A Request.

[Makbawehuh]

Looking for a good wheat free or -very- low wheat pasta recipe. I've been making my own by hand for years, but I've suddenly run into a situation where I live in a house where I'm the only one who could have it.

I'd offer my pasta recipe but it's one of those "A pinch of this and a dash of that till it feels right" kind of things...

[Eretik]

Unfortunately I don't know any pasta recipes but I'm a user of dash/pinch/handful quantities too.I may yet give some reipes like that,here. Anyhoo - hope you have a cool yule.I love that avatar.

[Makbawehuh]

Lol. I'm a big fan of sharing, so I'll share the full pic if you like- I had to do some cropping. Lemme know if you want it.

I had an okay Yule... I worked, so I didn't really get to celebrate. Got to look up chocolate chip cookie recipes for Christmas though; After doing some research, I've decided that I never want to be diabetic. It's too much work, trying to find stuff you really like that won't do damage.

How was your Holiday?

And to digress... I've heard of barley pasta, but I've never found a recipe that fit what I'm looking for. A little wheat as a binder wouldn't bother me, but the more wheat it calls for in proportion to other stuff, the less I want to use it. I'm guessing that when I get some vacation time, I'm going to be experimenting with small batches of pasta.


Hahahahahaa.... "Small batches"....

[sunstoneleo]

You could try googling it. I love google, well, most of the time.

[jcrowfoot]

As a person who's made a LOT of wheat-free stuff in my life, and I'm not shy in the kitchen. I just want to say that making wheat free pasta would be more work than I could ever go with. Wheat has this great thing call gluten that holds it together and makes it work. I don't know how ANYONE could make pasta without wheat or gluten. I buy wheat free pasta.

Of course it depends on why you can't eat wheat. Would spelt be ok? It's closely related to wheat and has all the things in it that pasta needs, and frankly makes great pasta. Some people who are allergic to wheat can eat it, others can't.

Also quinoa pasta tastes pretty good, but it causes some people digestive upset. I have no idea how this grain is processed to make pasta.

You can find it at co-ops, on the internet or at Whole Foods.

[Makbawehuh]

It's not so much wheat itself, as the starches in it. I'm the only non-diabetic in the house. Anything I do has to have enough fiber in it to make up for the sugars.

And I -have- googled it, lol. I've googled it and googled it and googled it... and spent hours and hours going through recipes to find something I would consider remotely useable.

Methinks I'm going to have to just sit down with a paper and a pencil and work out the math for how much I would need of what as a minimum...

Any good ideas of what I could use as a binder, J, if wheat weren't an option?

[Kolohe]

found one with absolutely no wheat in under 10 minutes.

http://gfgourmet.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/quinoa-pasta/

Have heard of pasta also being made from rice flour, corn, jerusalem artichoke flour, and chick pea flour- google deboles for commercial pasta from some of those.

Kolohe- Google Queen

[jcrowfoot]

Well... it depends on what starches. It actually sounds like your dietary problems and mine are in-step. For years I *thought* I had a wheat allergy, when it turned out that I have a endocrine problem instead that involves problems with *to* *much* *starch*.

I've had good luck with whole wheat pasta, to be honest. I don't have it all the time, but once in a while doesn't bother me.

My absolute favorite is whole barley pasta. It's extremely fibrous and still holds together, and has an amazing nutty flavor that I'm actually really fond of. Soba noodles also work in moderation.

One of my favorite non-wheat binders is oat flour. I take steel cut oats and grind them up in my food-only coffee grinder. (Irony: I have a coffee grinder for food, and one for edible spices, and one for incense making... but not one for coffee! I have this many because the spice oils tend to flavor everything no matter how much you clean... even with bread!)

I make a nice roux with this to make sauces, and I have so many fewer problems with this than I do with wheat-based sauces. Of course, I also use that soluble fiber (I forget what it's called... invisa-fiber or something) pretty liberally. Also, it browns well (faster than wheat) and maintains thickening power even when browned.

Also, use kolohe's version of how quinoa is spelled, I'm terrible at spelling and with some things even a spell checker can't help. I tried googling it to get the correct spelling, but this is what I got.

Eden has some nice alternative grain pastas. I've heard that you can even get lentil pasta, but I've never actually seen it. I've had it in a restaurant, but not in any store.

As for binders for making pasta... I think xanthan gum would work. I honestly don't know how much you need to use. I also think you can use ground flax seed, which can also be used as an extreme thickener for other stuff... and in fact if you cook a tablespoon of flax seed in a cup of water, you get something like sticky eggwhite. I used to use it to make wheat free flatbreads out of oat or wild rice, or even as a binder for vegitarian protein loaf. I was once tempted to find out if I could make jello out of it, but it's flavor is strong enough I'm not sure it would work.

It is a strong nutty flavor with a green note kind of like wheat grass. That can sometimes be annoying when you want to use it in quantity.

Some people also use glycerine as a kind of smoothing addition to thickeners that might otherwise clump or get uneven. In some cases it can be used as a thickener in it's own right... but I have to research the starch related impact. It tastes slightly sweet, so it may raise the blood sugar in an unpleasant way.

[Makbawehuh]

WOOOHOO! *huggles, scampers off to do a little more research on it* Thank you!

Question though: How did you query that in Google? If you found it that fast, I'm thinking I did something wrong in my search...

...Either that or I'm too easily distracted...

[jcrowfoot]

Nothing special... I just typed quinoa in the search box and pressed search, and it said... "Did you mean...<insert>?" And I clicked on that and got about a dozen sites or so.

Sometimes typing "grain" or putting "pasta" at the end might actually up your chances of finding something. Try it first by itself, since you are having trouble. Being too specific can get you into trouble.

And, frankly, if it's the wrong time of day, google can get confused. Try another engine, and if you don't get something then try eden.com and start searching their pasta selections. Theirs is a HUGE company, so sorry I couldn't narrow it down for ya. They make soy milk and all kinds of stuff.

Oh, and check out Bob's Red Mill. Now *they* are trivial to google! They not only sell things like xanthan gum, but also have alternative flours and high quality grains. The most annoying thing about them is that most places only sell their stuff in small quantities, but their website might be different if you want to order in bulk. Heck, I've seen their stuff at Meijers! Anyway, when you are in the exploratory phase, small quantities is good.

<bows> No problem. I look forward to making it easier for others to find the info than it was for me... even with an occasional but eccentric native guide.

[Makbawehuh]

When it comes down to the food itself, it's not me that I worry about. I'm not diabetic and *crosses fingers* if I keep taking care of myself, I won't be. Like I said, though, there's s everyone else. And before the diagnoses and insulin started flying around, we were all pretty much strictly pasta and veggie eaters. I'm not going to make a big batch of pasta and eat in in front of the whole family, with all of them giving me dirty looks because -I- can have it and they can't...

It's been a hard habit to break, so I've been looking for substitutes.

Thanks, again, for the advice. I'm gonna take a little money out of the next paycheck and see what I can whip up.

[jcrowfoot]

Good luck! Let me know what you come up with, buy or make! I'm really curious!

[Kolohe]

Maybe try googling each type of alternative flour- "barley pasta recipes", "making barley pasta", "quinoa past rec ipes" and so on.

Kolohe

[Makbawehuh]

I'll try it next week- Bills ate my paycheck. *sniffles*

[Lezwitch]

Due to time constraints and small kitchen spaces, I have turned to "boxed" alternatives to "regular" pasta. There are a number of commercial/organic brands out there that are actually quite good...The best-tasting ones tend to be made of brown rice and/or corn...

A few of my favorites:
Annie's Homegrown Rice Pasta and Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe's Brown Rice Penne Pasta
BeBoles Corn Spaghetti

As an aside, I've read that Mrs. Leeper's Brand wheat-free pasta line has been found to include gluten (which is often something those who do not consume wheat also avoid).

Finally, if you live in an area that has an Asian grocery, check out their selection of wheat/gluten-free pastas. Most of them are quite good - - and have recipes on the boxes.

Many Blessings!