how to make gluten-free pasta

A number of you have written to us, asking how to cook gluten-free pasta. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? Just follow the directions on the package?

Strangely, a number of the gluten-free pasta packages I have seen list some wacky method for cooking the pasta by letting it sit in hot water for 20 minutes or tell you to cook it for far too long. One bite of pasta that falls apart on your tongue might make some people think of eating gluten again.

Don’t eat gluten because you miss pasta. Great pasta can still be yours.

We used Jovial brown rice pasta for this video, because we are convinced it is the best gluten-free pasta on the market. (And that’s why we chose to work with them as a sponsor for this site.) But last week we tried this with a couple of other brands, just to make sure it works. It does!

The trick at the end — letting the pasta sit in the bowl with the sauce for 5 minutes — is pretty key. We learned this when we were in Italy. This resting allows the starches to fully release from the pasta and into the sauce, which helps to hold everything together.

(In the video, we were cooking spaghetti, which took 11 minutes. Penne takes more like 10 minutes. Fusilli might take about the same. Be sure to taste the pasta you are cooking, a few minutes before you think it’s done, so you will know for yourself how long it should cook.)

HOW TO COOK GLUTEN-FREE PASTA

There you go. It’s easier than you think!

(And if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, where we’ll be happy to answer them.)

Make some pasta for dinner tonight.

 

Why all the videos lately? 

Danny and I want to take a moment to share why things have shifted around here a bit.

We are both honored to be creating this site, to do work that seems to really mean something to so many of you. For many of the years we have been here, the site has been mostly writing, with photos and recipes. And the occasional video.

Lately, however, we’re both aware of how many people come to this site for the first time and leave feeling hopeful but wanting something more. Some of you might like the stories and writing. But many of you might wish we’d cut to the chase a bit. Your stories are nice but I just want to learn how to cook for my family. We’re bombarded by emails, asking the practical questions we rarely address here on the site. How do I put together your flour mix? What should the bread dough look like? I don’t know how to cook. Can you help me? 

Here’s part of an email I received the other day, one I seem to get nearly every day. (Hi, Emily!)

“Pre-life without gluten, I ate convineience food and lived in restaurants. My kitchen was always the cleanest room in the house because it never got used. Additionally, having grown up in a household which served only microwave meals, I’d never had a use for pots, pans, or knives. After I was diagnosed, I cried. I would never be able to eat as carelessly as I had before. Meals would require foresight. Eww.

The first time I tired to cook something, I cut my finger so bad I needed 10 stitches. I took it as a sign and bought every gluten free microwave dinner I could find.

I’ve gotten better since those troubled first weeks. Heck, I even own a Dutch oven now. But I have loads of questions regarding basics like how to cut, and what diced food really looks like. How do I know what texture a particular flour will give in a recipe? How do I know I have cooked something enough so I don’t give myself or my husband salmonella—which I have done. I am caught in a purgatory where I am afraid to cook or eat what I cook. Any suggestions on how to get these basics????”

Emily, these videos are for you. And for the rest of you too.

Danny and I are lucky enough to be working with Debra and Rod Smith, who run the wonderful Smith Bites Photography. They’ve taught us what mic to buy so you can actually hear Danny now. They are teaching us about video basics. And they are editing our videos, giving them a far more professional polish (with soul) than we could ever do on our own. These people — some of the best we know. If you are interested in learning about how to shoot videos or need someone to help you edit, these are the two.

So, here’s what we’re going to do.

I’m still going to write. I can’t stop that. With our schedules of creating cookbooks, developing recipes for other places, speaking and teaching? I can’t write more than one recipe post a week anyway! Once a week, you’ll find a new meandering story, lyrical and imperfect, sometimes funny, with a recipe. That’s the food we’re making, what interests us right now. And on another day of the week, I’ll be putting up a little post like this one, a little story about us gathering at the table to eat something new, something Danny or I made up on the spot. Even without a recipe, we hope it will inspire you to cook.

Twice a week, you’ll find videos. Mostly, they’ll star Danny. (This website is called Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, after all. For the past couple of years, when he was working in the restaurant, the and the Chef part was somewhat absent.) He has a wealth of knowledge that still astounds me and he wants to share it with you. One video a week will be a recipe, focusing on something simple and delicious, a dish you can get on the table quickly and still enjoy that meal fully. The other video will be about an ingredient, a technique, a vegetable that has just come into season that is inspiring us.

And we hope this will all inspire you to cook. That’s what it’s all about: cooking. eating. sharing. the gathering.

 

So, if you will, subscribe to our YouTube channel! We want to build a library of useful, silly videos there.

We’re in the midst of re-designing the site with a website team we trust. Look for this site to be even more beautiful and useful somewhere in the fall.

And wait until you see what we have planned for Thanksgiving.

After seven years of creating this site, I’m excited that things have shifted. It keeps us both interested to check in with ourselves and you, to do what we love in a way that makes sense to us now and hopefully helps you as well. We’re growing.

Also, we love this work. We’re having a blast together.

 

p.s. We’d love to hear from you. What do you want to see? What technique would you like demonstrated? What kinds of recipes would you like us to create? What gluten-free baked goods would you like to see made, instead of reading about them? GO!

 

 

 

 

 

77 comments on “how to make gluten-free pasta”

  1. Beth @ Tasty Yummies

    I personally love all the videos. Thank you for taking the time to share this wonderful info with us. Perfect timing on this one, too. I will DEFINITELY be using this info tonight when I make my pasta dinner. I am making Jovial penne with a garlic scape and swiss chard pesto! Thank you guys <3

  2. Jamie @ green beans & grapefruit

    Hi– I gather that many will find these videos helpful, they’re a way to (like you said) get right to the point in a more concentrated way that cooking shows rarely even do..I started popping in to your website more after I heard you on Joy the Baker’s podcast. Keep up the great work!

  3. Louisa

    I love the videos. I’m a professional cook(in the process of opening my own restaurant!), and I’ve recently had to go gluten free.

    Hysterics about lack of bread aside, I would really love to know how to thicken a white sauce and have it not break or thin out again. I’ve tried a roux with various GF flours, and also whisking the flours/starches into the hot liquid. Surely there’s a way to make a GF white sauce that will hold at temp for food service purposes?

    Help me!

      1. Louisa

        YAY!! So looking forward to that!!

        And if you ever find yourself in Upstate NY, you must come eat at my restaurant :)

        1. Samantha

          I live in Upstate NY, and I am constantly looking for new, safe places to eat. Where and what is the name of your restaurant?

        2. Louisa

          It is in Albion, which is about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. It’s going to be called The Golden Gourd :)

    2. Beth @ Tasty Yummies

      Ooh this is exciting to hear about Louisa! I am located in Buffalo! Please let me know when you plan to open, I would love to come check it out and post about it on my site, Tasty Yummies.

  4. Lisa

    I’m so thrilled for y’all — what a wonderful new-ish direction for the site. I love that it will help things feel fresh here for you and make life seem less scary for so many people. I admire all this growth so, so much.

  5. Janae @ Bring-Joy

    I like videos, but I also love writing. You can’t scan a video. I like the trend towards videos, but honestly, I like to be able to go through material at my own pace, & video doesn’t allow you to do that.

    I think more videos is great, but please continue writing & including lots of pictures! Thank you :)

    1. shauna

      Well, as I wrote, I’m still going to be doing my weekly piece. Plus another. The videos may be meant for other folks than you. Just think of them as bonus material.

  6. Cari

    You two are generous beyond measure. I love the writing and I love Danny’s voice coming through on the videos. Both are joyful sources of great stories and food stuff. The blackboard is great by the way. I’d love a really good, in depth tutorial on GF flours and starches and the conversion rules. I have a load of your “AP GF ” flour mixed up and noticed your now using a slightly different mix. Why and when do you use which mix. I know you talk about the 60/40 ratio but if you could elaborate on all this and the flours and starches it would be great. And then there is that p husk stuff showing up here and there. More about that, why and when you use it. For example I see it in the cracker dough but not the pie crust dough … Don’t forget the warning not to eat that stuff straight up or it might swell up in your throat right? Oh and dumb it down for the math impaired like me! I think the choirs have chimed in about pie crust and I join them.

    1. Donna

      I totally agree with Cari — would love to see how you make your AP GF mix as I find it confusing how to get 60/40 with 4 flours and I wondered exactly the same thing about the psyllium husk.

      1. shauna

        Luckily, we just shot a video about this! You should see this in the next few weeks. (and you see? This is why we’re doing videos. I’ve written about this but it’s still not clear! Much better to see it.)

        1. Cari

          Can’t wait! It will be really helpful and in the long run hopefully I won’t bug you every time I want to make something. Even living with a math Phd, I can’t always get help on the math.

  7. Dragontech64

    The videos are all well and good, but for some of us, whose computers are a bit ‘behind the times’ videos are problematic, like gluten for you and my wife. Could at least for technique videos a descriptive?

    1. shauna

      Goodness, sorry to hear that. But the videos will be mostly videos. If there’s a recipe, we’ll attach the recipe beneath it.

  8. Mat

    I love your writing and recipes, but I love the charming videos too! Thanks for the update on the changes.

  9. Angela

    This blog is one of my favorites but if more videos are shown with no captions, I will stop subscribing. I don’t really see a point of subscribing to a blog that shows more un-captioned videos than text. I’m deaf and I rely on captions.

    1. shauna

      Angela, I’m afraid I have no idea how to put captions on videos. It’s not really a possibility for us.

  10. Jessica

    I love the videos and the basics are definitely something I could benefit from. As an example, even on a video on something as simple as making pasta, I have questions! I feel like my pasta is always sicky. If I were to let it rest like that, it would be a huge mass of stuck together noodles. Does that mean I am cooking it too long, or maybe just the brands that I use? And what would happen if I don’t salt the water? My husband has blood pressure issues and we are always trying to eliminate salt wherever we can. Or perhaps not much salt actually gets absorbed into the pasta? Again, thank you for all the help and information you guys give to the gluten free community!

    1. shauna

      Jessica, questions are good! The resting actually allows the noodles to release starches, which means they won’t be a mass of stuck-together noodles. In all honesty, the Jovial pasta is the least starchy/sticky of all the pastas, so it works best here. But try cooking it the way we say here and see what happens! As far as the salt, all that salt does not get absorbed into the pasta. It just means the pasta cooks in salty water, which means you don’t have it to salt it after. Of course, check with your husband and doctor.

  11. Dawn @cuter than gluten

    I must admit, when I saw title, “how to make gluten-free pasta”, I thought it was going to be from scratch. I got excited– maybe I watch too much iron chef but I have always wanted to make my own pasta.

  12. Jennifer

    Every time I read what your family is up to, I vacillate between tears and grinning. I’m so delighted that you can do life together, adapting as you go, making each day work for your real lives. You are so winsome and you make this full life that happens to be gluten-less even more interesting and funny and full of hope.

    I have a good store of basic skills when it comes to the kitchen but I love watching Danny teach by doing, I love reading Shauna’s articles and recipes. It’s icing on the cake to catch a glimpse of Lucy working in the kitchen alongside you. Carry on sharpening my kitchen skills, encouraging me to try new combinations and providing great examples for continuing to involve my children in cooking and eating and loving and living.

    The opportunity to see doughs and batters in action will be a far second to standing in your kitchen with you, but I’ll take it. I can’t seem to get them quite right, but I keep practicing. 20 plus years of practice with the other doughs created a level of confidence and skill yet to be matched. So to be able to adjust, it would be so useful to know what texture, density, moistness I could be aiming for.

    And for the many folk who I know who are learning to cook for the first time because of their desire to live fully, those basics will be invaluable.

    I’d be interested to see a basic cream soup lesson with possibilities, some hash options, basic vegetable roasting &/or grilling lessons (I still regularly need tuning up on veg grilling), a go-to biscuit show, and a “For heaven’s sake how do I get a bun to be a bun instead of a thin focaccia?” demonstration.

    Eating without gluten has opened up my food world in terms of exploring textures and options that I never would have explored if I been “allowed” to stick with the same patterns. That’s meant a lot less bread, even of the gluten-less variety. It has also meant that my world has been cracked wide open to wonderfulness. And the Ahrens have been a huge part of that.

    Thanks for all you’ve brought to my kitchen and my people.

  13. Mary

    Love your site. Love your writing. Super love your recipes. And adore your videos. Thank you!

    Would love to hear more about the tips or tricks you have for taking a recipe written for wheat flour and the things you consider in order to transform it into GF goodness.

    Would also like to know how to make a good roux for a pasta sauce base — like clam sauce.

    Thank you so much. Have a beautiful day.

  14. Lilly

    I’d love to see more recipes angled for those who are gluten-free AND watching their calories. I’ve seen numerous awesome recipes that were very “whoa, high calorie”.

    I’d also love to know how to make a recipe dairy-free. I’m awful at baking, truly awful. I think it’s because it is so exact and you can’t very well correct an error mid-bake like you can with cooking. I’ve been afraid to try and make things myself because many recipes feature dairy. Does the butter do something special that nothing else can do? Same for the milk? I’m an Alton Brown-ite and I’ve at least gleaned that in baking, things have an actual purpose, scientifically speaking.

    Also, suggestions for those of us without professional kitchen equipment. I just wasted an entire pound of raw cashew trying to make cashew cream because too many blogs said I could just strain the solids if I lacked the $400 blender, but it simply wasn’t happening. :(

  15. Mary

    Oh dear, can I add on? Would love a video on making polenta — and the fun things you can do with it once it’s cooked. I’ve had some lovely plates of food which involved polenta in various guises but never been able to manage to make such goodness at home.

  16. Tracy & Kim

    so happy! we are excited about seeing this new direction. We’ve been with you for a while and will continue to be there. We love what you are doing. And it’s completely helpful — even for seasoned cooks.

  17. Iva

    Hello!
    This is actually the first time I’m leaving a comment here, though I have discovered your blog a few months ago and was really extremely happy (just not the commenting type I guess). I have spent a year and a half with a man who is gluten and lactose intolerant and so far, most of my cooking was about only my experiments, inventions and mostly modifying gluten and lactose recipies. Our household is a bit more easygoing, since my partner does not have a severe allergy and he does not have to care about that much cross contamination (if I want to make my food with my flour in the kitchen, I only need to wash it a bit after, no special set of dishes) and he can even substitute cow’s milk for goat’s milk (and that’s quite traditional in these parts). Your site was actually the first place where I have discovered that people can have that much problems with gluten (I have another few friends who have a mild case of celiac, but again, no cross-contamination issues). It was also the first database of gluten-free recipes I have ever seen. I live in the Czech republic and believe me, if you think the situation in the US is bad, you can’t imagine the situation in the post-communistic countries. We lack twenty years of development in these fields. And though we do have some pretty decent foodblogs, none of those are concerned with gluten-free. We are very happy that someone even tries to bake their homemade bread and blogs about it, gluten-free or not. Therefore, finding a website with tips on baking bread and pizza and pie crust (my one and only total and definite defeat in the area of gluten-free baking, but I am planning to try again with your recipe!) was very near to a personal heaven for me.

    The reason I am writing today, apart from expressing my gratitude, is to make a request on behalf of us, non-native speakers of English.
    The videos are great, they really are and I enjoy them immensely — it’s fun and I can see how everything looks. That’s amazing. But without some written means of communication to accompany them, they restrict access to the recipes for people whose English is not as good and I think that is really a pity. If you had the recipe very plainly and briefly — just ingredients and the main steps of preparation — written in the post as well, or if the video could be accompanied by English subtitles, even if it was done a few days after the video went out, it would REALLY help a lot. I often show your blog to Czech people who are gluten-free, but while English is a very commonly taught language here, we do have a vast number of people (especially the older generation) whose only knowledge of English is in the written form (a relict of the Communist regime). And there is another vast number of people whose English is not just as good, because they don’t really use it that much after they leave school. For these people, reading an article and a recipe is doable, because they can take their time and translate it and stop at every word they don’t know, but listening to a video is much harder, because it requires you to have a much more active approach to the language and knowledge of it. It’s not a problem for me personally, my English is, I believe, quite alright, though maybe clumsy at times, but it would make your blog a bit less available to some (not only from the Czech Republic, but from many non-English speaking countries, I guess) and I think it might be quite easily solved. It would really be great if something like this was possible.

    Apart from that, I wish you luck in what you do, it is really a marvelous job and oh my God so useful. If you ever plan to travel to Prague or generally the Czech Republic, don’t hesitate to contact me, I have gathered a decent amount of knowledge about GF-friendly restaurants and so on in the area. Prague is a beautiful and historical city, though eating here may be a bit less miraculous experience than in Italy.

  18. Anna

    I love the videos — good to have practical demonstrations, and it’s nice to see you both too! Here’s a transcript — hope this helps folks requesting captions etc, took less than 10 minutes:

    Hi there: I’m Dan from Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, and today we’re going to show you how to cook gluten-free pasta. So, many of you out there have probably tried some GF pasta — maybe you got it on the first try and you’re on a roll, or maybe it didn’t come out so well and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I want to go back to the gluten pasta’. Now, we’re going to show you a quick, easy, real simple way to do it, and you’ll think to yourself, ‘By Jove! I’ve got it!’ Our favourite GF pasta is Jovial from Italy, but this should work with any GF pasta out there.

    [boiling pan on stove] Add enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean. For the first minute the pasta is in the water, give it a good stir, to make sure it doesn’t stick. [cook pasta for 11 minutes]

    [red bowl on table] Whatever you’re going to add to the pasta, put it in a big bowl. Move the cooked pasta over to the bowl. Splash in a little bit of the pasta water in there too. let the pasta sit for five minutes. Do *not* touch it. Stir it all up — pasta’s ready!

    [white plate of pasta, music over. Dan waves.] Bye!

  19. Ann

    What’s the difference between polenta, cornmeal, cornflour, maize flour? It seems as though corn is such a tasty replacement for wheat, I owuld love to use it more. But I am confused about the various names or uses, would love you to explain them all, with recipes –please! Thanks so much for all you do.

  20. Cheryl

    Shauna,
    I love the videos! One topic I would love you to cover is how to convert a recipe from cups to weight. I grew up in England and have always owned a cooking scale but all my GF baking is in cups. Thanks for all you do for our community!

    1. Renee

      Shauna,
      I too, would LOVE to see a good conversion chart. We used one we found on the internet, but it doesn’t seem accurate. We have ended up with bricks every time we try this. I would love to learn to weigh instead of scoop inaccurate amounts of expensive ingredients!
      Thank you for this delightful blog!

  21. Denise

    I love the videos as well. My particular interest is in how to cook vegetables, which I’m just lousy at. I can’t digest most plants unless well cooked, so raw veggies (& apples or fruit skins) are out and cooked veggies always turn out slimy for me. …and so, my diet doesn’t have an appropriate balance because I avoid them. My goal of 2012 has been to encorporate a vegetable into ever dinner I make this year, so I’m blundering bravely through it but I’m still not happy with my slimy cooked veggies.

    Also, just as an aside, I have been cooking my GF pasta like rice — boil the water, turn the burner to low, then add the pasta and let sit in a covered pot for 10–15 min. I like the way this turns out, as long as it doesn’t cook too long, it’s perfection and not smushy. But I’m going to do a little method test to see if I like your suggestions better. Thanks for the new ideas every week!

    1. Sarah G

      Denise, have you tried roasting your veggies? 400-450F oven and most veggies roast in about 10 min, or if you have a huge pan with many veggies maybe 30–40 min. This is usually the best place to start for someone who doesn’t love veg yet. Two places other than this web site where I find great veg gluten free recipes is DailyGarnish.com and GlutenFreeGoddess.com. Daily Garnish is not gluten free, but you can sub out the grains for your own gf safe grains. Best of luck in your 2012 venture!! Once you figure out a way to cook that works for you, I bet you will feel amazing.

      Also, can you do juices? Might be worth looking into a juicer, since that might break down the vitamins and minerals in the raw produce for you… ?

      1. Denise

        Thanks Sarah, I’ll check out those sites. I have roasted the root-type veggies this winter, but not the greens, and I guess since it’s summer I’d forgotten I can still do the root-types even now. I don’t have a juicer, but have been experimenting with blender vegies in my fruit smoothies for breakfast.

  22. Sarah G

    I’m so excited about the videos! I love watching them. I have to say, the crepe video was the first one I watched ever, and I would NEVER have even CONSIDERED making crepes had it not been for the video. I’ve made them several times now, and they’re on the list for the upcoming week as well. I make my own buckwheat flour in my blender as you suggested. So… you have most DEFINITELY inspired this spouse and mother of celiacs! A million thanks!

    As for what I’d like to see… probably your whole grain muffins or a banana bread. Those are the things I make weekly around here, so my husband can take safe food to work for breakfast. I’d also love to see Danny flip the veggies in the air for a stir fry. And I’m with the professional cook above, thickening a white sauce seems to be more challenging than meets the eye.

  23. Sheri E.

    I like the videos. It’s fun to have a different way to see what you guys are up to. I miss french bread/artisan bread but haven’t gotten the nerve up to try them. Would love to see a video for that. I have done very little with yeast, even when I did eat gluten. I echo the pie crust. I’m gathering the ingredients to try your pomegranate molasses chicken thighs. They sound yummy! Thank-you for all you guys do.

  24. Dana

    The videos are a great new addition to an already great site. I can vouch that Jovial is a fantastic product. It is all I have been buying since trying their free sample.

  25. Christine

    My pasta has changed so much ever since I started letting it sit for five minutes — and I don’t even have the best kind of pasta out there! It’s amazing that something so simple can make such a big change! PS Thanks for the video!

  26. christa

    You asked us what we want to see? Whatever you both fancy! I am personaly a fan of a good cake .(You know the kind you sneak into the kitchen for & hope you can convince your spouse a mouse ate it.) It’s a fact that this site is one of the 1st things I check for updates besides my email. When I went gf, I was so confused & hungry! (I dropped 10lbs in a month!) 8 of which I gained back! I actually stumbled upon your blog by accident; but I have always considered it a blessing. Thank you for you continued efforts in all that you both do. Kudos :)

  27. Amelia

    So many comments! If your list of things to film isn’t too long already, I would love to see Danny’s take on some really basic egg-based dishes. To wit:
    –Folded omelettes (quick breakfast)
    –Baked custard (quick dessert)
    –Basic pouring custard
    –Chocolate mousse and souffles (these aren’t really “basic fare”, but I routinely produce soufFLOPS and I’m convinced it’s because the white sauce base is too heavy when I try to make it GF)

    I noticed a comment about captions — perhaps an alternative would be to have a transcript below the video? I don’t know how much extra work this would be, but it might help readers who are hearing-impaired or have English as a second language.

    I am new to this blog, but I’ve already made a few of the biscuit recipes (all delicious) and every time I’ve watched a video, I’ve laughed, taken notes…and saved my fingers from being mangled (in the case of Danny’s knife skills tutorial). Thank you both for all the effort you put into this site!

  28. Amelia

    *double post*
    Oops! Didn’t see your chocolate mousse video until just now — sorry.
    (…though some tips on how to rescue split chocolate/ganache would be much appreciated!)

  29. Kiki

    I love your videos. Always something to learn. I miss you, Shauna, in this video with Danny. The dynamic you have together is fantastic. Please consider joining him again. Even if it is only your voice. Clearly, you two have a lot of fun together. It’s infectious!

  30. Nou

    Hi Shauna and the chef,
    As we all have a ton of questions, I wonder if you will consider a Q & A to go along with your your video. If you will let us know what you are planning for your next video the week before , we would love to submit all the questions we have pertaining to that topic. You could then pull out the most requested questions and answer them as you please.Though we wish that we could meet and spend time directly with you in your kitchen„ the Q & A I believe, would help personlize the interaction and learning even more.
    Thank you for all you do. I am amazed by your generosity in sharing your experiences, your continual developing knowledge with us, and your abounding patience with all of our questions.
    I always try to teach my children to treat others like the way they want to be treated. In your giving, may much be given back to you.
    Thank you.

  31. Donna

    Love the videos but I think your site will always be a favorite because of the writing and great recipes.

    Would you happen to know if Jovial is available in Canada? I haven’t seen it on the shelves here.

  32. madonnadelpiatto

    Hi Shauna, I was just wondering if you have tried dressing the GF pasta using the classic Itlian way, that is tossing it immediately with the sauce and a little pasta water over high heat to bind the sauce to the pasta.

    Did you find that the rest method improves the taste/texture vs. the classic method? I am guessing you must have a very good reason to adotp the 5 min. rest but I can’t figure it out. In Italy we are thought to serve our (gluten) pasta as soon as it’s cooked and dressed, but if there is any chance to improve the GF pasta, I will adopt it hands down!

  33. Elise

    I have to be honest, I’m kind of disappointed. Selfish, I know, but I am. I do all of my recipe hunting online and am disappointed that I will find fewer of yours. I know you need to make a living, and I respect that, but I rarely if ever buy cookbooks anymore. I Google, I print out recipes and I put them in a three ring binder. I guess I was hoping that your site sponsors were benefiting enough from my patronage of your site and their products to justify the recipes.

    I’m a little reluctant to admit this (it might sound mean) but I *hate* watching videos online. I haven’t watched any of yours (though I’m sure they are great). I am the type of learner that reads and replicates; I get incredibly frustrated watching someone demonstrate things. I come to the internet with limited time and a mission and I don’t have the patience to stay to watch a video. Hopefully you’ll get a TV deal out of this, I do enjoy a good cooking show.

    Best of luck,

    Elise

    1. shauna

      Elise, I’m sorry to hear that the website doesn’t meet all your needs. But when is that ever true? As I wrote, we’re still putting up a recipe every week, plus many times the videos will be accompanied by recipe. In those cases, you can read the recipe without watching the recipe. I’ve only been publishing one recipe a week, on the average, so you won’t be finding any fewer. The videos are only a bonus! Since you haven’t watched any of them, I suggest you try. Many, many folks are enjoying them and saying they are learning from them.

  34. Elise

    Just went back and read the comments and I have to chime in with the folks who are requesting a transcript of the video. Yes please! And it really is easy to do, maybe you could hire a high school student or something if you don’t have time? (I bet it wouldn’t cost more than $20 per video). Transcripts can be easily translated via Google translate so they would be more available to the gluten-free world (the majority of folks with celiac disease do not live in English speaking countries).

    Scan and read in a couple of minutes, get the information without having to take the time to watch the video! Available to all, regardless of disability or language! Transcripts, please!

  35. Pat Machin

    The videos are a lovely bonus and I’m sure it’s good to adapt the blog as you go along and make it relevant to you, not to mention manageable!

    BTW, I mentioned this site to my Daughter in Law (celiac son) and she said. “Oh, yes. I know Shauna.”

    I think that’s a good testament to your writing skills and the way you have shared your lives with us.

  36. Teresa

    Hi Shauna
    I love the idea of the videos, they are soo helpful!!! I’ll will like to see a video of how your basic bread looks like. For some reason every time I tried doing any bread recipe it doesn’t end up like the photos you posted with the recipe. I follow the recipe so I think that perhaps it is the way I mixed the ingredients? The breads don’t look awful and they taste very good but I’ll like them to look more like breads instead of lumps of something delicious.
    Oh I also like the idea of videos for easy and good meals since I have to cook after coming from work and sometimes I don’t feel like doing something so elaborate for dinner, I just want to get home and eat and relax.
    Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge and I’m looking forward for the improvements.
    Teresa

    1. shauna

      Thanks, Teresa! We’ll have a video on how to make gluten-free breadsticks on Wednesday. And you’ll see the process more fully there. You’ll be making great bread in no time!

  37. Michele

    Shauna-The Jovial spaghetti is awesome! I had been buying the Quinoa type, but it is super expensive. I got 6 boxes of spaghetti and 6 of fusilli from Amazon for a great price. I think the flavor is very hearty and tasty, and I’m happy that you recommended it. And the videos are great-your husband is a hoot.

  39. Yoko

    Shauna and Chef, thanks so much for this video! I tried this method with Jovial Fusilli (11min) and the difference is amazing.

    One question though — I read a lot of pasta recipes where it tells you to emulsify the sauce by adding the pasta & a bit of the pasta water to it. For this method, should we just emulsify the sauce with the pasta water separately, then add the pasta to it? Or, undercook the pasta by a few more minutes, let it sit, then emulsify everything together?

    Your site is my go-to place for cracking the mysteries of gluten-free cooking :)
    Thanks again!

    1. shauna

      Yoko, I’ve found that if you move the pasta over to a bowl with a spider or slotted spoon, some of the pasta water is going to get in there. Don’t undercook the pasta! That resting period is important.

      1. Yoko

        Wow, thanks for the fast response! I was just about to update saying I figured it out..stupid me.

        For lunch I had iceberg wedge salad with poached egg, crisped pancetta & crack sauce dressing + eggplant arrabbiata (Can you tell I’m addicted to your videos? ;)

  40. Rebecca Hart

    How about how to make egg noodles? I really miss these in soups and casseroles. Also, wraps that bend! How about a good bread recipe for a bread machine that is measured and uses no gums? I’ve been looking forever and cannot find any good methods for any of these.

    1. Rebecca Hart

      By measured, I mean weighed. I have hunted everywhere and can’t find one. I bought a bread machine because I just don’t have the time to bake and because my daughter has been making it for me. She’s so literal and a bread machine she understands.

  41. rachel

    The videos are so much better now!!! I really couldn’t stand to watch them before, even though I love your blog. Bravo and brava to your video team! :-)

  43. Brigitte in Halifax

    Sometimes, when all you have access to is a less-than-ideal brand of rice pasta, there are ways to make it a bit better. One way is to have a separate pot of boiling water waiting on the side. I find that my supermarket’s rice pasta virtually turns the water into glue before the food is cooked. Half way into the process, I dump out most of that starchy water and replacing it with fresh boiling water. When it is cooked, I also rinse the pasta while it is still in the colander. This seems to really improve the end product.

  44. reader

    Hi!
    First, many thanks for your blog and books. I look forward to your next book.

    As for a cooking video, I would be so happy to learn how to bake successful, gluten-free bread. I hope to develop confidence in sandwich bread, which I’m fearful of attempting. I also tend to over-buy bananas, so would like to have a reliable recipe for banana bread.

    Thank you for all your work.

    1. Carole

      I feel the Novial is the best boxed pasta, too. I have only used their GF brown rice pasta PENNE RIGATE so far. I was able to save leftovers in the frig without it turning mushy. I am looking for homemade pasta dough recipes using unflavored gelatin and one without the gelatin. Carole

  45. AnnaA

    Hello,
    Can you use the absorption method to cook gluten free pasta? I’ve been told that one of the best gluten free pastas on the market is Le Veneziane (which in NYC seems to be aveailabe only online). I’ve tried different brands and want to give this one a try. Thank you.

  46. Johanna

    Do you have a good recipe for home made pasta dough? I have a pasta machine and thought about substituting Bob’s Red Mill flour? Any suggestions? Thanks!

Related Posts

  1. gluten-free fresh pasta

  2. Bio-Naturae gluten-free pasta

  3. gluten-free pasta on a summer afternoon