Questions concerning pasta dough

5086 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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panini

· #21 · Sep 27, 2015

@kokopuffs , it is really like bread. After a while you just know the right consistency. I made pasta dough tonight just for the two of us. I caught myself. I actually do something to test the dough. After mixing everything on the counter and I'm getting one mass and I knead it a little. Then I caught myself putting my hand on top of the ball and spreading my fingers a little and push down to see how the dough rises up between my fingers. It cam up fast so I went and added flour without even thinking.

I tried explaining to my wife how excited I was to discover this, she just looked up and asked, so we're not having pasta?

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matrixx

· #22 · Oct 28, 2015

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

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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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kokopuffs

Discussion Starter · #24 · Oct 28, 2015

Chefross said:
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.

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??????

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flipflopgirl

· #25 · Oct 28, 2015 (Edited)

kokopuffs said:
Chefross said:

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.

Click to expand...

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??????

The noodles are described as difficult to separate which would be a lack of moisture problem.

If the dough was any thinner it would most likely stick to the roller.

More flour is the usual tweak for this problem.

Flour is picky to work with when the ambient humidity is higher than usual and is most likely the reason that @matrixx is having problems with the "usual" recipe.

mimi

# see correction below....... sorry folks.

m.

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matrixx

· #26 · Oct 28, 2015

Chefross said:
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.

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.

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flipflopgirl

· #27 · Oct 28, 2015

OOPS!

I meant to say an overage of moisture problem....

My bad.

mimi

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kokopuffs

Discussion Starter · #28 · Oct 28, 2015

flipflopgirl said:
OOPS!

I meant to say an overage of moisture problem....

My bad.

mimi

8)

Please re-edit your original post to read:

The noodles are described as difficult to separate which would be (EDIT) an overage of moisture problem......

8)

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flipflopgirl

· #29 · Oct 28, 2015

kokopuffs said:
flipflopgirl said:

OOPS!

I meant to say an overage of moisture problem....

My bad.

mimi

Click to expand...

8)

Please re-edit your original post to read:

The noodles are described as difficult to separate which would be (EDIT) an overage of moisture problem......

8)

I would but have recently been bumfuzzled by threads with edits (mostly the ones with entire sentences deleted or changed but even one word can make a big difference if someone has already read the post with inaccurate advice) and am trying to get in the habit of proofreading twice before hitting send.

Thanks for the suggestion tho.

mimi

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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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kokopuffs

Discussion Starter · #32 · Oct 28, 2015 (Edited)

Chefross said:
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.

THAT statement explains it better, the inability to cut all the way thru due to moistness. Dryness on the other hand allows for separation.

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