Homemade Gluten Free Pasta Dough

There are plenty of brands of store bought pasta to choose from but some cooks (like me) just want to try their hand at making homemade gluten free pasta dough. I use a small hand crank machine, but pasta can be rolled out by hand too. Remember, if someone's making it, someone's making it gluten free.

this gluten free recipe

Once you can make pasta you'll want to enjoy all your favourites. My winter favourites are Pesto Lasagna with Italian Sausage and creamy Pasta Primavera. For a change from red sauce I make Pasta with White Wine Sauce and Chicken Pesto Pasta. In the summer it's this fusion recipe for Grilled Vegetable Pasta.

Ingredients

This pasta is more delicate than wheat flour pasta so be patient and go slow. It will work.

• sorghum flour
• potato starch
• teff flour
• tapioca starch
• psyllium husk powder
• xanthan gum

See recipe card for exact amounts.

Substitutions: Gluten Free Pasta with Corn Flour

In my pasta making class we compare this recipe made with teff flour, to a slight variation using teff flour in place of corn. Some participants thought the corn flour version was easier to work with. These are the changes:

• Decrease sorghum flour to 120 g
• Replace teff flour with 50 g corn flour

Can I Make Homemade Pasta with a Gluten Free Flour Blend

No, gluten free flour blends don't work well for homemade pasta. Experienced gluten free cooks know that all-purpose flour blends work in many recipes, just not all recipes.

For dinner rolls, crusty bread, pizza dough and homemade pasta, the results are best when made by combining individual flours. It may also work with a bread flour blend but you would have to get in the kitchen and figure that out.

To create the structure needed to hold pasta together the ratio of grains to starches needs to be more precise. This is where measuring individual flours, using a digital scale, is the key to success.

If you’re ready to create your own set up to easily store and measure multiple flours check out these resources.

• Gluten Free Baking By Weight
• My cooking class called Understanding How To Use Gluten Free Flour.

How To Do A Head-to-Head Recipe Challenge

The absolute best way to find your favourite gluten free recipe is to do a head-to-head challenge. Make two recipes at the same time and taste them.

In my virtual classes I encourage people to sign up with a friend and try it in their own kitchen. I send them a few recipes to choose from and they organize to make two recipes during the class.

At the end of class we taste our pasta with a simple sauce since the focus is the taste of the pasta, not the sauce. Once you perfect the recipe you’ve got the rest of your life to make all the pasta sauces you want.

Gluten Free Pasta Tutorial; Lessons From Italy

I did a few head-to-head pasta tastings and the recipe I'm sharing here was inspired by my friend Jessica over at Tasty Meditation: Tales From A Gluten Free Kitchen. While on her honeymoon in Italy she learned to make gluten free pasta and came home ready to make more. In her YouTube Pasta Tutorial she enthusiastically shares what she learned.

Instructions for Rolling and Cutting Pasta

Read these general tips before you start. Then follow the step-be-step instructions in the recipe card.

• Mixing the dough in an electric mixer or food processor does a better job than mixing it by hand.
• A fine tapioca starch works well as a sprinkling flour.
• Many Italian cooks roll homemade pasta dough with a rolling pin and cut it with a knife. None of them would ever tell you it was too hard for you learn to do it. I got a hand-crank roller decades ago so I just never tried it.
• The first step of rolling the dough through the widest setting is difficult when you first start. It gets easier after making the pasta recipe a few times. Be patient and know that even if the dough looks like a disaster you can keep folding and rolling until it finally comes together. (A younger version of me would have definitely given up!)
• Most hand crank pasta machines have a fettuccini and linguini setting. I always make fettuccini.
• Once you've got your recipe you can cut the pasta to make lasagne, ravioli and any shape you want.
• Laying the pasta in loose nests looks cute for fettuccini. Full strips for lasagne can be hung on cupboard doors or laid on a kitchen towel. If you're serious you can even buy a wooden pasta tree.

Tips for Cooking and Serving Homemade Pasta

Learning to cook gluten free pasta is a skill to master right away. Fresh homemade pasta cooks more quickly than dried pasta. In my classes we test the pasta at 4-5 minutes knowing the thickness affects the cooking time.

Use a kitchen timer and check it before the time you think it will be done. Make notes to learn as quickly as possible then repeat what you did.

Everyone wants to eat hot pasta that doesn't fall apart on your fork! Here are three tips to do that every time.

• Rinse pasta in lukewarm water to stop it from over cooking.
• Have the sauce hot and ready for the pasta and the people at the table.
• Preheat your bowls if they're cold or if your company is extra special.

Tools For Making Pasta

Once you can make full sheets of pasta you can make it into any shape you want. My pasta machine is decades old. If you're just starting to make pasta here are some fun tools to buy.

• An Italian hand-crank machine such as Imperia Pasta Maker or Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine.
• For ravioli buy a stamp and roller cutter set or a simple hand held cutter wheel that can be used for pastry too.
• If you have a Kitchen Aid you can buy pasta maker attachments.
• For serious pasta people check out the premium KitchenAid gourmet pasta press attachment with 6 pasta plates and you'll be able to make shaped pasta too.
• Wooden pasta drying rack or a collapsable homemade pasta dryer rack.
• Gluten Free Flour in Canada: Pilling Foods Good Eats has an extensive line of certified gluten free flours and ingredients for baking.
• Gluten Free Flour on Amazon: sorghum flour, potato starch, teff flour, tapioca starch, psyllium husk powder and xanthan gum.

Homemade Gluten Free Pasta Recipe

The best homemade gluten free pasta dough recipe is one made by measuring individual flours on a digital scale. A culinary adventure awaits!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: homemade gluten free pasta

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Cinde Little

Ingredients

• ▢ 130 grams sorghum flour
• ▢ 50 grams potato starch
• ▢ 40 grams teff flour
• ▢ 40 grams tapioca starch
• ▢ 6 grams psyllium husk powder (2 tsp)
• ▢ 2 grams xanthan gum (½ tsp)
• ▢ 110 grams boiling water (~½ cup)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Set aside a bowl with tapioca starch to use for sprinkling when the dough is sticky.
• Measure dry ingredients in food processor or electric mixer.
• Turn on to briefly combine. Add boiled water with motor running and mix until combined.
• Add egg and continue mixing until smooth dough is formed.
• Turn dough onto counter and lightly sprinkle with tapioca starch. Cut into 4 pieces. Work with one piece at a time keeping the remaining pieces of dough covered with a dry cloth.

ROLLING PASTA WITH A HAND-CRANK MACHINE

• Set pasta machine to its' widest setting.
• Flatten one piece of pasta dough with your hands or a rolling pin. Feed the flattened dough through the roller as you turn the crank.
• Place the dough lengthwise in front of you. Fold each side over in thirds. Repeat the process 3-4 times until the dough is smooth and the width of the pasta roller. This is the important step where you are trying to make a single piece of smooth dough with even edges that are the width of your machine. Keep rolling it until you have fairly smooth edges, even if it takes 10 times.
• Adjust the pasta roller to the next setting and feed the dough through again. Repeat this process, adjusting the roller to a narrower setting each time until you reach the desired thickness for your pasta.*
• When a piece is too long to manage, lay it on the counter and cut it in half.
• Once your pasta is the desired thickness it can be cut into any shape. Repeat this process with the remaining portions of dough. Shape as desired.
• Many hand-crank machines have a setting for fettuccini so that's a great place to start.
• As each piece of pasta is cut into fettuccini carefully twist and twirl into a loose nest. Lay on a baking sheet to dry slightly as you repeat the process with each piece of dough.
• If not using within 30 minutes cover and refrigerate. Cook within 3 days.

COOKING FRESH GLUTEN FREE PASTA

• Cook fresh pasta in plenty of boiling water for 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness. **
• Start checking the pasta after the first few minutes to avoid over cooking. Keep notes so you can perfect the thickness and cooking time for perfect pasta every time.
• Drain, rinse briefly to stop cooking process. Toss with hot pasta sauce and serve immediately.

Notes

*The number of settings each roller has varies by manufacturer. My machine starts at 1 (the widest setting) and has 7 settings, 7 being the thinnest. Some machines are the opposite and may have a different number of settings. Always start with the widest setting.

Personal note: On my machine setting 4 is a bit too thick for my taste. Setting 5 and 6 takes more practice but is better for ravioli and tortellini where you're biting through 2 thicknesses of the dough each time. I'm still practising.

**Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta. Don't skimp on the water and pay attention to the clock.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Gluten Free Pasta Recipe

Serving Size

 

55 g

Amount per Serving

Calories

239

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

1

g

2

%

Saturated Fat

 

0.2

g

1

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

0.5

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

0.3

g

Sodium

 

24

mg

1

%

Potassium

 

230

mg

7

%

Carbohydrates

 

53

g

18

%

Fiber

 

6

g

25

%

Sugar

 

1

g

1

%

Protein

 

5

g

10

%

Vitamin C

 

0.5

mg

1

%

Calcium

 

28

mg

3

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.