 8-12 minutes.
Hey, it’s better than trying to make your own water.
Mangia!
Warmly,
Nicole
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Posted By : Nicole
Posted on November 10th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
This is fabulous! I miss stuff pasta sooo much. Now I just have to decide what the filling will be. I am also wondering if this dough would work to make potstickers/dumplings. It would certainly work to make wontons. Oh, you have my brain clicking now. Thanks!
Posted on November 11th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Hi, Amy,
You could certainly use this dough for dumplings. Potsticker/wonton dough is generally stiffer and drier than this, but it would probably still work. I’m glad you’re excited!
Warmly,
Nicole
Posted on November 11th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Oh My Goodness!! ***eee**** happy happy dance!!! I’m so missing the taste and texture of the pasta from my PGF (pre-gluten free) days.. This looks so easy and tasty just like the other recipes that I’ve tried from your site Nicole!! Big {{{{{HUGS}}}}}} for working so hard to help bring us easy tips and recipes!! I can’t wait to make this with homemade red sauce!!!
Posted on November 11th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Are you using Bob’s Red Mill GF all purpose? If anyone tries it with anything different, I’d love to hear how it works. Bob’s is just too bean-y tasting for me, so I’ve been looking at alternatives. Thanks!
Posted on November 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Hi, Lisa,
You’re making me ::blush:: I wish I could see that happy dance of yours! It’s my pleasure. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi, Becky,
I still sometimes use Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF flour, but more often these days I use Better Batter and I really like it.
Warmly,
Nicole
Posted on November 15th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Excellent. Everybody should try it.
I love my home made Pasta. Especially with good gravy or sauce.
Posted on November 17th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Could you make big batches of this pasta and dry it like you would regular pasta?
Posted on November 18th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Hi, Jennifer,
That’s an excellent question. I honestly don’t know. I’ve never tried that, but I have to imagine that it would work. Anyone else know?
Warmly,
Nicole
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I recently found your website and am SO excited… I have Celiac disease and also recently found out that I am allergic to dairy and eggs too.
Do you know if anyone has tried your recipes with egg substitute or soy milk or fake butter??
Posted on December 20th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Hi, Lori,
I’m not familiar in any meaningful way with egg substitute, but I have made almost all my recipes with soy substitutes for dairy, and it works great. I have to imagine you can use egg replacer with success, too.
Warmly,
Nicole
Posted on January 8th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Nicole,
Have you tried this with a pasta machine? I have one of the ones that rolls the dough flat (much easier than rolling pins) but not sure if the consistency of this reciped would lend itself to the machine? When I was still doing wheat I couldn’t work with full whole-wheat pasta dough in the machine–had to make it half and half in order to make the dough workable, so just wondering if that might be the case with this recipe? Thoughts?
Thanks!
Catherine
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 3:02 am
Hi, Catherine,
I have never tried a pasta machine with gluten free flour, but I would say that this recipe would probably work if you dust it generously with flour as it is going through. I wouldn’t worry about drying the dough out, since you’re going to cook it in water. I very rarely dust things with flour, though, because it kills me to sacrifice the flour, which is one of the most expensive ingredients in gf recipes. I almost always prefer to roll out dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, but if you’re willing to use extra flour, I’m sure you could use a pasta machine. Please let us know how it goes if you try it!
Warmly,
Nicole
Posted on July 8th, 2010 at 1:50 am
I know this may have come a little late. But I pre-make GF All purpose flour. And I store it in a container. You can use it for pancake,Breads, Pretzles and many other things.
Here is the recipe below.
This recipe makes 7 3/4 cups of All Purpose GF Flour
2 1/2 C.Rice Flour
1 C. Potato Starch
1 C. Sorghum Flour
1 C.Tapioca Flour
1/4 C. Cornstarch
1/4 C. Garbanzo Bean Flour
2 TBS. Xanthan Gum
Sift 2 or 3 times to ensure mix’s well and store in an air tight container
A great book that is fast and easy recipes is
Wheat-Free Gluten-Free Cookbook for Kids and Busy Adults.Sells for 16.95 and Barns and Nobles.