This homemade gluten-free almond flour pasta is a perfect neutral pasta to top with your favorite sauce. Tender eggy noodles with a silken texture and an ever-so-slightly sweet flavor notes. Pasta made with almond flour is packed with protein and much more nutritious than traditional pasta. Almond flouraloneis brittle and difficult to make into homemade pasta. Even if you’d managed to form noodles, they’d likely crumble into pieces in the boiling water. That’s where tapioca flour/starch and sweet rice flour come in as the magic super hero sidekicks. They work together to bind the pasta together. Sweet rice flour gives it the pliability and chewy texture reminiscent of traditional semolina wheat pasta.
2 cups Bob's Red Mill super-fine blanched almond flour
½ cup + 2 TBSN Bob's Red Mill tapioca flour/starch, plus more for rolling
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill sweet rice flour (different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour")
1 teaspoon Bob's Red Mill xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
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Medium Large mixing bowl, large saucepan, sharp knife, measuring spoons, measuring cups, aluminum foil or parchment paper
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 40 min. Ready: 80 min Serves: 4-6
1. Use a spoon to create a well in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs into the middle. Add the olive oil.
2. Use a fork to lightly whisk the eggs together in the middle of the well, then begin massaging it into the flour by hand.
3. Once well mixed, knead the dough by hand. It will be quite sticky, so coat hands in tapioca starch to knead. This dough is softer than traditional pasta dough and easier to knead.
4. Once well kneaded, roll the dough into a ball and dust it in tapioca starch. Lightly flatten into a disk.
5. Bring 3-quarts of water to boil in a large pot with a teaspoon of salt.
6. Cut the dough into 6 pieces. One piece at a time, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough on a tapioca-floured work surface, until it is paper thin. Lightly dust both sides with tapioca flour each time you use the rolling pin. Reserve unused dough pieces in plastic wrap.
7. Either by hand or using a pasta cutter, cut each sheet into desired noodles. To do so by hand, dust both sides with tapioca flour, fold it up lightly on itself, and cut into thin strips. Place noodles in a nest on a tapioca-floured baking sheet while rolling out the rest.
8. Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Drain the pasta in a colander and gently toss it with a bit of olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking together.
10. Serve hot with your favorite sauce.
11. If storing, place uncooked noodles between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer- proof bag. Freeze for up to 6 months. Cook frozen noodles straight out of the bag without defrosting.
1 serving:
Calories 240
Total Fat 13g grams
Saturated Fat 1.5g grams
Trans Fat 0g grams
Cholesterol 90mg milligrams
Sodium 640mg milligrams
Total Carbohydrates 26g grams
Dietary Fiber 2g grams
Sugars 1g grams
Protein 8g
Almond flour is a popular alternative to traditional wheat flour. It's low in carbs, packed with nutrients and has a slightly sweeter taste. Almond flour may also provide more health benefits than traditional wheat flour, such as reducing "bad" LDL cholesterol and insulin resistance
Almond flour is particularly rich in vitamin E, a group of fat-soluble compounds that act as antioxidants in your body.
They prevent damage from harmful molecules called free radicals, which accelerate aging and increase your risk of heart disease and cancer (4Trusted Source).
In fact, several studies have linked higher vitamin E intakes to lower rates of heart disease and Alzheimer's
A wine that best complements the sauce, not the type of pasta.
Tomato-based sauces
Because of the acidity in tomatoes, a relatively tart red with middle-weight body is your best option. Here are a few examples:
Primitivo (aka Zinfandel), Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sangiovese (Chianti, etc), Cannonau (Grenache), Negroamaro, Nero d’Avola, and Rhône Blends.
Cheese-based sauces
It’s hard to find a wine that won’t pair fairly well with cheese, so instead, think of this pasta style as an opportunity to try some of the more texture-based pairings. For example, a white wine with some creaminess to it, like an oak-aged Italian Trebbiano or Chardonnay, is going to create a congruent pairing and highlight the creaminess in the cheese. Also, lighter more floral red wines are another awesome pairing partner with tart, intense hard-cheese pasta, especially if there are mushrooms or vegetables involved in the sauce. Here are a few options:
White: Trebbiano di Lugana, Sicilian Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla,
Red: Langhe Nebbiolo, Nerello Mascalese, Pinot Noir (or Italian Pinot Nero from Oltrepo Pavese) and Sangiovese.
Seafood-based sauces
Lean to middle-weight white wines are the way to go for most seafood based pastas unless there is tomato as well, and then you’ll want to look into a rosato (Italian rosé). Here are a few:
Pinot Grigio, Verdicchio, Vernaccia, Picpoul de Pinet (from France), Grenache Blanc, and Muscadet.
Vegetable-based sauces
Spring onions, garlic ramps, artichoke and broccolini often create the backbone of a great primavera, although anything fresh and seasonal will do. The goal of this dish is to really highlight the springy freshness of all the veggies, which is why a light-bodied white wine with lemony and floral notes is a great choice. A well-prepared primavera and major vegetable intensity, so it will need an equally savory white wine. Here are a few examples:
Soave (aka Grecanico), Vermentino, Trebbiano di Lugana, Greco di Tufo, Sauvignon Blanc and Gros Manseng