So, I am getting ready for our Annual Italian Pasta Night dinner, in this last week of Summer, and thought I would try some eggless pasta for my son who is vegan. I have made pasta before, just not eggless pasta. I played around with a few ingredients and came up with this recipe. It is a lot of work, but is so worth the time to make it. I stood for two hours in the kitchen, kneading, rolling and cranking the dough out, then drying it and making little individual bird nests out of them for portion control. But really, who portion sizes pasta!, only him. It was pretty easy, except for the standing part, ooohhh, my aching back!
Recipe below.
To print recipe, click on it, highlight and print.
To view pictures in a larger format, click on them.
So I started with a few ingredients and olive oil.
Here is a neat little trick - I use shelf liner under my cutting board so it stays in place when kneading. I cut a piece the same size as the board.
The shelf liner keeps the board steady.
My hand cranked pasta machine and my wood pasta drying rack.
I used Bob's Red Mill Semolina flour and Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour.
The semolina looks like fine ground cornmeal, but it's not. Dump both flours in a bowl....
and I whisk them together to combine them.
When they are combined pour onto the cutting board in a mound.
Make a well in the center, and start adding little bits of water and fold it in, follow the directions in the recipe carefully.
It will start to get stringy, just keep adding the water.....
Until you get this nice smooth ball.
Now, I made fettuccine with my dough. I started out at No. 1 on the pasta machine, and I only went to No. 6 and stopped, 7 is the last number on my knob. I didn't want my fettuccine paper thin.
Dust with flour as you roll, so the dough doesn't stick together You will have a long thin piece of dough when you roll it through on No 6. I cut mine in half, to make it easier to work with, when rolling it through to cut into shape.
Cranking it through the machine, and nice perfect strands of fettuccine.
Drying on the rack.
I made bird nests for portion sizes. All in all, homemade is always the best!
Homemade Eggless Pasta Dough
Ingredients
2 cups Semolina flour
2 cups Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water (may or may not use all of the water)
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Directions
In a medium bowl, combine the semolina flour and white whole wheat flour together with a whisk. Mound the flour in the center of a large cutting board (or flat surface). Make a well in the center, start adding water, about a tablespoon at a time, stirring the flour in with your index finger as you go. The dough will start to become stringy and messy, but try to maintain the shape of the mound and keep mixing in water and pulling the flour up into it. You may or may not use all the water. Once it starts to form a ball, add the olive oil in and start kneading with the palms of your hands. Take the dough off the board and clean off any scraps of dough. Put the dough back on the board and knead (about 2-3 minutes) until it is smooth and flexible, but not sticky, add small amounts of flour if you need to. Gather into a ball and flatten into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
Cut the dough into 6 pieces. Keep the extra dough you are not working with, covered in plastic wrap. Flatten the piece of dough you will be working with into a rectangle shape, so it fits in the machine. Dust dough with flour, as well as the pasta machine rollers. Start out at the widest setting (usually #1 on the machine knob) roll the dough through with one hand and catch it with the other. Fold the dough in thirds and send it through two more times, folding in thirds each time. Continue to roll the pasta through the machine without folding, adjusting the rollers to the next setting, each time you pass it through to reach your desired thickness. If the sheets become too big, you can cut them in half, before passing them through the pasta cutting side of the machine, to form your favorite pasta shape. Drape the pasta strands over the drying rack to dry out a little bit, before you fold it to store it (see NOTE). If you do not have a rack, dust a baking sheet with flour and lay it out on the baking sheet. This pasta can also be hand cut for lasagna sheets or made into ravioli. Cook as desired, and top with your favorite sauce or sauces. This makes 8-10 servings of fresh pasta.
NOTE: I fold single servings of the pasta around my hand to make bird nests. Line a reseable plastic bag with parchment paper and lay the nests out in a single row, put another piece of parchment on top of the row and make another single row of pasta on top of the paper. Lightly squeeze out any air as you seal the bag. Put in the refrigerator if you are going to use right away or freeze. This pasta does freeze well.
0 comments:
Post a Comment