-If you stick your finger in the dough and it comes out clean and dry thats good – if it is sticky or wet you need to work in more flour.
Rolling the Dough
-Dust and pat with flour continuously.
-Sprinkle rollers with flour.
-Fold in thirds when kneading through the lowest setting of rollers.
Cutting the Dough
-Let it dry for about 10 minutes on each side before cutting. That will help it from not sticking together too much. (Note: if you are using it for stuffed pasta do not do this.)
Drying the Dough
-Think about how you are going to store it. I tried laying it flat to dry it but it didn’t turn out flat enough that it was easy to store. (The pasta I hung over a string or put into nests turned out the best.)
-If you want to make nests, lay it dry after cutting and let it dry for another ~10 minutes. Then arrange into light nests.
-You want to make sure it is completely dry before putting it away or it will grow mold.
And, my favorite source of info from Marcella was that the pasta is homemade it will not taste any different if it is dry or fresh when you cook it.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Katerina,
I just stumbled upon your blog and I absolutely LOVE it! Such wonderful tips! I have a question about nesting pasta. I attempted this for a large group of Christmas presents and I thought I had dried my pasta nest thoroughly but some of them molded. How long do you typically let yours dry for (I know every batch is different, so a range is fine).
Also, I had placed my nest on drying racks but that gave them rack marks on the bottom. On what do you lay your nests on to dry so they don’t look too flat or marked up on the bottom?
Thanks!
I would probably recommended drying in two stages, first on a cookie sheet on parchment then when they are solid enough not to dent then move them to the wire rack. Also, I would let the pasta dry out a bit before nesting it at all…
But I am certainly no expert!
That is a GREAT Christmas present idea…