You will become fresh pasta professors after studying this article
Before starting, let me clarify something that many people do not understand: Fresh pasta is not necessarily better than the dry one.
Many consumers mistakenly believe that fresh pasta is like fresh vegetables, fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh herbs and so on. In other words, they believe that fresh pasta is ALWAYS a much better product than the corresponding packaged one.
More over, in countries without a gastronomic culture on pasta, there are restaurants that use only fresh pasta and prepare all relative dishes with it, presenting the whole issue as something luxurious, gourmet and “homemade” (even if they buy the fresh pasta from industries). 3 years ago, in such a trendy restaurant in Amsterdam, I ate the worst pasta dish of the century, an aglio, olio e pepperoncino made with fresh tagliatelle (I didn´ t know it, at the time of the order) accompanied by a slice of …… awful bread!!!! And I paid more than 20 euros per portion !!! If this ever happened in Naples or Sicily, weapons would surely have been used!!!
So, we must understand that fresh pasta is not a substitute for dry one and that dry pasta is not a substitute for fresh. Τhey are just two different versions of similar (more or less) doughs. There are dishes which can be prepared only with dry pasta (the majority of famous Italian pasta dishes: alla carbonara, alla puttanesca, all’ amatriciana, all’ arrabbiata, alla norma etc), others which become godly, when made with fresh pasta (all of ragùs and tomato sauce based) and others which can be almost perfect with both types of pasta.
– What the fuck are you telling people? I remember that when I come to your home, I only find spaghetti and linguine. No other dried pasta shape. So, why do you lie?
– I don’t lie man, it is true that I make my own fresh pasta at least 3 times a week. So, we must learn how to make our own pasta, with organic flours and eggs.
Each Italian house, each Italian restaurant has its own way to prepare “la pasta fresca”, and they usually make it perfect. At the article you are going to read, I tried to combine the best elements of about 50-60 versions I have studied. I mixed them with my own experience of making fresh pasta for at least 20 years. And I do it always respecting the authentic Italian rules and rejecting foreign cooks eccentricities.
So, there are two main categories of fresh pasta. The one with eggs and the one without.
The first issue we are going to discuss is when do we use eggs in our pasta and when we do not? Hmm, this is a pretty long discussion.
Generally, egg made pasta is used in Northern Italy, meanwhile in the “beautiful south” the pasta dough is made without eggs. GENERALLY, I repeat. With exceptions.
Also as a general rule, the egg pasta is usually made in long and thin shapes, while the eggless one is made in shorter and thicker ones. Usually I repeat, with many exceptions. There is an easy explanation for this rule. Egg lecithin makes easier the distribution of ingredients in dough, increases its volume, protects the dough when frozen and generally produces a more resistant pasta dough.
The sauces are those which often determine if the pasta dough will contain eggs or not. There are sauces where egg pasta is almost obligatory (meat ragùs) and others where it is almost “forbidden” (fish and seafood sauces).
Some other times it is a matter of health. Pasta dough with eggs contains plenty of cholesterol, so its consumption must be limited or even avoided by persons with cardiovascular and other relative problems.
There are also sometimes that the kind of pasta dough has to do with what shape we want to give or with what we want to use it for. So, if we wanna prepare pasta for stuffing, egg dough is obligatory as yolk lecithin makes the dough more resistant, property required for a perfect stuffing.
CONCLUSION n 1 (and a table with pasta shapes)
The use of egg in fresh pasta is determined by many parameters as the tradition, the shape, the sauce, the consumers’ health etc. After all, we distinguish:
a) Pasta shapes almost obligatorily made with eggs:
Tortellini, Cappelletti, Agnolotti, Fagottini, Mezzelune, Ravioli and generally all doughs for stuffing
b) Pasta shapes usually made with eggs:
Tagliatelle, Pappardelle, Fettuccine, Tagliolini, Capellini
c) Pasta shapes, which can be done either with or without eggs:
Reginette, Mafaldine, Maltagliati, Lasagne, Canelloni, Bigoli
d) Pasta shapes almost obligatorily made without eggs:
Orecchiette, strozzapreti, cavatelli, trofie and the known shapes of dried pasta (penne, rigatoni, spaghetti etc)
– May I ask you, something?
– Of course, tell me.
-I find a contradiction on the above categorization. For instance, what do we have to do if we want to prepare stuffed pasta (which, as you say, must be eggy) with seafood? Οr tagliatelle with cuttlefish ink?
-That’s a very good question. In that case, we substitute half of the egg quantity with about 4/5 of it in water. But we will talk about this issue later.
The next topic is about the flour(s) we have to use.
First of all I want to point out that there are some special pasta kinds which are made with whole grain flours, such as the Venetian bigoli (usually with whole grain wheat flour), the Lombardian pizzoccheri (partially with buckwheat flour) etc, but the majority of fresh pastas are made with bleached flour (made from soft wheat) or/and semolina (made from durum wheat).
The most common flours for fresh pasta with eggs is the soft wheat flour sometimes combined with fine durum semolina (in the first case the pasta becomes softer, while in the second, tighter and more resistant) and for eggless pasta the durum semolina, since we need a higher amount of proteins to produce more gluten, which will try to do the lecithin’s job.
Someone may ask which flours do I use when I prepare fresh pasta. Well, my favourite blends is a 60% soft wheat flour – 40 % durum semolina (I think that this proportion offers to the dough silkiness and resistance) for the egg pasta and a 90% durum semolina – 10% soft wheat flour for the eggless pasta (the addition of a small quantity of soft wheat flour makes the dough smoother).
CONCLUSION n 2
Soft wheat flour and semolina are the most usual selection for fresh pasta. Whole grain and buckwheat are used in particular cases.
– And what about the proportions of flour-liquid?
– Before replying to your question I wanna give a very important advice to the beginners of pasta making. Until the moment you will be experienced enough, use only a specific type and brand of flour. Whatever brand – the choice is yours – I would only suggest that you try an organic one. But stay hooked on one brand.
I give the same advice to the beginners in bread making, as well. The reason is clear. Every company follows a different procedure of producing flour, using wheats with different humidity and protein substance, having machines with slightly different measures etc. These micro-differences may create difficulties to a beginner, as sometimes the dough will be more humid and some others, drier.
So, to begin with: ONE flour, or ONE MIX of flours.
It is impossible to propose a standard ratio of eggs or water to flour(s), because as I already told you, flours have different (micro) sizes, humidity, protein amount and absorbing capacity and, moreover, each pasta shape has different needs. For example, it is almost impossible to make “spaghetti” with the pasta machine, if the dough has the common hydration. Also impossible is to prepare egg rigatoni or fusilli with the torch or the special pasta machines (as the Marcato Regina) or egg tagliolini using the classic egg pasta ratio 1 flour-0,6 eggs. The pasta will come too sticky and it will loose its shape during drying and boiling.
So, for pasta without eggs made with 100% semolina (semola rimacinata) my proposition is:
a) Αn hydration of about 50 -52%, when we prepare not fragile shapes, such as orecchiette or cavatelli.
b) When we want to prepare flat pasta (without eggs I repeat) such us tagliatelle or pappardelle, the hydration must vary between 44% and 48%, according to the special properties of semolina and pasta shape. Generally, we must keep in mind that a lower hydration makes the pasta less elastic and more difficult to knead, but at the same time less sticky and easier to be cut with the machine in thin shapes. We must also have in mind that pasta shapes such as tagliatelle etc cannot be dried well (they break when hung on the drying rack), if they are overwatered or not well kneaded. So we must find the golden point.
c) When we want to prepare rigatoni, fusilli, penne, maccheroni e maccheroncini, bucatini and other shapes using a torch or a pasta machine such as Marcato Reggina, the hydration must be about 42%. Yes, I know, the pasta is difficult to be kneaded and be shaped but it is the only way to have a pasta with perfect consistency.
ATTENTION: If our dough (without eggs) is partially made with flour from soft wheat (which has less proteins, so less absorbing ability than the semolina), we have to lower a little bit the hydration in all cases.
When the fresh pasta is made with eggs the traditional ratio is “one large egg for every 100 grams of flour”. I find this rule too general and not applicable on all shapes. But before I tell you my suggestion, allow me to make a useful parenthesis.
Egg composition is about 2 parts white – 1 part yolk. The white contains nearly 90% water, while the rest 10% of it is proteins. The water in yolk, instead, is only up to 52%, the rest of it is fats (27%), proteins (16%) and other substances (5%).
If we look carefully at these proportions we will realize that we will have to use a higher ratio of eggs than that of water into our pasta dough, as the eggs are less humid than water. But how much?
Hmmmmmmm. First of all we must stop confronting the egg as a unity. Egg whites may have a consistency that is similar to water, but yolks (which contain the lecithin protein, we are searching for) are a completely different thing, it would be impossible to knead pasta with a ratio 1 flour(s) – 0,4 egg yolk.
After all, we must keep in mind that:
a) When we want to prepare a non stuffed flat pasta with egg (e.g. pappardelle), we can use a proportion of about 63 g (+-3g) of whole eggs for every 100 g of flour(s).
b) When we want to prepare pasta for stuffing we have to raise the amount of yolks. How much?
One of the Italian masters of stuffed pasta, the great Gaetano Trovato, proposes 80 grams egg yolks for every 100 grams of (flour and semolina) + an egg white for every 20 yolks. It is clear that we can lower the egg yolks and substitute it with 20% less in egg whites or water (for every 10 g of yolks 8 g of whites or water), when we prepare stuffed pasta for seafood or for a more healthy result with less cholesterol, but the point is that the large amount of egg yolks raises the resistance of the dough.
c) When we prepare thin shapes of long egg pasta such as tagliolini, or we use the torch or pasta machines as the Marcato Reggina, we must lower the egg proportion to 50g every 100 grams of flour(s).
d) Finally, when we prepare ink pasta (usually linguine, maybe the most appropriate shape for seafood along with spaghetti) we reduce the egg proportion to half and we substitute every egg with 46 (+-2) g water. That means 200 g flour(s) – 65 g egg – 46 g water – a sac of ink.
ATTENTION: The above hydrations are for a flour mixture 50% flour from soft wheat-50% semolina from hard wheat, which I usually choose for my egg pasta.If our dough (with eggs) is completely made with flour from soft wheat (which has less proteins, so less absorbing ability than the semolina), we have to lower a little bit the hydration in all cases.
Oh, I forgot. There is one more category of fresh pasta, the coloured one. Actually, in Italy they prepare green pasta from nettles or spinach, red pasta from beetroots, brown pasta from porcini mushrooms etc.
If we want to prepare coloured pasta there are two ways:
a) To add directly the fresh product in the dough. This option gives to the pasta a better flavour, but also makes the pasta more difficult to prepare. The suggested proportion is 100 g flour(s) – 50 g eggs – 40 g boiled spinach or nettle or beetroot.
It is very important that the vegetables are perfectly steamed (that means extremely soft), perfectly drained (with as less humidity as possible) and perfectly melted (we search for a pulp, without lumps or hard pieces).
If we want to stuff our coloured pasta, we raise the yolk proportion, as explained before.
b) To make powders. On our website you will find a lot of pasta dishes made with powders of vegetables. Powders do not have the aromatic power of the fresh product, but they are available 365 days a year, always ready in our fridge to offer us colour and (reduced) aromas very easily. We just have to add 1 – 2 tsp of powder for every 250 g of flour (depending on how intense we want the colour and flavour to be) and subtract an equal quantity of flour(s).
To prepare a powder we must first completely dry the vegetables in a dehydrator. I repeat: COMPLETELY, following the manufacturer´s temperature and time suggestions. We dry the leaf vegetables, after washing and trimming them and the fruits or roots, after washing, trimming and cutting them in thin slices.
When ready, we put the dried veggies in the coffee grinder and we turn them into powder, as fine as possible. We pass the powder from a very fine sieve and we discard every hard piece, collected in the sieve, as it would destroy our dough.
With the same method we can prepare powders from dried mushrooms, sundried tomatoes or dried olives (we must pass everything from the dehydrator for the required time, until completely dry).
We can also add already made powders, such as turmeric, cocoa or pepperoncino to our pasta doughs to prepare yellow, brown or spicy pasta, very easily.
CONCLUSION n 3
Egg pasta dough for stuffing must be enriched with more yolks than whites, meanwhile egg pasta dough for the other shapes must be made with whole eggs.
Eggless pasta dough is made with a proportion of water a little bit lower, than half of the flour weight.
The precise quantity in water is determined by the shape of the pasta and the properties of the flour(s)
So, let’s start preparing our first egg pasta.
First of all, we beat the eggs in a large bowl with a whisk. The eggs must be at room temperature, otherwise they have not the same emulsifying ability. The beating, unlike what we do when preparing omelettes, must be relatively vigorous in order to obtain an homogeneous egg mixture. After beating the eggs for a while, we begin to slowly add the flour(s). We first mix with a fork or a spatula and, as soon as the dough starts to homogenize, we transfer it on a floured surface. There is also the electric mixer option, but I would suggest that you choose the manual way.
Why?
Because manual kneading is a medicine!! It relaxes us and provokes positive sentiments. It fills us with joy and satisfaction. It also helps us limit our belly!!
We knead for about 15 minutes, aiming for a soft, smooth, homogeneous and elastic result. It is very important that we don´t leave hard micro-pieces in the dough, as these pieces will provoke a pasta breaking during boiling. So, beware of the hard pieces and, each time you realize that your hands have hard pieces, try to completely dissolve them and incorporate them in the dough.
We knead the dough pushing and rolling it with our palms, as if we would like to make a massage and not with our fingers or fists. Kneading this way helps the gluten to develop, something that makes the pasta dough smooth and elastic.
We follow the same procedure for the manual kneading of a pasta dough with water.
If we don´t want to use our hands but to gain weight, to help our belly raise and to pay even more to the electrical company, we can use the mixer. We put the flour in the bowl we add the eggs and, using the hook, we start kneading at low speed for about 8 to 10 minutes. Every now and then, we scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and we incorporate the collected hard parts into the dough.
If we use water instead of eggs, the kneading via electric mixer is a little bit different. We sieve the 80% of the flour(s) into the bowl, we add the water, we turn the mixer on and we then add little by little the remaining quantity of the flour(s).
BEWARE: Electric mixer can knead the dough well, only if its quantity is abundant (the exact minimum quantity depends on mixer´s bowl but it is always more than 500 g flour). Otherwise the dough will not be pressed well by the hook on the bowl´s sides, the mixing will be poor and the dough will remain hard and not elastic.
– We have finished. At last!!!!!
– I don´t think so. We must first pass the “quality control”. We have to check our dough. We touch it. Is it smooth and elastic, as it has to be? If not, something went wrong. So, we may need to correct it by adding a little bit more water (if the dough is too dry), or flour (if the dough is too sticky) and continue (manually or mechanically) kneading for some more time.
We allow the mixture to rest in the refrigerator (the cold pasta can be shaped much better), wrapped very well in cling film for a minimum of 45 minutes, better more. Personally, I recommend preparing the pasta dough in advance (ideally 3-4 hours), in order to give it time to become smooth and easy to process and also to mature aromatically.
ATTENTION: We never put the dough in the freezer, at least before we cut it into the desired shapes. If we do so, it can not be processed properly and it will not give us a good result.
CONCLUSION n 4
Manual kneading is for many reasons preferable. Mechanical kneading with electric mixer must imitate the manual, which means that it must be done at low speeds. The final texture of the dough must be smooth and elastic, if not we correct it before proceeding to the next stage.
The next stage depends on the shape of the pasta.
If we want to make pasta shapes similar to the well known dried ones, we must use a manual press for pasta or the special attachments for mixers or machines like the Marcato Reggina. The procedure is easy. We add a piece of dough in the press, we start pressing or turning the lever and we cut the shaped dough to the desired length.
Have in mind that when we use the Marcato Regina or a similar pasta machine, our dough must always be very very cold, otherwise the formed pasta will be too sticky and soft.
If, on the other hand, we want to make a flattened pasta shape (lasagne, cannelloni, tagliatelle, pappardelle etc) or pasta shells for stuffing (ravioli, tortellini etc), we must use the pasta machine.
We first divide the pasta into pieces of about 100 g or more. We flatten them by hand (if this is not possible, it means that the dough is not as elastic and smooth, as it has to be), making rectangular pieces of dough, with a width a little bit narrower than that of the pasta machine (15 or 18 cm, depending on the model).
We flour each piece well (both sides) and we pass it from the thickest dimension (0 or 1 depending on model) of the machine, about 4 to 5 times. After the pass at the thickest dimension we fold the dough trying to create rectangular pieces with as less round edges as possible.
Pasta machines can be regulated to different positions and, therefore, they can produce pasta layers of different thickness. Marcato pasta machines have the following selections (Imperia pasta machines have similar ones), corresponding to the following thicknesses:
- No 0: 4,8 mm
- No 1: 3,7 mm
- No 2: 3,1 mm
- No 3: 2,4 mm
- No 4: 1,8 mm
- No 5: 1,5 mm
- No 6: 1,0 mm
- No 7: 0,8 mm
- No 8: 0,6 mm
- No 9: 0,5 mm
We gradually start reducing the thickness, proceeding to the next number.
More specifically:
We start from dimension 0 or 1 of the machine. We pass the dough, we fold it and we pass again from the same dimension. We repeat this procedure 4 or 5 times. We adjust the machine to dimension 2. We pass the dough ONCE and we advance to the next dimension 3. And so on.
When do we stop? That depends of the shape we want to make. The Marcato pasta machine manual gives the thickness, the final regulator adjustment and also the width for each format. I have made some changes, thinking that some sizes are not the appropriate. So, this is my initial table:
- Vermicelli final regulator position 5 (final width 1 mm)
- Spaghetti final regulator position 4 (final width 2 mm)
- Bigoli final regulator position 2 (final width 3,5 mm)
- Linguine final regulator position 4 (final width 3 mm)
- Capellini final regulator position 6 (final width 1 mm)
- Spaghetti chitarra final regulator position 4 (final width 2 mm)
- Trenette final regulator position 5 (final width 3,5 mm)
- Lasagnette final regulator position 5 (final width 10 mm)
- Mafaldine final regulator position 3-5 (final width 8 mm)
- Reginette final regulator position 3-5 (final width 12 mm)
- Maltagliati final regulator position 3-5
- Pappardelle final regulator position 3-5 (final width 50 mm)
- Ravioli and other stuffed pasta final regulator position 6-9 (final width 45 mm)
- Lasagna and Cannelloni final regulator position 3-5 (final width 150 mm)
- Fettuccine final regulator position 5 (final width 6,5 mm)
- Tagliolini final regulator position 5 (final width 1,5 mm)
B U T
When you prepare thin pasta shapes (linguine, tagliatelle, tagliolini, spaghetti, pappardelle etc), especially with eggless dough, I would suggest that you stop forming the pasta layers at a lower position than the written above in order to avoid pasta breaking during the resting-drying time and also having a dish with good pasta consistency. When the pasta dough is made with buckwheat flour I suggest you to stop at position 3 and to cut it by hand to maltagliatti.
In my opinion only when we wanna prepare pasta for stuffing (especially tortellini, capelletti and co and sometimes when we make lasagne, canelloni) we have to pass position 5.
After having formed the layers of pasta at the desired thickness, we dust them very well with flour and we cut them to the appropriate width (it is written above between the parenthesis). This can be done through the special attachments of the pasta machine or by a ruler and a sharp knife or cutter. For the reginette, the mafaldine, some pappardelle and the ravioli we must use a wavy cutter. We sprinkle them again with flour.
ATTENTION: DO NOT pass thick discs of dough directly through the shaping parts of the machine, but always start by forming thin layers of pasta. The gears of the shaping parts are made of plastic (meanwhile, those for the layers of steel) and they are not resistant to high pressures. I once lent my pasta machine to a (stupid) friend and he returned it to me broken, as he tried to cheat and overpass the laying stage.
CONCLUSION n 5
The pasta shaping is the most most exciting part of the procedure. Either using the press or the pasta machine, we must make sure that the dough is well floured, otherwise the pasta pieces will get stuck.
Well, well. Our pasta is ready. Or quite ready. After shaping it, we must leave it for at least 45 minutes to dry (except stuffed pasta). If we have prepared a long and thin shape, we better hang it. You will find special pasta hangers on the market or you can make your owns from stretched twine in two constants points.
We can consume the fresh pasta immediately or put it in the fridge, for 2 days the eggy one, or for 4-5 days the eggless. We can also put it in the freezer (only after we have formed it) for about a month. We can also dry it in our dehydrator and keep it in room temperature, well sealed in a glass recipient, but I don´t find any good reason for it.
Before proceeding to the last topic of the article, two important things.
a) The thickness of fresh pasta must always be the same during each boiling, so as not to run the risk of getting some pieces overcooked and others raw. The well known maltagliati (it means badly cut) may have a slightly different width and shape, but their thickness must always be the same.
b) When we prepare stuffed pasta it is very important to seal very well the two layers. So, we remove any quantity of flour found in the inner parts of the layers, we brush the inner part of the lower layer with water (which will work as a glue) and we press very well the edges of the dough pieces to create water proof ravioli or tortellini.
Anyway, we are going to have soon a relative analytic article about stuffed pasta, where we will give special directions about it.
Time to eat.
We must have in mind that fresh pasta has two special properties. It is more sticky and more fragile than the dried one. So we must take some precautions.
Many writers suggest that we add some oil into the boiling water, when we prepare fresh pasta. I agree that the oil addition initially solves the problem and eliminates the pasta sticking, but it creates another and equally important one. Oil added in boiling water helps creating a film on the pasta surface, which seals the dough micropores and prevents the sauce from sticking to the pasta surface, during the mantecare stage.
So, instead of adding oil, I would suggest that you use a very large casserole, so that you can add a larger amount of water, to use very very hot water and to stir the pasta frequently, yet gently. After the first crucial minute, we can reduce the heat in order to limit pasta motion. Nevertheless there are a few cases where the use of oil is inevitable, as for example when we prepare pasta containing buckwheat flour (pe pizzocheri). The low amount of gluten makes the pasta extremely fragile and obligates us not to stir it at all in the pot and if we don’t add a little bit of oil the pasta will stick. Oil adding is also suggested when we prepare lasagne or canelloni.
Fresh pasta, if not dried, requires just a few minutes of cooking. I cannot give a general cooking time, as dough dimensions and pasta consistency and dryness provoke a serious variation on it. In any case, the boiling time will be clearly inferior to the correspondent dried one. To give you an indicative rule, fresh pappardelle or maltagliati require a boiling time of 3 minutes, but thicker pasta shapes, such as orecchiette, require more.
If the pasta is meant to be baked in the oven (as lasagne or cannelloni), we boil it for about 1 minute and we immediately stop its cooking, by transferring the pasta in cold water bath.
Completely dried fresh pasta requires as much time as the common, purchased one.
Finally, I believe it is clear that fresh pasta must be ALWAYS eaten al dente and must always pass from a pan to get bound with the sauce.
Buon appetito
