Gretchen Scalpi, RDN

Since learning I have Celiac disease, I’ve  been maintaining a gluten free diet for a little over a month .  Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time in stores reading packages, checking ingredients, and making decisions about what and what not to eat.  Yes, there’s a vast array of packaged gluten free products out there, but as I examine them, I find two recurring issues. First, these items are very expensive.  Secondly, many of these expensive items don’t have much by way of nutritional value.

Buckwheat is a nutritious gluten free whole grain that I have used often.  I was determined to find gluten free buckwheat soba noodles to add to my grain choices.  These are very thin noodles made from buckwheat flour and used in Asian cooking.  With the right sauces, these delicate noodles are quite delicious.  My search at various health and food markets yielded two results:  I found a variety of buckwheat soba noodles, but almost all had wheat flour added.  When I finally soba noodles without the wheat flour added, I was shocked to see a price tag of over $8.00 for a very tiny package.  So that was the end of my search in the stores.

Since I have a supply of 100% buckwheat flour on hand, I decided to try making my own noodles. A quick search of recipes provided basic proportions for buckwheat flour, water, and vinegar.  I made the basic flour and water dough and I have to say the results where somewhat satisfactory.  Because the dough was strictly buckwheat flour and water, it was dry and crumbly.  Handling the dough when rolling out  and cutting the noodles into flat, narrow strips was no easy task.  In the end, the noodles cooked up just fine and they were good.  There was just a little too much work involved so I decided to do things differently the next time.

Tags: celiac disease, gluten free