The Perfect Pasta?

Hi guys, hope you're all well. I've just survived another crazy night in the kitchen and have some trouble sleeping: thinking about pasta.

Last time I was in Paris I was totally blown away by a tortellini dish at the kick as restaurant Frenchie, i didn't know that pasta could be THAT awesome.

I know that they used semolina in the dough, which I never seen in a recipe until I started research semolina pasta. Maybe this is the secret? Hmmm.

I have been trying to get some semolina here in Sweden, but it seems pretty hard. I can only find the rougher variation which you make porridge from. Maybe someone have any idea where I can order some high quality semolina?

Other then that, feel free to discuss pasta techniques & recipes

And yeah, by the way. Which is the best way to store pasta? I've notice that my tortellini/ravioli gets verry moist, soggy and sticks in my tray in the fridge. blahhh.

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Johan_Edstrom_5586

I think searching for durum-vete might yield better results or checking some of the specialty stores in Stockholm.

This works darn well though with regular flour - http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/02/seven-yolk-pasta-dough/

davidattala

How very timely as I came here to look up a previous discussion about Thomas Keller's 7 yolk pasta dough recipe. I enjoy the chew that semolina adds to a dough, but in my case I'm looking to make agnolotti and am looking for a silkier result.

@Christoffer - You pasta would be best cooked right away. If you're not going to cook them the day they are made I would freeze them on a baking sheet. For short-term storage I would refrigerate them with a dry tea-towel underneath and covering them lightly. Also, you want to make sure they're not touching as the added moisture from the fridge can cause them to stick.

If I can piggy-back on the original questions, has anybody tried Keller's recipe with 00 flour instead of AP flour?

Nicky_J_17040

@David

I think you're on the right track already for a silkier pasta by upping the yolks. That's pretty much how I would achieve it.

Lidia Bastianich has three recipes in "Lidia's Family Table" that are labeled

Rich man's golden pasta (9 yolks, no whole eggs)

Middle-class not quite golden pasta (1 yolk, 3 whole eggs)

and Poor Man's two-egg pasta. (2 whole eggs)

They are all in ratio to 2 C ap flour.

Or check out Giorgio Locatelli recipe for pasta. His pasta is almost like this neon yellow because of the yolkage and freshness of yolks.

as for the "00"...i've never used it for pasta, but always been curious. Let me know how it turns out.

michaelnatkin

I know there is a ChefSteps pasta dough in our pipeline; not sure exactly when we'll publish it, but we use Italian 00 flour and a little bit of vital wheat gluten.

borgech

I think my avatar requires me to make a response in this thread! There are many variables in the quality of pasta such as flour used and the way the dough is rolled out and cut. Starting with the my recipe, I find that a 50:50 ratio of 00:semolina flour works best at a weight of 50 grams each per whole egg (I find that 100 grams per person per course is sufficient, and usually leaves a bit for leftovers, although sometimes not). If I need a drier dough for when I am extruding pasta, I may make a 100% semolina dough, although it isn't easy as it doesn't homogenize as well. The next easy variable to address is storage of pasta. @David is correct, I find that 90% of pasta stores well frozen on a parchment lined baking sheet. If I have long pasta (like tagliatelle) I will wrap it around my fingers into a nest and place that onto the sheet. After a day or so, I'll move the pasta to a freezer bag if storing long-term.

As far as the texture, there are a number of variables here. I find a difference in texture and taste when I roll the pasta out by hand vs. when I roll it out with my machine rollers. I think this has everything to do with the "rough" nature of my rolling pin on wooden surface vs. the smooth nature of my machine rollers. I have asked my girlfriend's Italian Grandparents about this, and they whole heartedly agreed. They also noted they can tell the difference between hand cut and machine cut pasta. I'm not sure this enhances taste so much as it enhances the tasting experience. Machine cut pasta will all grab the pasta uniformly (good for some sauces, bad for others) while hand cut pasta will never be cut at the exact same width, so some noodles will grab sauce different than others.

I'm looking forward to the evolution of this thread!

naithaddi

I use 250 gr of 00 flour for 2 whole egg and 1 yolk and it makes fantastic pasta with a very special taste. I only use 00 flour when I do pasta. I use semolina to flour the bench and the fabric I'm resting the pasta on,

Chris_Young_80640

When I was first working at The Fat Duck, as a relatively new chef, I had to roll the pasta for the langoustine lasagna.

Heston always wanted the pasta incredibly thin, to the point where if you just kept stepping the roller down, you would reach the point where the dough would just shred. The trick was to stop when it was thin, but not too thin, leave it on the bench and cover it for 20 minutes to let the gluten "relax a bit". Then pass it through the rollers to get the final thinness. It worked great. We then dried the dough for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature and stored it in an air-tight container with silica packets. It was amazing stuff and I miss getting to eat that dish. It was on the a la carte menu, so it's been gone since 2006.

The dough was 300 g 00 flour, 17g fine salt, 120g egg yolks, 50g whole eggs.

Brandon_34695

68 kg stagier labor

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Chris - thanks for sharing the recipe and the method with the group!

Allen_Johnson_67197

thanks for sharing the recipes!!

Tommy_Johansson_180110

I take the opportunity to revive this thread since i have related questions that i cant find an answer to via Google. I just watched a video-clip from Eater where they mention how freezing pasta makes a big difference in texture. The clip with time set just before they say it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdCRiJfs5Qo&feature=youtu.be&t=2m40s

So my questions related to that statement

Are they talking about fresh or dried pasta ?
I guess they are talking about freezing it before cook ?
Can all pasta be freeze to make it "better" ?
Have anyone of you tried this ?
Is it worth it to freeze ?

Thanks in advance, regards Tommy