Buying gluten free pasta

It turns out that one of the easiest gluten free products to find is pasta. Later in the summer, I'm going to work on some homemade gluten free pasta, but for now I'm going tell you about the store bought brands I like. I'm also going to tell you the things I love about buying gluten free pasta:

1. The price difference between gluten free and regular pasta is not as enormous as it is for some other products, like bread. Pasta generally comes in 12-16 oz packages, and I've found the prices to vary from $1.66 to $4.99 a package. The more expensive ones are usually brands with quinoa in them, since quinoa is more expensive (but delicious and very healthy) grain.

2. I have not tried a brand of gluten free pasta that I don't like. It's apparently much easier to make a good GF pasta than it is to make a good GF commercial bread.

3. Whole grain GF pasta tastes better than whole wheat pasta. This is a matter of opinion, of course, but I really like the fact that I actually enjoy brown rice pasta better than the alternative that I can no longer have.

Now, here are the brands I've tried. Many of these products are available on amazon if you live in the US or the UK or another country where amazon has online groceries (unfortunately, they don't in Canada).

1. Tinkyada http://www.tinkyada.com/
Tinkyada is probably what you should try first if you are new to gluten free cooking, because it is very hard to cook it wrong. Some gluten free pastas are very sensitive to overcooking, but Tinkyada is not. Tinkyayda has both brown and white rice pastas, and it come in a large variety of shapes, including lasagne, giant shells, little shells, fusilli, spirals, vegetable spirals, spaghetti, spinach spaghetti, penne, linguine, elbows, and little dreams, which are fun little shapes for kids (of all ages).

2. Gogo Quinoa http://www.gogoquinoa.com/products-quinoa-range.htm#5
These are rice and quinoa pastas. The are on the more expensive end, but they are very nutritious and I think they are one of the best tasting GF pastas out there. They seem to be hard to find in stores and they come in a few different shapes, but they're worth trying if you spot them somewhere.

3. President's Choice Organic Brown Rice Pasta http://tinyurl.com/6jhbvlx
This is a store brand found in Superstore and Loblaws here in Canada. It seems to only come in fusilli and spaghetti, but it's as good as the name brand stuff and also a bit less expensive. And organic.

4. Rizopia http://www.rizopia.com/
This is probably what I use most often. It seems to be sold everywhere, and I've seen it for as low as $1.66/package. It has almost as many different varieties as Tinkyada. It is a bit more sensitive to overcooking, so make sure you stir often test for doneness.

5. Mrs. Leeper's http://mrsleepers.com/products.html
Mrs. Leeper's makes both rice and corn pastas. I like the rice pasta better, but the corn is great for people who can't have or don't like rice pastas. The corn pasta is also very bright and colorful.

6. Orgran http://www.orgran.com/products
Orgran has a good range of pastas, including multigrain pastas made with different combinations of rice, corn, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, and amaranth. They also have some good vegetable pastas and fun animal shaped pastas for kids.

7. Schar http://www.schaer.com/en/gluten-free-products/pasta/
Schar is an Italian brand with pasta made from a combination of corn flour, rice flour, and pea protein. It has a good variety of shapes, including anellini (tiny rings).

8. Asian noodles
If you live near an Asian grocery store, you may find a wide variety of inexpensive gluten free noodles there. Asian noodles tend to be more delicate, so they may not hold up well in all of your pasta recipes, but they are great in soups, pasta salads, spring rolls, and on their own as a side dish. I've found all sorts of rice, buckwheat, millet, and bean based noodles at Asian grocery stores.

9. Spaghetti squash
If you're interested in a nutritious and entirely grain free pasta substitute, try spaghetti squash. You simply bake it or boil it until soft, then scoop out the flesh, which look like long stringy spaghetti noodles. Then it can be used in any of your favorite pasta dishes.

One final note about cooking gluten free pasta: It often needs to be rinsed for applications where you might not normally rinse wheat pasta. The cooking water will be very starchy by the end, and if you go to drain it and you find yourself with a clump of stuck-together pasta covered in white foam, rinse it under warm water while swirling it around with your hand to break it up a bit.

Pizza Crust (Can also be flatbread or focaccia)

This pizza crust is the result of trying many different recipes and combining what works and what I like. I'll give you the basic recipe, then talk about variations. The main flour here is brown rice flour, which is a whole grain flour but surprisingly neutral-tasting. You could substitute white rice flour for picky eaters who like a really bland pizza crust, but it's a lot starchier and I don't think it makes as nice of a crust. Cornstarch is included for its rising power. It rises really well and will fill in the little cracks in your pizza crust as you spread it out in the pan. If you are allergic to corn, you can substitute potato starch (not potato flour - it's a very different thing) or tapioca starch, but just be aware that the texture will not be as good and try to fill in the cracks a bit better. I've tried to maximize the brown rice to cornstarch ratio as much as possible without sacrificing function since cornstarch has pretty much zero nutritional value, but this is pizza we're talking about here. See the variations below the recipe for alternatives to the the brown rice flour that make it more of a multigrain/legume crust.

Basic Brown Rice Pizza Crust
1/2 cup warm water (not hot, it will kill the yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast (the yeast is used more for flavor than for leavening, so if you are allergic to yeast just sub in some baking powder)
105 grams (or approximately 3/4 cup) brown rice flour
35 grams (or approximately 1/4 cup) cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 F. We're going to pre-bake the crust before we add toppings. You get a better texture that way, but if you're in a hurry you can skip the pre-bake and just top and bake the whole thing at 350 F. What's even better to do in a hurry, though, is to make up a bunch of pre-baked crusts ahead of time and just take them out of the freezer when you need one.

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so until the mixture is bubbly. Just like you were making regular bread. Mix in the other ingredients and make sure to mix really well. You can use a mixer, but I just use a spoon. Sometimes I use my hands, but it does get fairly sticky. Some wheat-based recipes warn you against over-mixing so that you don't develop the gluten too much, but we will never have that problem in gluten free baking! Drizzle some olive oil (or other oil of your choice) onto a large rectangular or circular baking sheet. Once the dough is pre-baked you can use a pizza stone if you like or just keep it on the baking sheet, but the uncooked dough isn't going to nicely roll out and go on a baking sheet. That's okay, though. A lot of the rules you learned about baking things with wheat flour no longer apply. We make our own rules around here.

Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl with a spatula and onto the baking sheet. Notice that we are not letting the mixture sit and rise like we would with a wheat and yeast dough. You'll get enough rising power from the cornstarch and the yeast without proofing the dough all day long. Now fill the mixing bowl up with water. Dip your hands in the water, shake the excess off, and use your damp hands to flatten the dough out gradually. It will look like a bit of a pasty mess. If it does, you're doing it right. Continue flattening until the whole baking sheet (or most of it) is covered in a thin layer of dough. Try to fill in the holes as much as possible, but if there are a few little holes, they'll fill in as it bakes.

Put the baking sheet in your preheated 450 F oven and bake until the crust slides in the pan when you shake it and is just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. It's kind of magical when this pasty mess of dough turns into something that looks like a pizza crust. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 F (or you can pack it up and freeze it for later at this point). Top with toppings of your choice and bake until the cheese is melted and browned as much as you like. You can also make the crust into several mini pizzas, and you can easily double (triple, quadruple...) the recipe.

VARIATIONS:
Multi-grain pizza crust: Replace 35 gram (1/4 cup amounts) of the brown rice flour with combinations of the following flours: chickpea flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, almond flour, sorghum flour, oat flour, etc. If you do this, it's extra important to do it by weight if possible because some of these flours have very different densities. But this is a good way to experiment and find new flavors that you like. I'm a fan of a combination of brown rice flour, chickpea flour, and sorghum flour.

Flatbread: Same way you made the pizza crust, but bake at 450 F a little longer (7-10 minutes for me, but make sure to watch it) until it's a bit more browned. You can add herbs, garlic, onion, cheese, chives, sun-dried tomato, etc. to the dough if you wish. Either make one big flatbread to cut in pieces, or several little ones. Eat on their own or top with your favorite sandwich fillings.

Focaccia: Like the flatbread, but spread the dough thicker and bake at 350 F for a little longer (10-15 minutes depending on thickness, but again, be sure to watch it). It'll be a bit fluffier inside than the flatbread and obviously thicker. Eat on its own, topped with melted cheese or your favorite sandwich fillings, or split in half and stuffed with your favorite sandwich fillings.

Don't be afraid to experiment, and if doesn't come out right the first time, figure out what you didn't like about how it turned out and what might make it work better for you. Feel free to leave a comment if you're having trouble, and I'll be happy to try to help! My personal favorite topping combination for this pizza is pesto sauce, slices fresh pears, roasted parsnips, a few chunks of cream cheese (rather than grated cheese all over), and some crumbled crisp bacon.

Nutritional information per 1/4 pizza crust (not including toppings and assuming you used about 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan, if you're concerned about fat content use a nonstick pan and brush on just a bit of oil): 170 calories, 3.1 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 78 mg sodium, 32.6 grams carbohydrates, 1.8 grams fiber, 2.4 grams sugar, 2.7 grams protein, 5% of your RDI of iron. Source: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php.

Creamy Tomato Coconut Soup

If you eat dairy and you don't like coconut, you can substitute milk or cream for the coconut milk. Just be sure not to let the soup boil after you add the milk or cream, or it will curdle.

Serves 2-3 as a main dish, more as a side dish

2 14 ounce cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained (or equivalent
chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 14 ounce can coconut milk
(exact amounts of tomatoes and coconut milk are not super important,
if you live somewhere where things don't come in 14 ounce cans)
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon grape seed oil (or butter or other oil of your choice)

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, and cook until soft and
translucent. Add tomatoes and coconut milk and cook until hot.