Make Your Own Fresh Gluten-Free Pasta
Fresh pasta shouldn’t be a luxury — it should be a human right. As part of the healthy Mediterranean diet, pasta is meant to be celebrated and enjoyed. But what about those of us who can’t eat gluten due to celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity? There is a serious gluten-free foods deficiency happening in some parts of the United States right now (especially in Memphis, Tennessee — where I live), which is something I’d like to see corrected. Honestly, it’s as though people decided you aren’t eating gluten just to annoy them or something. So, what do you do when nobody gives you what you want? You make the thing you want while cussing those insensitive gluten-eaters!
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This recipe looks more complicated than it is, because there are several kinds of flour needed. As you may already know, the absence of the proteins glutenin and gliadin found in gluten makes it harder to make gluten-free dough clingy and stretchy. These are the proteins that make gluten have those properties that make it so easy to work with, so gluten free cooking and baking can be a bit tricky because of this. That’s where using special flour blends comes in handy.
The store-bought gluten-free flour blends I have used to try to make pasta dough don’t hold up and the dough starts to tear as I roll it out. They are fantastic for other things, but not great for pasta dough. So I have started making my own blends for different recipes.
Long story short, there are several types of flour that you’ll need if you want to make the best pasta dough you’ve ever had. If you do much gluten-free cooking and baking, you’ll use them in other recipes, so don’t freak out at the initial investment. If you have celiac disease or have a long-term commitment to a gluten-free diet, they’ll probably become staples in your kitchen anyway.
Let’s get into it.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup gluten-free oat flour
1/3 cup chickpea flour
1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup potato flour
1/3 cup tapioca (or cassava) flour
2 tbsp psyllium husk
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp unrefined salt
5 eggs, ideally at room temperature
Instructions:
Combine the flours, psyllium husk, xanthan gum, and salt together in the mixing bowl of your KitchenAid mixer. Use the dough paddle attachment for this. Be sure to get everything mixed up well.
If you are doing this by hand, you’re my personal hero. I use a stand mixer because I want to make machines do the work before humans are replaced by AI.
Stand mixer: Make a hollow in the middle of the flour mixture. Crack the eggs into the hollow and begin mixing. Mix until everything is combined, and it starts to come off the sides of the mixing bowl.
By hand: Dump the flour mixture onto a large cutting board. Make a hollow in the middle of the flour mixture. Crack the eggs into the hollow and begin beating them with a fork, slowly bringing more and more flour into the mixture. At some point, you’ll have to start kneading by hand.
Once the dough forms, flour the cutting board and shape it into a ball. I once heard an old Italian lady say this, so I’m not just being crass — a good batch of pasta dough should look firm and round just like a butt cheek!
Cut the dough butt cheek into four equal portions, lightly roll in flour, and wrap or cover what you will not be rolling out immediately. Pasta dough dries quickly!
Flour the cutting board and rolling pin and roll your dough out to a thickness of about 2-3 mm. Be liberal with the flour and turn your dough often. Gluten-free dough is not as easy to work with as gluten dough (because of course it isn’t), so you may need to keep a bench scraper handy to un-stick your dough from the cutting board.
Once you have everything rolled out, take two opposite edges and loosely fold them toward the center, leaving a small space between them. Loosely fold the new edges in again. Flip one edge over onto the other one, so that your pasta dough looks like a long, flat snake.
Starting at one end, cut the dough into strips, then gently toss the strips to let them uncoil. Cover any pasta you won’t be immediately cooking with a towel to prevent it from drying out.
Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil.
Add the pasta and cook for 60 seconds or so. When it begins to float to the surface, remove the pasta from the water (be sure to reserve some pasta water for mixing with sauces). Now your pasta is ready to be dressed up and eaten!
Each ball serves 2, the entire recipe serves 8.
SUGGESTIONS FOR SERVING
Now that you know how to make your own fresh handmade pasta, it’s time to pair it with the right recipe for a tasty pasta course. Here are some ideas.
Toss in authentic Italian D.O.P. basil pesto for an easy but tasty option.
Serve mixed with this tasty veggie packed red pepper sauce. Check out this video to see how easy it is to make.
Add pasta to a heated sauté pan with about 1/4 cup of the pasta water and 1-2 tbsp of cold-pressed D.O.P. olive oil, stirring constantly until the water is almost evaporated and looks like a light sauce. Remove and serve topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
these are just a few suggestions, but there are a ton of ways to prepare and serve this relatively quick and easy pasta! Once you start making it regularly, it comes together in less than 15 minutes. If you’re still not ready to make the best pasta you’ve ever had, check out this video to see how simple it is to make.