I know what you are thinking: “is she mad, making gluten-free pasta from scratch?”
I understand,
However, this gluten-free pasta is surprisingly easy to make. Easier than some gluten-free breads.
I’ve had the recipe tucked in my food ‘to do’ book for a while now, and I decided the time had come for a test run. especially as I have some other potential recipes planned for it.
Aside from some initial stickiness, the dough was incredibly easy to work with. It is surprisingly resilient and well-behaved (I have put some helpful tips at the bottom of the recipe on how to handle it etc.).
It is probably best mixed in a stand mixer, although I’m sure you could do it by hand, if you give it some major elbow-grease.
The only time I had a little wobble was when it came to cooking it. It puffed up the moment it hit the boiling water and seemed to seize into rubbery strips. However, I let it cook (it takes longer than normal fresh pasta) and all of that abated and it softened up.
That said, to me, it more resembled German späetzle when cooked rather than the wheat based pasta that we know.
Taste wise, well, it doesn’t really have one. There is a very mild egg taste which reminded me of pancake batter, but by the time you have smothered it in sauce even that disappears. Just like normal pasta.
I cut my dough into strips although it can be cut into rectangles for lasagna, or indeed any shape you like, just try to roll it as thin as possible as it will expand during cooking.
The pasta can be cooked straight away or uncooked dough can be frozen for a later date.
The cooked pasta even stands up to re-heating in the microwave the next day.
Basic Gluten-Free Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour, plus extra for dusting / rolling the dough out
- 1/3 cup corn flour (corn starch)
- 2 tbsp potato flour
- 1 tbsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 medium / large eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Method:
- Place the flours, xanthan gum and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on a low-speed to blend the ingredients together.
- Add the eggs and olive oil and mix on a medium speed for a couple of minutes, until the dough forms a ball that pulls away form the side of the bowl.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out as thin as possible, ideally until it is almost transparent.
- Cut the dough into desired shapes. The pasta is ready to cook or freeze.
- To cook – bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the pasta, return to the boil and cook for 12 – 15 minutes, until tender (test at 12 minutes and cook for a little longer if required).
Tips:
- If the dough is still sticky after mixing, knead a little tapioca flour into it to make it easier to handle.
- Divide the dough into two or three pieces and roll each piece separately. This will help you get it really thin.
- Use the tip of a sharp knife to cut the dough into the desired shape. Using the whole blade may drag and stretch the pasta rather than cutting it.
- The dough can not be cut into spaghetti thin strips, aim for tagliatelle instead.
- The edges of the cut pasta will be sticky. Place the cut strips in a sandwich bag and toss with a little tapioca flour to prevent them sticking together. Do this especially if you are freezing the pasta. Freeze lasagna sheets between pieces of non-stick paper.
- Because the pasta will puff up whilst cooking, stir it a couple of times to prevent the pasta at the bottom becoming over cooked and the pasta on the top under cooked.
Adapted (barely) from Basic Pasta Dough on Gluten Free Gus
The Pink Rose Bakery 
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills as
well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or
did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare
to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.
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Thanks. It is a free theme that I have modified myself.
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Reblogged this on Ladle & Spade and commented:
I haven’t made this, but I know some of you would like a gluten free pasta recipe. I don’t ‘do’ cornflour, so would probably try and substitute with something else, like rice flour maybe. I have been making my own pasta since running out of store bought a few months ago, and continually forgetting to buy some more. The recipe I use is extremely easy, though it uses spelt so it’s not gluten free. I don’t use a pasta roller, I just use a rolling pin and a knife. I will post the recipe sometime. If you try this pasta, let me know how it goes. It looks like a great recipe, and comes from a lovely blog. All photos are from the original blog post by the pink rose bakery.
I have been a bit quiet on here of late. I’ve had great intentions, but I’ve taken on more work than I’ve done in a long time, and also taken over my husbands bookkeeping. I also had a kitchen injury at Easter. It left me disinterested in all things kitchen for a few days, but I’ve recovered now (both my pride and my burnt fingers) and have a backlog of recipes and photos to post. I haven’t forgotten about my sugar post, but I’m still mulling over how to deliver it, and also rethinking my dietary choices (resulting in a much needed overhaul of my ‘about’ page). It was never my intention to make this blog about dietary advice, and I’m mindful of keeping it that way.
In the mean time, while I gather my thoughts, recipes, and photos, my next post will be a review of some positive dining, shopping and coffee experiences around Hobart and Launceston. I hope you’re interested. Stay tuned.
Finally, thank you to those that have taken the time to visit my blog. I appreciate the time you’ve given, the likes, and the comments you’ve made.
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Thank you for re-blogging my post. I notice that you suggest replacing the cornflour with rice flour. I am not sure this would work as rice flour has no binding qualities so the pasta would fall apart and be difficult to handle. I would recommended trying another ‘gluey’ flour instead, like buckwheat. Thanks again for sharing 🙂
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Thanks for the tip. I will try that. I can usually tolerate the rice flour pasta I buy, I occasionally buy buckwheat pasta but it can be a bit heavy for me. I might experiment with a small amount of buckwheat and see how I go. I love your blog, thanks for your comment and tip 🙂
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No problem. I guess you could try it with rice flour and see what happens, I’m just a bit worried that it might not be sticky enough.
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Now I’ll definitely be test driving this one. There’s an awful lot of very nasty commercial GF pasta out there, and a reliable home made alternative would be great, especially if it doesn’t taste ‘corny’ as so many of them do.
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There is definitely no ‘corny’ taste! Sometimes I don’t mind a bit of ‘corny’ pasta, but I admit there are times when you wish it didn’t taste like that. Let me know how you get on – the thinner you can roll it, the better!
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