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Home-made Pasta Without a Machine


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I've tried Marcella Hazan's recipe for hand-made pasta with 00 flour and with regular Giant flour. The 00 produced cement, the Giant was a little more malleable. She calls for 4 1/2 ounces of flour to each egg. I could get a bit more movement out of the mass when I reduced the flour by almost one ounce, adding it in when the paste stuck to the counter. I don't want to buy a pasta machine - Italian cooks have managed without them for centuries. Does anyone have a successful method for making a really thin sheet? It worked better with a splash of milk. But that wasn't what Marcella advocated... Julia

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I've tried Marcella Hazan's recipe for hand-made pasta with 00 flour and with regular Giant flour. The 00 produced cement, the Giant was a little more malleable. She calls for 4 1/2 ounces of flour to each egg. I could get a bit more movement out of the mass when I reduced the flour by almost one ounce, adding it in when the paste stuck to the counter. I don't want to buy a pasta machine - Italian cooks have managed without them for centuries. Does anyone have a successful method for making a really thin sheet? It worked better with a splash of milk. But that wasn't what Marcella advocated... Julia

Rolling out thin pasta by hand is a PITA and therefore have not done it in a long time. Not to mention that using a machine is much quicker and produces a more consistent product.

I have used 00 flour many times and it produces a dough that is much softer than using regular AP flour so I am not sure why you got cement versus using the Giant flour.

My ratio to start making pasta dough is ~1/2 cup (2.5 oz.) of flour to 1 egg and then adding more flour to get to the proper consistency. I have no idea about exact measurements because I just eyeball it, but it works every time. I use just eggs, salt, and flour (AP, 00, or KA Italian Style depending on what I pull out of the pantry).

Italian cooks may have managed for without them for centuries, but I doubt many (any) are going the rustic route any more. Personally I think a $25-30 pasta machine (Amazon.com has them) is well worth the minimal investment.

If I have time this weekend I will work on hand rolling a batch and report back on my success or failure.

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I've tried Marcella Hazan's recipe for hand-made pasta with 00 flour and with regular Giant flour. The 00 produced cement, the Giant was a little more malleable. She calls for 4 1/2 ounces of flour to each egg. I could get a bit more movement out of the mass when I reduced the flour by almost one ounce, adding it in when the paste stuck to the counter. I don't want to buy a pasta machine - Italian cooks have managed without them for centuries. Does anyone have a successful method for making a really thin sheet? It worked better with a splash of milk. But that wasn't what Marcella advocated... Julia
In both Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and Marcella Cucina, Marcella's egg pasta instructions specify two large eggs to one cup of flour. Eggs vary in size, even within the "large" grade, and all dough-making can be affected by the ambient atmosphere of your kitchen. I usually find I use a little more flour for two eggs than a cup, but the amount is really a guideline. You incorporate flour into the egg until you've added enough. At any rate, and I mean no offense, if you made pasta dough with 00 flour and eggs and it came out like cement, you did something wrong. And of course, obviously, that has nothing to do with whether you use a rolling pin or a machine. I've rolled out a good bit of pasta with a pin, and a good bit with a machine, and I must say that the machine produces a consistently better result, in less time, and with a great deal less effort. Considering how little they cost, you should probably get one.
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Rolling out thin pasta by hand is a PITA and therefore have not done it in a long time. Not to mention that using a machine is much quicker and produces a more consistent product.

I have used 00 flour many times and it produces a dough that is much softer than using regular AP flour so I am not sure why you got cement versus using the Giant flour.

My ratio to start making pasta dough is ~1/2 cup (2.5 oz.) of flour to 1 egg and then adding more flour to get to the proper consistency. I have no idea about exact measurements because I just eyeball it, but it works every time. I use just eggs, salt, and flour (AP, 00, or KA Italian Style depending on what I pull out of the pantry).

Italian cooks may have managed for without them for centuries, but I doubt many (any) are going the rustic route any more. Personally I think a $25-30 pasta machine (Amazon.com has them) is well worth the minimal investment.

If I have time this weekend I will work on hand rolling a batch and report back on my success or failure.

Your reaction has been eye-opening. Not only about my parsimony (I didn't realize pasta machines were quite as cheap as $25...) but about Marcella's balance. She dictates 4 1/2 ounces of flour per egg as against your almost half that amount. Anyway, I've now followed your instructions. And struck gold. I've just made 48 shredded-roast pork-and-tomato ragout-stuffed ravioli (left-over food, as you'll have guessed), listening to All Things Considered and the pasta has been like ironing silk! Came out thin as Kleenex under the rolling pin and I don't feel like I've had a gym work out (though perhaps I shouldn't celebrate that!). Thank you. Julia

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In both Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and Marcella Cucina, Marcella's egg pasta instructions specify two large eggs to one cup of flour. Eggs vary in size, even within the "large" grade, and all dough-making can be affected by the ambient atmosphere of your kitchen. I usually find I use a little more flour for two eggs than a cup, but the amount is really a guideline. You incorporate flour into the egg until you've added enough. At any rate, and I mean no offense, if you made pasta dough with 00 flour and eggs and it came out like cement, you did something wrong. And of course, obviously, that has nothing to do with whether you use a rolling pin or a machine. I've rolled out a good bit of pasta with a pin, and a good bit with a machine, and I must say that the machine produces a consistently better result, in less time, and with a great deal less effort. Considering how little they cost, you should probably get one.

Marcella must have had a revisionary moment. The Classic Italian Cookbook states 4 1/2 ounces of flour to each egg but not to exceed that. I suspect my problem lies right there with that apparent excess. You're right! I really did do something wrong. Cement is inedible even when you've used cooking ingredients to make it.

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Marcella must have had a revisionary moment. The Classic Italian Cookbook states 4 1/2 ounces of flour to each egg but not to exceed that. I suspect my problem lies right there with that apparent excess. You're right! I really did do something wrong. Cement is inedible even when you've used cooking ingredients to make it.
4 1/2 ounces by weight, or volume? I don't have a copy of The Classic Italian Cookbook. If Marcella meant ounce of volume and you used ounce of weight, that might account for the problem. Which is obviously an argument against using "ounce" to mean more than one thing, but we're not likely to solve that problem any time soon.
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the pasta has been like ironing silk!
Oh, and congratulations on that! I find working with pasta dough to be the single pleasantest dough experience there is. "Ironing silk" is very apt. I love working with pasta dough, because it has such a lovely texture when it comes together, unlike many bread doughs, which may make wonderful bread but are not at all like silk to handle, especially bread doughs with fat in them.
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Your reaction has been eye-opening. Not only about my parsimony (I didn't realize pasta machines were quite as cheap as $25...) but about Marcella's balance. She dictates 4 1/2 ounces of flour per egg as against your almost half that amount. Anyway, I've now followed your instructions. And struck gold. I've just made 48 shredded-roast pork-and-tomato ragout-stuffed ravioli (left-over food, as you'll have guessed), listening to All Things Considered and the pasta has been like ironing silk! Came out thin as Kleenex under the rolling pin and I don't feel like I've had a gym work out (though perhaps I shouldn't celebrate that!). Thank you. Julia

Great to hear!

Interesting thing about Marcella's ratios. I will check some of my books when I get home to see what they say for comparison.

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4 1/2 ounces by weight, or volume? I don't have a copy of The Classic Italian Cookbook. If Marcella meant ounce of volume and you used ounce of weight, that might account for the problem. Which is obviously an argument against using "ounce" to mean more than one thing, but we're not likely to solve that problem any time soon.
I have only a paperback version of the book, and it calls for 3/4 cup flour for each U.S. large egg. There's no measure of ounces, so this paperback edition must be revised from the original. In the directions for making egg pasta, she allows for the use of up to 1 cup of flour if using very large eggs or eggs that absorb an unusual amount of flour.

ETA: Looking at More Classic Italian Cooking, I see that Hazan has revised the proportions to about 1 cup of flour to 2 large eggs. She mentions the 3/4 cup to 1 egg as being the translation from the proportions used in Bologna. She says that, in order to "temper" the toughness of American flour, "I have been gradually revising this proportion, in batch after batch of pasta."

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