How To Make Oat pasta (Gluten-free, Whole-Grain Pasta)
Simple homemade oat pasta made with just 3 ingredients and a simple process - a delicious, whole grain, high fiber, gluten-free pasta. Plus, this recipe takes no time at all to prepare and can be used immediately or frozen/dried for later!
Step 1: prepare the Oat Pasta dough (You can do this process on a work surface, within a bowl, or even with a stand mixer.)
Create a mound of your oat flour on a clean work surface (or in a bowl/stand mixer), making a well in the center. Add the eggs and oil to the well and then slowly begin to incorporate all of the ingredients together. Eventually, you'll form a rough dough.
Knead the dough until you have a smooth dough.If you find that the dough is a little too crumbly, then you can add some water. Add one tablespoon at a time until it forms a dough. This tends to make the dough easier to manage but does affect the texture of the final pasta, so I usually avoid it.
Set the dough aside in a bowl/in cling film for 30 minutes, to rest. This will make it easier to manage/shape into pasta.
Step 2: Shape/Chop your homemade pasta (You can shape/chop the oat pasta either by hand with a rolling pin, or with a pasta machine.)
First, divide the dough into a few, more manageable, pieces. I divided it into four.
By Hand:
Dust your work surface with a little additional oat flour then use a rolling pin to roll out the pasta dough as thin as you'd like it.I usually aim for somewhere around 3mm when doing it by hand. Roll it into a long thin sheet of dough. If you want the noodles to be more 'precise,' you can cut off the 'scraggly' edges and then use a knife to cut the pasta into long strips as thin/thick as you'd like- for tagliatelle/pappardelle.
Alternatively, you can dust the pasta with oat flour, roll it up lengthwise (so it's long and thin when rolled rather than shorter and fatter), and then slice the roll into individual noodles. Dust with a little more oat flour again if needed.
Using a pasta machine/press:
Begin by rolling out each piece of dough slightly, so it's thin enough to fit through your pasta machine's widest setting. Feed it through the machine 2-3 times, folding it like an envelope as you do, to get a cleaner shape.Then reduce the setting, making it thinner, and feeding it through 1-2 times, reducing the thickness until you achieve your perfect level.Then use the machine to cut it into pasta ribbons/noodles.
Alternatively, you can press the dough through a pasta press to make noodles, macaroni, penne, etc. You can also use a potato ricer for noodles!Be careful when handling the dough at this point. As it is gluten-free pasta, it is a lot more fragile than traditional pasta and can be crumbly.
Step 3: Cook the Oat pasta
To cook the pasta, place it in a large pot of salted boiling water, bring it back to a boil, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds to make sure the pasta doesn't stick together.
Once cooked, drain the pasta and serve it with your choice of sauce and any toppings. Below I used marinara sauce, topped with fresh herbs and some garlic flakes.The leftover salty pasta water can be cooled and then poured into an ice-cube tray to use within stocks and soups.
How To Make-Ahead & Store
Store the fresh oat pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days, or freeze it for between 2-3 months.I haven't yet tried to dry this oat pasta, though I can't see why it wouldn't work like any of my other pasta recipes (read recipe notes for method*). Store the dried whole grain pasta in an airtight container in a cool location and use it within a month. You can also freeze the dried pasta for up to six months.
Video
Notes
To dry the pasta: You can use pasta drying racks, a dehumidifier, or lay the pasta out on a large tray in a well-ventilated area. With noodle,s begin by drying them laid flat for 1-2 hours then, while the pasta is firm but still pliable, form it into loose nests of around a portion each. Depending on the climate and humidity, the drying time will vary. If you live in a very humid area, I probably wouldn't attempt to dry the pasta.
Optional: Add around 1/3 tsp xanthan gum to your gluten-free pasta dough. It will help make sure that your dough is flexible enough to shape however you'd like (since gluten-free pasta dough is infamously more crumbly and difficult to work with). Alternatively, you could try the recipe with about 1tsp of tapioca starch - I haven't tried this, but it also helps to provide a 'stretchy' quality, so it should work.
Collect any pasta dough scraps and re-roll into new shapes. You can also roll it into thin ropes, chop them into 1/2-inch pieces then press each piece with your thumb to create 'Orecchiette' pasta - perfect for adding to soups and stews.