Tasty Gluten Free Noodles

My sister is one of the growing number that has problems with gluten. One of the staples at my house is noodles. I can't imagine not eating them in some form or another a couple times a week. At least!
I made it my mission to find a recipe replacement for noodles.

I started by surveying customers that would come into the KACC Candy Shop. I had to be there for the student I interpret for. As people would come in and check out the gluten-free cupcakes and miscellaneous treats I would ask them 1) if they made any gluten-free items at home and 2) if they did, had they made noodles. I made note of the different types of flours mentioned and all their comments.

I kept hearing about brown rice flour. I made a trip out to check prices and was floored at how expensive gluten-free items were. But being determined to do this I bought a item or two as I could afford them. My plan was to not only make them for my sister, but my mom as well since their birthdays are within a few days of each other.

The basic recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (this is a powder)
• 4 large eggs, whisked
• kosher salt

Mix all the dry ingredients with a spoon, then add the eggs. This is a wet mixture and not at all easy to roll out. After you have kneaded it... and this is basically just to make sure everything is incorporated well, you can roll it out. I found the easiest way to roll it out was to work in smaller amounts between pieces of wax paper. I could easily turn the dough over by simply flipping my wax/dough/wax paper sandwich. (It does stick to the paper.) However, once I had it to the thickness that I was happy with, once it begun to dry, it was easy to remove the wax paper. I cut them and left them to finish air drying. I did try just rolling them out on the cabinet = Fail! So I moved to the dining room table and rolled out some and just left them to dry. That worked reasonably well, but I preferred the wax paper sandwich technique.

The process took a lot longer than normal noodles BUT the good news was that the noodle was very good. My husband and I did a taste test before I gifted them and we were pleasantly surprised. While it did not have a firm texture it DID taste like noodles are supposed to taste. There was none of that gritty taste that I have come to associate with gluten-free products so in my book it was a WIN!

The one item of note that, in my book, is important! The above recipe makes a very small amount of noodles. Even doubled I was surprised at how few I ended up with, especially since I was gifting them. And, in the end they were an expensive venture. I probably won't make them again since I have passed the recipe on and I count it as a fun learning experience. Even though I said a few unsavory words while I was trying to figure out how to roll them out. :-)

To date: my mother has never mentioned weather she liked the noodles or not. My guess is that she didn't realize there was anything different with them. My sister however, gave them two thumbs up!

Enjoy!
Kerri Downey