Easy Gluten Free and Regular Pasta Recipe

I think one of the hardest adjustments for me when going gluten free was missing out on pasta. I never was a big bread eater, but we probably had pasta a few times a week. I do occasionally buy gluten free pasta, but it so exorbitantly expensive, so what used to be a staple in our home is now a rare treat.
That makes me a bit sad, because while I can replace pasta with rice in a vast majority of recipes, sometimes you just want pasta, you don't want rice- you're sick of it, and it doesn't always do the trick!
I've figured out how to make my own gluten free pasta, and you have no idea how excited that makes me. Because now I can make my favorite comfort foods without paying through the roof for it. I figured out the cost, and while this is more expensive than regular homemade noodles, it is about half the cost of the store bought gluten free noodles. I used store bought brown rice flour for my gluten free mix because I was too lazy to grind it in my coffee grinder, but if I had, it would have been even cheaper. (It comes out to be approximately 65 cents per pound of cooked noodles, based on the prices in my area, but depending on how much your gluten free flours and eggs cost, you'll get different prices.)
No, its not the quick pasta dish that it would be if I bought the store bought noodles, but its very yummy and much more affordable, making this recipe a winner for me.
One thing I especially like about this recipe is that the dough is very easy to work with; it doesn't fall apart like some other gluten free pastas I've attempted to make. You don't need a pasta maker to make this pasta- just your handy little rolling pin and a pizza cutter or knife.

I've included a gluten filled variation for those of you not on a gluten free diet- it's even cheaper with wheat flour.

Easy Gluten Free Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups gluten free all purpose flour mix (or regular wheat flour or whole wheat flour)
Approximately 1/4 cup water
Potato starch

OR
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
Approximately 1/4 cup water
Potato starch for dusting
Salt and oil for cooking

Instructions:


1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.

2. Add the egg to the flour mixture and mix well.

3. Add a bit of water at a time until you get a workable dough. This should be approximately half a cup, more or less depending on the size of your egg and if you use gluten free flour or wheat flour. Wheat flour needs less water, a bit under 1/4 of a cup, and gluten free flour needs a bit over 1/4 of a cup. Add about a tablespoon of water at a time, to make sure that you aren't adding more water than necessary.

4. Leave the dough to rest for about 15 minutes.

5. Dust the counter with a tiny little bit of potato starch to keep your dough from sticking. Don't use too much or your noodles will clump together too much once cooked.

6. Roll out the dough in the potato starch and coat it lightly, then roll it out with a rolling pin as thin as you can. Its OK if it develops some cracks/holes in it, as you will be cutting it up anyhow.

7. With a pizza cutter or a knife, cut strips in the dough. Make them thinner for spaghetti, or thicker for linguini, 

8. If you want shorter noodles, cut the pasta in the other direction as well.



9. Slide a spatula under the noodles, lift them up, and cook them in a pot of salted boiling water with some oil. Ideally roll out a bunch of noodles and throw them all in the pot at once so you don't need to cook these in different batches. Once the noodles are in the pot, stir them to separate them so the starch doesn't make them clump together, and stir occasionally throughout the cooking process.

10. Cook the noodles until they are no longer chewy, but aren't mushy and falling apart either. Depending on how thick you make the noodles, this will take more or less time. Keep tasting it to see if it is ready so you don't overcook it. 

11. Strain the noodles and wash them off very well, otherwise they will clump together in an unappetizing fashion. The more you rinse the starch, the less they'll stick. I've even stuck them in a bowl of cold water, swished them around, and strained them again to remove as much starch as possible. Once strained, add a little oil and mix in.

12. Serve as you would regular noodles. Add them to chicken soup, make them into macaroni and cheese or tuna casserole, serve them with pasta sauce or pesto, or really anything. The choice is yours.

 

Dig in!

Notes: If you're making your pasta with regular flour, you can add in some finely ground spinach or other greens to the dough to make spinach pasta, and you can add some tomato paste in place of some of the water to make tomato pasta, but I haven't tried this yet with gluten free noodles. If you do try it out, let me know how it works for you.

If you want to make these into lasagna noodles, roll it out, then don't cut it- just lay it flat in your lasagna pan raw instead of using store bought noodles, layer your lasagna, then cook together. 

Have you ever made your own homemade pasta before? How much does it cost to buy regular pasta in your area? Whole wheat pasta? Gluten free pasta? How much would it cost you to make this? Do you think you'd try this?

P.S. I also have a recipe for homemade whole wheat noodles that doesn't call for any egg, so its even cheaper, but it doesn't work well with regular white flour- it just becomes gummy. 

Linking up to Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Gluten Free Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday,