Pasta from Scratch: Cooking the pasta

Introduction

The final step to creating a home-made pasta dish is cooking it, which is the easiest and fastest part of the process. After cooking your pasta, you can mix it with sauce, cheese, or eat them plain if that's what you prefer. 

Cooking

First, fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil on the stove. Add sea salt to the water to be absorbed by the pasta. Once the water is bubbling, add your pasta to the pot, stirring occasionally. The amount of time needed to cook your pasta al dente, or firm to the bite, varies depending on the type of pasta you are making. Both farfalle and fettuccine take only 2 minutes to cook if the dough is fresh. However, Manuela Zangara says, "Use the cooking times listed in this book as a reference only," (Zangara, 40). Dried pasta will take longer to cook compared to fresh pasta, so that is another important thing to remember. The only way to make sure your pasta is truly done is to taste it. Is it hard in the center? Keep it cooking a few more minutes. Too soft and chewy? It is probably overcooked. 

Draining

If your pasta is al dente, then its time to drain it. You can do this with a colander (food strainer) or slotted spoon. If you are cooking stuffed pasta or gnocchi Zangara recommends a slotted spoon since they are more delicate than other kinds of pasta.

What's Next?

However you choose to eat your pasta is up to you. Sauces and cheeses, whether homemade or store-bought, can be mixed with your pasta as soon as it has been drained. In Zangara's book, Homemade Pasta made Simple, many of the pasta recipes include a sauce recipe if you don't know what type of sauce to pair your pasta with.

My farfalle and fettuccine recipe, unfortunately, was a failure. Both the portions of pasta were rolled too thick which caused me to cook them for over 10 minutes. After draining them and mixing with a sauce and cheese, I can now say that it was the most unpleasant bowls of pasta I have ever had. Yet this will not stop me from trying to make another batch next time! It was a great learning experience and I am glad I did it.

Will you try to make pasta from scratch? If so, what type of pasta would you want to make?

Source:

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

Pasta from Scratch: drying and storing your pasta

Introduction

If you choose to save your pasta for later, drying and storing it properly is an easy yet essential skill to learn.  If you simply want to cook your pasta later in the day, let it rest for 30 minutes then keep it in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. If you decide to cook your pasta right after letting it rest for 30 minutes, skip this blog and head to my next one, which is about cooking your pasta.

Drying

During the drying process, you can use a pasta frame with mesh. Just place the pasta on the frame and dry the pasta for about 15 hours depending on the thickness of the pasta and the air quality. However, a normal baking sheet is useful for drying, but you must rotate the pasta every so often to ensure all sides dry evenly. Do not clump the pasta together or it will take longer to dry. If you are drying long pasta like fettuccine, hang the pasta on a drying rack, which can be substituted for household items like a cloth drying rack or hanger. According to Manuela Zangara, “Keep the pasta in a dry but ventilated place so that it can dry without forming a superficial crust that will keep it damp on the inside,” (Zangara, 37).

I decided to place my farfalle on a baking sheet, making sure to rotate them once or twice every hour. Then, after drying for about 6 hours, I left them to sit overnight to finish the drying process. For my fettuccine, I created a home-made drying rack and hung it on a rod in my pantry. This was very effective in drying the pasta, but I recommend leaving a baking sheet directly under the drying rack because some of the pasta broke and unfortunately fell to the floor.

Storing

Place your dried pasta in a plastic bag to be stored in your pantry for up to one month. Stuffed pasta cannot be stored in the pantry. Place it in a ziplock bag in your refrigerator and it can be eaten within a day unless you decide to freeze it. Frozen pasta in a ziplock bag will last for two months, yet it must be completely dry because moisture will lead to mold.  



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

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.

Pasta from Scratch: Making the Dough

Introduction

Before you can learn all the pasta recipes you are eager to try on your own, you must know how to make the dough. All it takes is four steps, but your dough will not come out properly if you don’t make sure you are doing the steps correctly. In this post, I will share how to prepare the dough with a step-by-step recipe that takes only 45 minutes.

Step 1: Measuring your ingredients

Manuela Zangara’s recipe requires only flour and eggs like a traditional egg pasta dough. She uses 14 ounces (1¾ cups) of all-purpose or 00 flour and 4 large eggs. To change the measurements for however many people you are planning to feed, Manuela says, “The proportion is 3½ ounces of flour and one large egg per person,” (Zangara, 14). If you plan to use durum wheat to make the pasta dough, switch the 4 eggs for ¾ cup (about 7 ounces) lukewarm water and follow the same steps. The proportions are 3½ ounces of durum wheat flour and 1¾ ounces water per person. If you are vegan, durum wheat pasta is a great option.

Step 2: Making a well

After measuring your ingredients, find a large and clean work surface in your kitchen. Pour the flour onto the work surface, then make a hole in the middle using your fingers that will be big enough to fit the eggs. To ensure you do not have eggshells in your dough and the eggs are fresh, break the eggs in a bowl before placing them into the hole, which is called the well. Finally, use a fork to beat the eggs and place any additional ingredients (food coloring, salt, etc.) you wish to add in the well.

Well in mixing bowl

Step 3: Mixing the ingredients

Press the flour into the eggs with your fingers until your dough is formed. It will be sticky, so fold in a little more flour until all the ingredients are well combined. Zangara’s advice for beginners is to use a bowl, stand mixer, or food processor to mix the dough. I will be using a stand mixer for my dough so I will put the ingredients in the mixer with the paddle attachment, them mix on a low speed until combined.

Beating the eggs

Mixing the ingredients

Step 4: Kneading the dough

The dough should be firm and no longer sticky to be ready for kneading. Place it on your work surface, pushing forward and down into the dough with the palm of your hand. Rotate the dough then repeat until it is smooth and elastic, which should take 5-10 minutes. If you knead longer than 10 minutes, the pasta texture will be hard to roll and chewy when cooked because the gluten will be overdeveloped. When using a stand mixer, simply replace the paddle attachment with a hook attachment after mixing and knead for 5 minutes on a medium-high speed.

I chose not to use the stand mixer for my kneading to get a feel for what the dough should look and feel like, so I knew  I was preparing the dough properly. Also, I put wax paper down so the dough would not stick to the counter and I would not dust with too much flour.

Dusting the dough with flour

Kneading the dough

Step 5: resting the dough

Wrapping the dough tightly in plastic wrap and letting it rest is a very important step in the process. “When you knead it, you help develop the gluten in the flour. Gluten makes your dough springy and elastic. If you try to roll the dough immediately after kneading it, you’ll find it to be very difficult, as the dough will simply spring back on itself. The resting time allows the flour to continue to hydrate, and the gluten network to relax, thus making the rolling step much easier,” (Zangara, 15). Rest the dough for 30 minutes. 

I recommend taking the 30 minutes to clean up your workspace for the next step, which is to shape the dough.

Letting the dough rest

Resource: 

Zangara, Manuela. “Chapter 2: The Dough.” Homemade Pasta Made Simple: a Pasta Cookbook with Easy Recipes & Lessons to Make Fresh Pasta Any Night, Rockridge Press, 2017, pp. 11–18.

Pasta from Scratch: Ingredients and Equipment

Introduction

Making pasta from scratch consists of ingredients and equipment you may already have in your kitchen. In Homemade Pasta Made Simple by Manuela Zangara, a maximum of five ingredients are used when making traditional Italian pasta. However, not all of the ingredients are necessary to use in your cooking. Also, there is a list of essential and non-essential tools when making homemade pasta. In this post, I will share the different ingredients and equipment you will need to get started when learning how to make your own pasta.

Personally, I am a big fan of pasta. I have been eating it my entire life and never gotten tired of it. I am excited to learn about how to make homemade pasta and share it with the class, especially since making pasta could be a fun activity with friends and family, a gift idea, or the start of a cooking career.

Book Cover

The Ingredients

Flour

   While there is a wide array different grains available to achieve a certain flavor or color in pasta, the most popular grain to use is wheat. The two types of wheat used are  common wheat and durum wheat. Common wheat is paired with eggs to make pasta, whereas durum wheat is paired with water. Manuela Zangara says, "Common wheat is perfect for making bread, but it doesn't have as much gluten as durum wheat. A flour made from common wheat is weak, and the dough made from it tends to break easily and become slippery when cooked. That is why pasta made with common wheat flour requires eggs, which provide protein that acts a bit like gluten when it comes to dough making," (Zangara, 4). Flours made from common wheat are All-purpose and 00 (zero-zero). Ribbon pasta and stuffed pasta are usually made with these flours because they are very pliable. Durum wheat is high in protein, which means it does not need eggs when being turned into pasta. Hand-shaped pasta is made from durum wheat since the dough is stiff enough to hold its shape.

Both of the recipes I will show you in later blog posts will be using All-purpose or 00 flour.

All-Purpose Flour

Eggs

  When using eggs, make sure they are fresh and break them in a separate bowl to ensure the egg has not spoiled and there are no eggshell pieces. They should be large eggs (about 2 ounces each) and bring them to room temperature before mixing with the flour. 

Water

  Once again, water is only used when making pasta from durum wheat. The water should be lukewarm.

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt

Both extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt are not required when preparing pasta. When putting salt in dough, Zangara recommends using the finest salt you can find. Only use 1 tablespoon of salt in pasta for four people. For olive oil, she says, "However, if you want to use it, choose a light and fruity extra-virgin olive oil so the flavor doesn't overpower the final taste of your pasta. Do not use more than 1 to 2 table spoons when making pasta for four people," (Zangara, 5).

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt

The Equipment

Essential Tools

Here is a list of some of the most basic tools you will need to make the two recipes provided in  my later blog posts. While there are more tools for pastas of specific shapes and more difficulty, I will share only the ones needed for all types of pasta.

• Baking sheets: place the pasta you have already made on a baking sheet as you continue to make more before cooking them. Dust the baking sheet with flour so that the pasta does not stick.
• Knives and/or Pizza cutter: used to cut the dough.
• Pasta Machine: rolls out the dough to a uniform thickness.
• Rolling Pin: rolls out the dough (essential if you do not have a pasta machine).
• Plastic Wrap: keeps the dough from drying out. When the dough dries, it will crust and will be non-pliable.
• Kitchen Scale: weighs your ingredients. Zangara highly recommends using one if you are a beginner. 

Non- Essential Tools

• Big bowl, Food processor, or Stand mixer: for bringing your ingredients together.
• Dough scraper: used to manipulate dough and clean surfaces.

I will be using a stand mixer when I show you the recipes I make from the book.

Stand Mixer

Resource:

Zangara, Manuela. “Chapter 1: Ingredients & Equipment.” Homemade Pasta Made Simple: a Pasta Cookbook with Easy Recipes & Lessons to Make Fresh Pasta Any Night, Rockridge Press, 2017, pp. 3–9.