Pasta from Scratch: Rolling and shaping the dough

Introduction 

Once you have made your dough and let it rest, the most enjoyable part of pasta making is rolling and shaping your dough. Pasta dough can be rolled with a pasta machine or by hand. Then, shaping the pasta depends on what type of pasta you want to cook. In this post, I will show you two different recipes: farfalle and fettuccine.

Rolling the dough into a Pasta Machine

Most pasta machines roll your dough in levels between numbers 1-9, where #1 is the thickest and #9 is the thinnest. If you do not know how thin the dough needs to be for your pasta, the number should be listed in the recipe. If you have a pasta machine, follow these steps to roll your dough.

1. After resting, remove the dough from the plastic wrap. Cut about an eighth of the dough to use then put the rest back in the plastic wrap. 
2.  Flatten the dough into a rectangle.
3.  Set the pasta machine to the thickest setting, flour the dough, and feed the pasta through the machine.
4.  Fold the dough like a brochure so there are three layers instead of one.
5. Feed the dough through the machine again at the thickest setting. Repeat this step multiple times so the dough has an even thickness. Every time you roll the dough, dust it with a little flour before placing it into the pasta machine.
6. Go to the second setting and feed the dough through the machine. You do not need to fold the dough anymore.
7. Keep changing the setting and rolling the dough until you reach the desired thinness. Most dough needs to be as thin as setting #7 or #8.
8. Cut the edges of the dough to make them straight if necessary.

 Rolling the dough using your hands

1. Cut the dough into quarters. Use one quarter at a time and wrap the rest in plastic wrap.
2.  Lightly dust your work surface with flour.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, then stretch into a circle with your hands.
4.  Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is very thin.
5.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Recipe #1: Farfalle

Farfalle, also known as bow ties but means “butterflies” in Italian, is usually made with egg pasta dough. You will need a pasta machine or rolling pin, a knife, 3 baking sheets, a batch of the egg pasta dough, all-purpose or 00 flour, and a crinkle-edge pastry wheel. While the pastry wheel is not necessary, it will give the pasta is signature zig-zag edges.

1.  Dust the baking sheets with flour.
2. Use a pasta machine or a rolling pin to roll the dough.
3. Cut the dough into small squares with a knife.
4. Take the crinkle-edge pastry wheel and cut two sides of the square that are opposite from each other.
5. Use your fingers to pinch the middle of the square together on the sides without the crinkle cut.
6. Cook or dry the pasta.

Recipe #2: Fettuccine

Fettucine is a long, ribbon pasta we normally see in dishes like fettuccine alfredo. You will need a pasta machine or rolling pin, a knife, 3 baking sheets, a batch of the egg pasta dough, and all-purpose or 00 flour.

1. Dust the baking sheets with flour.
2. Use a pasta machine or a rolling pin to roll the dough. 
3. Cut the sheet of pasta into a 6 to 10-inch-long sheet and dust it with flour.
4. Let the sheet rest for 5 minutes.
5. Roll the sheet of pasta along its shorter edge.
6. Using a knife, cut the roll like sushi into small slices.
7. Open the rolls with your hand and dust with flour.
8. Cook or dry the pasta.

Resource:

Zangara, Manuela. Homemade Pasta Made Simple: a Pasta Cookbook with Easy Recipes & Lessons to Make Fresh Pasta Any Night. Rockridge Press, 2017.