BASIC
HOME-MADE PASTA DOUGH:
4
cups (1 lb.) all purpose flour
4
large eggs
½
tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
½
tsp. salt
Measure
and mound the flour on a smooth flat work surface. Make a well in the center of
the flour. Drop the eggs, salt and olive oil into the well. With a fork, beat
together the eggs and oil and begin to incorporate the flour into egg mixture,
starting with the inner rim of the well.
As you expand the well, keep mixing the flour and egg mixture and
working it until a cohesive mass is formed. Lightly flour the board and start
kneading this with both hands, using the palm of your hands. Continue kneading
for 5-10 minutes until dough becomes smooth and quite elastic and a little
sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic, or covered by an inverted bowl, and allow it
to rest for 1 hour, at room temperature.
To
cut pasta without a pasta machine:
Divide dough into 4 parts. Using a rolling pin, roll each portion paper
thin or at least 1/8-inch thick, dusting with flour as necessary to prevent
sticking.
For fettuccine and
tagliatelle—roll each thin sheet into a long jelly-roll. Cut the roll into
½-inch strips for fettuccini and ¾-inch for tagliatelle; unrolling the strips
as you go so they don’t stick together. Cover straight-back chairs with plastic
wraps, and drape pasta strips over the tops of chairs. Let the strips dry for
30 minutes.
For lasagne--- cut pasta
sheet into 1 ½ to 2-inch strips.
For manicotti and
cannelloni, cut pasta sheet into 4-inch squares.
To cut pasta using pasta machine: Set the smooth
rollers of a pasta machine at the highest number (the rollers should be wide
apart). Divide dough into 6 pieces and flatten each piece into a rectangle.
Cover the remaining pieces while working with one piece. Dust the dough with
flour and feed it through the rollers. Feed through the machine several times,
according to the manufacturer’s instructions, until you have a long, thin sheet
of pasta, ready to be cut into various sizes.
To cut Fettuccini, spaghetti
or tagliatelle—use the cutter blades with various sizes. Feed one end of a
sheet through the blades, holding the other end straight up from the machine.
Catch the strips from underneath the machine before the sheet goes completely
through the rollers. Drape pasta strips over plastic covered chair-backs to
dry.
For lasagne or cannelloni,
or ravioli, cut the sheets to the desired lengths.
To cook fresh pasta: Bring 6 to 7 quarts of water to a
rolling boil and add 2 tbsp. salt. Blanch in boiling salted water for 1 to 2
minutes. Drain and serve with sauce.
VARIATION OF PASTA DOUGH:
1. Herb Pasta
dough: To infuse basic pasta with herbs
or cooked vegetables, first chop or puree herbs to the texture of flour.
Incorporate them in the ratio of 2 -3 tablespoons per pound of pasta. Stir or
blend them into the eggs and carefully kneading it into the flour. Care should be taken in rolling them in the
pasta machine as flavoured pastas tear more easily.
2. Green Pasta
dough:
4 cups all
purpose flour
4 large eggs
½ tsp. olive
oil
½ tsp. salt
6 oz. frozen
spinach, defrosted, squeezed very dry, finely chopped
Add spinach into flour with the eggs and proceed as
regular pasta dough.
3. Black pepper
pasta---add 2 tbsp. finely ground fresh pepper into the eggs.
4. Whole wheat pasta:
3 to 3 ½ cups whole wheat flour
3 large
eggs, beaten
2 tbsp.
butter
½ cup warm
milk
fine
cornmeal for dusting
Melt butter in the warm milk. Let it cool. Add milk
mixture with the eggs to the well of flour and proceed to make pasta dough as
before.
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