Necessary for 4-5 people
flour 1lb (which flour? see below)
water 7oz (less than 1/2 of weight of flour)
salt
olive oil (if using a pasta machine)
a rolling pin and/or a pasta machine
a clean table
Preparation
Tagliatelle are easiest. Other shapes need molds or a lot of skill, so try tagliatelle first. Make a little volcano with the flour and a tsp salt in some container, pour in the water slowly and mix with your (clean) hands. Add water until you made a dough ball that feels like play-doh: malleable but not sticky. IMPORTANT: err on the dry side. Water should be just enough to make the flower stick together, and it takes a while and quite a bit of kneading for the water to become evenly distributed. Thus, if at the beginning you have some flour dust that doesn’t seem to want to become one with the dough ball, resist the temptation to add more water.
Next, leave the dough ball to rest some 20-30 minutes in a humid kitchen towel. Why, you ask? Some on the internet argue that, without resting, the dough “freaks out” because of some “gluten bonds” related voodoo. Many claim that because of the same gluten voodoo the dough becomes easier to work with. My Italian father says the rest enables a “kind of yeast rising” (although there is no yeast). My Chinese wife says “that’s obvious, you need the flour to ‘wake up'”. This does not make sense to me, but both people are far better cooks than me, so who am I to argue with them, their millenary traditions, and the wisdom of the Internet? As a reductionist, I imagine that it has something to do with the above-mentioned fact that achieving uniform humidity throughout the dough ball is hard (yet necessary for a predictable flavor and texture). It has happened to me, with thick pasta and absent resting, that some strands tasted floury in the middle while most were fully cooked.
Model the ball into thin sheets and cut the sheets into strips. All along, keep smearing the dough with flour so it does not stick to the table or to itself. If you have time, let dry for a day, otherwise just throw in salted boiling water and cook until al dente (~5-7 minutes, but the exact time will depend on the flour you use, the amount of water, and obviously on the drying time; so experiment and, while cooking, take the occasional sample using a clean fork).
Additional thoughts
Using a pasta machine
A pasta machine is a small investment that saves you a ton of work that you’d have to otherwise do by hand and rolling pin. It’s also fun to turn the crank. However, beware of cheap ones. I use Imperia, which has lasted me a very long time (I am not sponsored by them, obviously). When using a machine, initially feeding dough pieces into the roll press can feel difficult and somewhat frustrating, especially if they are dry (as advised above). The dough may refuse to go through, or go through in pieces. There is such a thing as technique. Here is some advice.
- Add half teaspoon of oil per 1 lb of flour to make it easier on you and the machine.
- Do not insert the dough all at once. A 1lb-flour ball can make 6-8 sheets in my experience.
- Do a first rough pass with the rolling pin. Inserting a flat-shaped disc of dough inbetween the rolls is much easier than inserting a ball.
- As a second pass, work on the thickest setting the machine allow. Pass the pasta through 2-3 times. Each time, fold the resulting sheet in half, lightly smear it with semolina, and feed it back in. This provides additional kneading that helps achieve uniform distribution of water and salt throughout the dough. Each pass should be easier than the previous one and the dough should become less and less prone to breaking.
- As a final pass, set the machine on a thinner setting. The final thickness depends on which shape pasta you are going for. My machine has 6 thickness levels (from 1 to 6). I do the first pass at 6 and the second pass at 2 (tagliatelle) and 3 (pizzoccheri). For extremely thin product such as lasagna flats and ravioli skin, you may need an extra pass down to the thinnest setting. The thinner it gets, the more you need semolina smearing
- Smear with semolina flour all the parts of the machine that are in contact with the dough, and make sure they stay smeared, otherwise you’ll have an EPIC FAIL (especially if your dough is too wet).
Which flour?
Top Italian chefs suggest to use semolina (i.e. durum wheat) flour, which is also used by every Italian brand of dry pasta. This can be found, e.g., at Whole Foods. Typical semolina flour is yellowish color. Some advice:
- Some suggest a 75% durum / 25% white flour blend. I find it is fine to have no more than 25% white flour when making fresh pasta meant for immediate consumption. It makes the preparation easier and tastes good. Pay attention, however – there’s a reason why we use semolina. Too much white flour and the noodles become “billboard glue”.
- Individual circumstances and tastes vary, so experimentation is always a worthwhile investment! E.g., you can experiment with whole wheat flour for a heartier taste. Always use at least 50% semolina flour.
- Use buckwheat flour for soba-like tagliatelle (they are made in the Alps, and they are called Pizzoccheri). I use a 50-25-25 mix (semolina-white-buckwheat). Note that 25% buckwheat is plenty to get the coarse texture, the gray color, and the flavor.
- Always mix flour before adding water!
What about egg?
You can add some egg to the mix, that will make pasta yellower and tastier, and easier to work with because it sticks less to your fingers and tools. Moreover, using egg will enable you to use more (or even exclusively) white flour – a handy thing if all you have is white all-purpose flour and no time to go find semolina. Egg noodles are softer and faster-cooking, still qualify as “pasta”, and they won’t taste like billboard glue.
On the other hand, egg pasta has a higher calory, fat and protein content and it will taste of egg which clearly is not always a welcome feature. If you are making lasagna for oven use, it’s probably best to use egg because it cooks more easily and a hint of egg taste makes sense.
