Easy Homemade Pasta Dough Recipe - Happy Foods Tube (2024)

FAQs

How to make a dry pasta for a gift? ›

If you want to dry your homemade pasta for future use, spread it in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Leave the pasta uncovered in a dry area for 12 to 24 hours, gently stirring and turning it a few times. Flour is fickle, so humidity, temperature, size of the noodles, etc. will all play a part in the total time.

When the flour is kneaded with moisture (from the eggs), the protein forms strands of gluten that give the pasta its structure and strength. As well as providing water for the gluten, eggs also give fat, which enriches the dough, giving it a smooth, silky finish.

If your eggs are too small, the dough will be dry and crumbly. Wrap it up. Pasta dough can dry out quickly. Keep it covered with wrap or a kitchen towel.

After cutting the noodles into fettuccine, I lightly dust them with flour and twirl them into loose nests. Wrap them in plastic wrap and they're ready to pack into a gift bag. Pairing the pasta and the pesto makes a fine gift.

You will need to let your pasta completely air dry. This can take anywhere from 12-24 hours or longer, depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen. You can use a fan to help speed up the process—simply aim it toward the pasta and use a lower speed to create a gentle breeze.

Durum Flour

Semolina flour isn't just for making pasta dough; it also keeps fresh noodles from sticking together.

Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or up to overnight in the fridge – this is an extremely important step, so don't skip it! 4. Roll. Shape the dough into a rough circle.

Even though there are only two ingredients (flour and water or flour and eggs), the list of nuances within these ingredients is long. You probably know by now that the flour used in pasta dough isn't just any old flour. It's typically a special type of pasta flour, either Italian type '00' flour or semolina flour.

The resting period allows the flour to continue to hydrate, and the gluten network to relax. Most experts will tell you that if you tried to roll out your dough at this point, disaster would ensue—your dough would be too dry and too elastic to roll out.

If your pasta dough is too dry, add a tablespoon of water to the mix, and repeat until you have the desired consistency. If your dough is too moist, add a small amount of flour and mix in, adding more if necessary.

Do you have to let homemade pasta dry? ›

Giving the pasta time to dry before cooking works well for long thin shapes, such as fettuccine. Stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini needs to be a little harder before we cook them; otherwise, that tasty filling will simply fall out when it's boiled!

Rigatoni. Similar to penne pasta, rigatoni are a large, tube-shaped pasta with ridged edges that perfectly hold sauces and grated cheese. These thick tubes are strong enough to take on heavier or creamy sauces like Bolognese.

Tube-shaped pastas are also called “extruded pasta,” as they are made by forcing dough through a die to form various shapes. In artisan pasta-making traditions, bronze dies are used to create a coarser texture.

Resting the dough gives the flour a chance to fully absorb the eggs so that it develops the proper consistence that you need for rolling and cutting it into the right shapes. Pasta dough should rest for at least 10 to 30 minutes, but you can let it sit for up to an hour for the best results.

Making your own dried pasta nests can be a fun and rewarding cooking project. Start with fresh pasta dough, which you can make from scratch or purchase pre-made. Roll out the dough into long pasta strands and twist them into nest shapes. Allow the nests to dry out for a few hours or overnight before cooking them.

Use cereal boxes as stands, supporting dowels. Use Scotch tape to affix dowels to cereal boxes. That's all! You have a perfectly stable rack for you fresh pasta needs.

While you can certainly improvise and utilize clothes hangers, a laundry drying rack, the back of a chair, or even a broom handle, if you plan on making homemade pasta regularly, a dedicated pasta drying rack is a more efficient, less messy, and more hygienic solution.