There are some corn/rice pastas that are pretty close to the real deal. Sure a seasoned pasta officianado could tell the difference, but we have gluten intolerant in the house so predominantly eat gluten free pastas. Never had a visitor or kids friends complaining (and kids will complain about anything). Happily chow down. There are also some pretty good grain free varieties made from tapioca and egg, we get lasagne sheets that are approved of by the only real Italian I known, they maintain the chewy/rubbery texture of lasagne well.
You don't need the wheat protein 'gluten' to make pasta at all.
You do need some kind of protein. Carbohydrate hydration is a reversible process whose other endpoint is a solution, while (most) protein coagulation is a non-reversible polymerization process that creates an insoluble matrix. The less protein is available, the easier it is to "overcook" pasta into goop and then a starchy beverage. You see it in cooking the two common varieties of 'normal pasta' already - egg durum wheat pasta has more protein than pure durum wheat pasta, and is much harder to overcook.
Pasta is the only thing I don't miss.
I recently found some pasta made with 100% red lentils, rice or peas, which is really good, I can gladly offer it to people.
They cost a premium but the state gives us around 100€ a month to spend, and I don't eat that much gluten free stuff. Pizza on the other hand makes me sad ;(
Gluten-free cooking has come a long way since I was a five year old with celiac eating bread with the texture of cardboard! For pizza check out the America's Test Kitchen's recipe, which apparently gets pretty close (however it might be off, I've never had wheat pizza! haha):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh50Cht9tUc
https://www.reddit.com/r/glutenfree/comments/81pvql/the_best...
There's also this guy's recipe which is apparently pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZH-GUFBrz0
Personally I do a 'lazy pizza' which is just a really basic primitive bread (like how people would have made bread before yeast):
The original recipe was:
- 8oz doves farm self raising flour (or any celiac self raising flour. but doves is the og and the best IMHO)
- 1 large or medium egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- cold water to mix (alternatively: a cup and a bit of water with 1tsp chia seeds in it, you want them in the water for about 10 - 20 minutes with regular (regular!) stirring. stirring every time they kinda coalesce at the bottom. it should look like frogs spawn by the time you're through.)
Oil pan well, put soft dough in (you want it like. soft enough that it starts to spread just a little. but not so wet that it's spreading a lot. you do NOT want it as dry as a normal non-celiac bread because there is no gluten to hold on to the water). flatten with oily silicon brush, then top. cook at 180°C for 20 minutes or so. You might want to cook it a little before topping if your toppings are cooked already. And honestly, I just eyeball the cooking time based on how it behaves.
The chia seeds help make it a little chewy, which apparently is part of how pizza dough usually reacts, as well as pulling and stabilising any moisture so it doesn't get soggy.
I've found the hardest thing is to get a really soft, fluffy bread or cake. You really need the bonding strength of gluten to hold up a structure like that. So a nice airy New York style pizza crust is out, but thin crispy crusts are doable.
Try adding a bit of psyllium seed.
Mod Pizza does or did offer a Gluten free crust made from cauliflower. Had a distinctive taste to it, it tasted good.
I really like the Open Nature (Safeway/Von's store brand) cauliflower crust. No one believes me because it's a store brand but I've actually hooked some people on those that don't have any gluten restrictions. I haven't found a branded one that's better.
Yeah, the Rummo Gluten Free pasta is just on another level in the UK vs the own-brand stuff. Thank goodness!
Rummo is pretty good, but you have to cook it just right - a minute either side, and it's either grainy or falls apart as a soggy mess.
Still, gluten-free pasta has come a long way.
I think the Tesco own-brand pasta is good right now, also think that Barilla used to be better a few years ago.
The very article you're commenting on says "gluten free" pasta (or at least the one type of Barilla spaghetti they tested) becomes the "real deal" when boiled with salt, which you should be doing anyways.
I buy Jovial which is a just straight brown rice flour and as long as you cook it right (which in Albuquerque is a problem with wheat pasta too) it's great.