Questions concerning pasta dough

5081 Views 31 Replies 8 Participants Last post by kokopuffs, Oct 28, 2015

kokopuffs

Discussion Starter · Sep 22, 2015

This weekend I'll be using my Marcato Atlas pasta machine for the first time. On hand are semolina flour from Bob's Red Mill and some real Italian Caputo 00 flour. The final flour mixture will be a 50-50 blend of both flours along with some salt. For the dough I plan to use one of two recipies: Ruhlman's where the eggs are weighed and multiplied by 1.5 to give the weight of the flour; or, use one egg for every 100g of flour. Any helpful comments are welcome.

The pasta noodles will be made at my house and will then be transported to a friend's house a couple of minutes away where they'll be cooked. Again, I need some info concerning a slight delay in cooking them. Should the noodles be floured and covered with plastic wrap (also during transport) or what?

Once made, the noodles will be hung on a pasta rack but for how long before transport?????

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chefross

· #4 · Sep 23, 2015

I make pasta at work weekly kokopuffs.

I use The French Laundry recipe doctored.

Semolina and all purpose flour with egg yolks, olive oil, pinch of salt, and a splash of vinegar.

Kneading and resting the dough are important.

IMHO you can throw out pasta recipes, cause when you get into making the dough, it's the consistency issue that makes or breaks the pasta.

Recipes are merely guidelines.

The amount of flour you must keep adding to make the dough less sticky while rolling, causes you to utilize more flour then the recipe calls for

in the first place.

And.........I can make, res,t roll, and cut my pasta, toss it with flour and place it on a pan with no covering in the morning.

Depending on the humidity in my kitchen that pasta will be okay on that counter all day until dinner service. Covering the pasta will cause the dough to stay moist. Placing it in the fridge will cause you to toss it in flour again to release the individual strands.

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chefross

· #6 · Sep 23, 2015

flipflopgirl said:
So @Chefross when mixing flours which one do you use when adding the extra during the kneading and rolling?

A mix?

It doesn't matter?

mimi

I usually use all purpose for rolling.

That being said, I make pasta dough (s) other then egg.

For instance, if I'm making tomato pasta, I'll tend to use more semolina then a/p or if I'm making spinach pasta I'll need more a/p then semolina.

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chefross

· #17 · Sep 26, 2015

Someday said:
I always thought that adding acid to a pasta dough was to prevent oxidation and keep it from turning that unpleasant gray/green color it can get after a day or two.

That is a by-product of the step Foodpump mentioned.

If I have any unused dough, it goes into a Foodsaver bag and the freezer.

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chefross

· #23 · Oct 28, 2015

matrixx said:
Hello chef's,

I have recently made some fresh pasta dough. I used the ratio 1 whole egg to 100g All Purpose flour. For me it works fine. But when it comes in cutting the pasta sheets to be Linquini in the pasta maker, it didn't cut through nicely. I have to manually separate the pasta one by one. Question: Do I have to dry my pasta sheets for a few minutes before cutting it in the cutter attachment? Thank you

More flour. Flour is your friend. After rolling the pasta, lay it out on the counter with ample flour on both sides. Let the dough rest and dry some before passing it through the linguine die.

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chefross

· #30 · Oct 28, 2015

matrixx said:
Thank you chefross. I'll do what you recommend me to do. More flour indeed. How do you store your fresh pasta after drying it. I'm planning to sell some in the future. I have done before this but it only took me a week and the dried pasta got molds already.

I make pasta regularly. I use the hand cranked "Imperial" machine. I have the electric attachment for it but rarely use it as I like to be in control of the pasta.

To answer the questions.....again....I say that flour is the friend here.

It creates a barrier that allows the sheet to pass through the cutting blades and separate into strands the way you want it too. Drying the dough for 5-10 minutes before you cut also allows for extra drying time.

Too much moisture in the dough causes the blades NOT to cut all the way through, making you have to pull on the strand to separate them.

I make my pasta the day of service and do not store it, but that being said, when I did make pasta en mass, after cutting the dough, it got tossed with flour and set on a sheet pan covered well with plastic wrap.

I did this for Sunday brunch pasta station. I made the pasta on Thursday for Sunday.

Also....you could take the pasta from the machine and mold it into a circular pile, sprinkle it with flout then allow it to dry in a 175 degree oven until crisp. It will be very fragile this way.

And you could also toss the pasta with flour then freeze it.It all depends on what and when you intend to use the pasta.

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chefross

· #31 · Oct 28, 2015

kokopuffs said:
Could it be that his sheet of pasted needed another pass thru the flat rollers which maybe should be adjusted closer together to achieve a thinner sheet of pasta??????

Koko....I don't believe that would make any difference because the dough is too moist and the cutters, no matter what setting, will only cut through so far leaving with you the problem of having to separate them by hand.

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