Why things are the way they are, part 1
Lockdown, in the UK, has afford many of us opportunities as our busy commute and work lives have dramatically changed.
Due to shortages last year, I have started making bread from scratch in my bread maker rather than using packets. To be honest, the mixes are interesting because someone has done all the experimenting for you and worked out the perfect ratios of the ingredients for a perfect result everytime.
Where-as I’ve spent the last 10 months doing just that.
Is there a point to this?
I’m getting there, hold your horses.
Today’s adventure is making pasta from home, and hence the title above. Pasta is an involved process. Using strong flour, like the bread, this is more hands on (no handy pasta maker here) and uses various pieces of equipment.
The first step of the process is making the dough, no it doesn’t have yeast, but the glutenous features of durum wheat means, much like bread, there are resting periods.
You make the dough (or rather the food mixer does) and “rest the dough” in the fridge, 30-35 minutes.
You then roll the pasta into thin wafers, another 10-20 minutes (I suspect longer this first time) and then cut, another 3-5 minutes. The “dry the pasta”, another 30 minutes.
Seriously, 1hr 40 minutes?
Seriously. This is not a spur of the minute thing and there’s also the washing up and all. This time, I am not going to be making the mince for a bolognese but a home cooked alla genovese sauce (delicious, and using shop bought pesto and frozen veg, really quick to make).
The pasta, if fully dried, should keep for a week and one of the big benefits should be a very quick cook time – 2 minutes or so.
There are other points to notice. 200g of flour makes a BIG protion each for three. Worth dividing in two and making two different shapes with the amount. It should keep for a week.
Is it worth it?
That’s always a tough question. If you count the time, it’s a big investment and that’s not including the equipment (processor, rollers and pasta cutters). True, you only pay that once, but it makes that first batch incrediably expensive.
It did cook beautifully: al dente, thick spaghetti, which the sauce clung to. Buon appetito!
Posted: March 6th, 2021 under 42.