Sunday, January 19, 2003


testing, cont'd

and today's the second batch of pasta test dough. just wanted to work on the technique a little and ensure all the dust is gone from the rollers.

note the recipe i'm using is purely for test purposes. you wouldn't eat this recipe; it's not nice. a better recipe would have italian 00 flour, more eggs, olive oil.

or we could trust the queen of italian cooking, anna del conte, who offers this simple recipe from emiliana-romagna. "this is the pasta italians like to make because it is the best pasta," she says: 1-1/2 c. italian 00 unbleached flour and 2 eggs. that's it. nothing more.

she advises you to roll the dough out to setting 7 for all types of pasta. she validates my experience: for tagliatelle, etc. the pasta sheets must be allows to dry until "beginning to become leathery" before you cut so those nests you'll make make for storage don't turn to goo-balls. still, there's an art to making those attractive little nests that's eluding me. . .

readers, do you or your nonna have any hints?

finally, on the drying situation -- pasta left flat to dry curls most amusingly. and weirdly, the pasta thickens as it dries. but it's a bummer to store like this. maybe the purchase of a good drying stand would be in order after all.

gravity keeps that fettucine straight. until the cat knocks the whole thing over on the floor. . .

another alternative: buy cornmeal and waxed paper. put down a sheet of waxed paper, put the cut pasta you want to dry overnight on it, sprinkle it with cornmeal. on top of that, place more waxed paper, another layer of pasta, etc.

thus the weight of the pasta itself will help keep it straight.

ok, here's goes the second test batch! will apprise you one last time of what i learn; then next time, i make real pasta for eating. . .

if you are considering the purchase of the pasta roller attachment for your kitchen aid, so far i have to say that while a tad expensive, i'm thinking it's worth it. the only drawback is the darned dust.

but do prepare yourself for the learning curve, and set aside time to practice, unless you're already a pasta pro. . .

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