Home Made Pasta
Pasta is one of my favorite ingredients—it is a simple ingredient but can be used in many ways.
It can be rustic and homey or elegant and delicate depending on how you use it. It also has a rich history and tradition that I find fascinating. As a professional chef, I have spent a large part of my career working for an Italian restaurant concept and have done extensive research on pasta. I am excited to share that knowledge with you today.
History of Pasta and Noodles
I love learning about the history of food. The culinary traditions we have today are largely born out of which ingredients were available in different regions of the world.
Pasta is as good example of that. It is one of the simplest preparations of flour and one of the most popular ingredients in the world. The word “pasta” is from the Italian word for “paste,” and is simply flour mixed with water and sometimes eggs to form a paste that is then cooked in boiling water. Outside of Italy, this same preparation is referred to as “noodles.” The two cultures that have had the greatest impact on pasta and noodles are Italy and China. Both regions developed their own version based on the local ingredients and climates.
Italian Pasta
In Italy, high-gluten durum wheat is readily available. This was used to create a protein rich pasta that can be dried and stored for long periods of time. The Italians also developed fresh pasta which is made from a softer bread flour with eggs added to increase the protein. Pasta makers formed guilds and developed regional pastas and recipes which resulted in hundreds of different shapes of pasta. There are also regional traditions of pairing specific sauces with a shape of pasta that perfectly complements the sauce.
Chinese Noodles
The wheat grown in China is a soft, low-gluten wheat that produces delicate and thin noodles (called “mein”) and wrappers that are often cooked in broths. China invented stuffed pasta and made thin-walled wontons and thicker-walled pot stickers before the ravioli was developed in Italy.
Understanding Wheat Flour
Wheat flour is unique. In most cases, if you mix a fine powder with water, you get a wet paste. If you mix wheat flour with water however, you get a dough that can be changed by kneading and time.
Wheat doughs are made up of water, the starch from wheat and the gluten from wheat. Wheat flour contains two proteins, gliadin and glutenin, that mix with water to form gluten. Gliadin is very extensible and gives adhesive properties to gluten. Glutenin is a large protein that gives the dough strength and elasticity. These two properties are key to the structure of dough and can be thought of as this:
Extensibility: the ability to compress or shape the dough
Elasticity: when compressed or stretched, the dough returns to its original size
While we certainly need both properties in dough, you will want to have more extensibility in a pasta that needs to hold its shape like penne pasta versus needing more elasticity in a pasta dough that will be stretched out like a fettuccine. This helps you to determine which flour to use for which types of pasta.
For pasta there are two main types of wheat to consider: durum wheat and bread wheat.
Durum wheat is an ancient grain that is one of the first cultivated wheats. Over time the wheat plants evolved by cross breeding with other varieties into a new species of wheat that had a more elastic dough which was useful for making bread. This modern bread wheat was preferred for its usefulness in cooking and now makes up 90% of the wheat grown in the world. Durum wheat is higher in gliadin than modern bread flour, thus durum has more extensibility than bread flour. This is useful when choosing which type of flour to use when making pasta dough or how to blend them. If I want very silky, stretchy pasta I use modern bread flour. If I want a dough that will hold its shape more, I use durum flour. Often, I make a blend of both flours.
Types of flour in Italy and the US
Flour is labeled differently in the US and Italy. United States manufacturers often label flour based on its intended purpose: bread flour, cake flour, all purpose, etc. Italian flour is not designated as such but by grind size: 00, 0, 1, 2 with 00 being the finest and 2 being the coarsest. Softer grinds will be more supple and smooth, while coarser grinds will have a more textured mouthfeel. Often you hear of using “00 flour for pasta.” This is likely referring to a soft wheat 00 flour which would be great for fresh pasta, but a coarser grind of high protein durum flour would be useful for extruding rigatoni. I recommend looking at the protein content of the flour in addition to the grind size. Higher protein: sturdier dough/ lower protein: softer dough.
Fresh Pasta vs. Dried Pasta
Pasta can be categorized into two main types: Fresh and Dried.
These pastas were influenced by the regions in which they were developed.
Dried Pasta
In the southern part of Italy, durum wheat was more readily available. Because durum wheat has a high protein content, they developed a pasta using durum flour (called semolina) and water. The pasta was able to be dried and stored for long periods. Originally dried pasta was made by hand into short shapes like trofie, orrechiette, and cavatelli. Later a method was developed called “extrusion” where pasta dough is pushed though the holes of a dye at high pressure. This enabled pasta makers to create new shapes that were not able to be made by hand like spaghetti, bucatini, linguine, fusilli, rigatoni, and penne. The pressure and heat from pushing the dough through the dye breaks up the protein networks in the dough and mixes them with the starch granules that have been partially gelatinized by the heat from the dye. The result is a sturdy pasta that dries well and holds its shape.
Originally dyes were made from bronze because of its ability to transfer heat. Modern dyes are sometimes made from Teflon and extrude pasta that is firmer and smoother. The bronze dyes produce a pasta with a rougher surface which holds the sauce better. I prefer pasta made with bronze dyes if it is available.
Fresh Pasta
In Central and Northern Italy, softer bread flour was grown. Bread flour has a low protein content, so eggs were added to the dough. These doughs can not be stored as long due to the eggs and should be used soon after or refrigerated for a few days.
Fresh pasta is typically made with bread flour, eggs, and water. It is sometimes mixed with semolina flour to add extensibility. Fresh pasta dough is traditionally rolled using a long thin rolling pin called a “matarello.” It can also be made into sheets using a hand operated dough sheeter or a mechanical mixer attachment. The sheets are then rolled and cut into long this strips or squares and made into various shapes like fettuccine, tagliatelle, pappardelle, garganelli, farfalle, lasagne sheets, and various shapes for ravioli.
Below are two videos on how to make pasta dough. One with flour, water, and eggs and one with only flour and water.
How to Cook Pasta
Dried pasta and fresh pasta are cooked in similar ways as all pasta should be cooked in a large volume of salted, boiling water. Pasta needs plenty of water to cook in.
Dried pasta
For dried pasta, a good rule of thumb is 1 gallon of water, to 1 fl oz of salt, to 1 lb of dried pasta. Bring your water to a boil, then add your salt, then add your pasta. Never break the pasta when adding to boiling water. There is a saying in Italy that if you break the pasta, you break your mother’s heart. It is also not necessary to add oil to the water. This has become a practice in the US for some reason and is not necessary. The myth is that it flavors the pasta and helps keep it from sticking. This is simply not true.
After it has been in the water for a few minutes, begin stirring the pasta. Use a pasta fork for long pasta or a cook spoon for short pastas. As the pasta cooks, it will release starch into the water and the salted water will seep into the pasta causing the dough to gelatinize. I don’t rely on the cook time on the package, I usually begin checking my pasta a few minutes sooner than the recommended cook time. You will know when pasta is done by the texture. Dried pasta should be cooked to “al dente” which means firm to the tooth. Taste your pasta, the center of the pasta should be slightly firm, but not crunchy. Remember that the pasta will continue to cook after it is removed from the water and cooked in the sauce.
Fresh pasta
Fresh pasta is more delicate and will cook much faster than dried pasta. It also needs a lot of boiling salted water to cook in. The main difference in fresh pasta is the texture. It will not be as al dente as dried pasta because the dough is softer. However, you should still take care not to over cook fresh pasta or it will be mushy. Look for the pasta to have just a little bit of texture to the tooth in the center as you bite it, but not as firm as dried pasta.
The best practice is to heat your sauce in a separate pan while your pasta cooks. When the pasta is ready, drain it and reserve a small amount of the starchy pasta water it was cooked in. Do not rinse the pasta, you want to keep the starch on the outside of the pasta as it will help flavor and thicken your sauce. Add your drained pasta to the hot sauce and a little of the pasta water. Stir and toss over heat to incorporate the starch into the sauce and thicken it, then serve.
Pasta Recipes
Try these pasta recipes and let us know how they come out in the comments Take a pic of your dish and tag us on social @lineagculinary