Making Pasta – What you knead is what you get

The early years of trying to become a chef were exactly that — trying! One of my daily tasks was to make fresh pasta dough. Starting with kneading flour and eggs to rolling the dough through those commercial rollers, which looked like a sugarcane-juicing machine, nothing came easy. Culinary classes teach us to be masters of the kitchen but in this case it was clearly the dough that was in charge, for when the egg and flour come together, it develops a mind of its own. It clings to the fingers like a napalm attack!

I fought on, valiantly getting the sticky pieces of dough off my fingers and kneading it with vengeance. Forty minutes later I was the victor. For my effort, I was sure of a reward. Perhaps some praise in front of the kitchen, or even better — the evening off! I proudly held out the dough which resembled a small mud-caked football. My chef looked at it, sighed, and disdainfully tossed it into the garbage bin — the culinary equivalent of a goalkeeper bouncing the ball and kicking it over the centerline! And then came those three beautiful words that chefs dread to hear — ‘Make It Again!’

Making pasta can be fun, here’s how:

Fresh pasta dough using egg
The best proportion is 1 standard egg (about 50-55 gms) to every 100 gms flour.
A little water will certainly do no harm — but it’s better to get into the habit of working without it. Some recipes call for the addition of salt and a little olive oil. They are acceptable variations of the basic dough and are formulated by chefs keeping the final dish in mind.

Making the basic pasta dough
Put the flour on a wooden board (preferably) and make a well in the centre. Add the beaten eggs. Pull in the flour from the sides and knead the eggs and flour together. Knead fast, to avoid the dough from drying out, using the heel of the palm till smooth and shiny. Ensure that there are no specks of flour in the dough. Cover the dough with cling film. Keep aside for at least half an hour before rolling and using.
To make long pasta like tagliatelle (ribbons) use the machine’s cutters or roll the sheets into a cylinder and cut with the knife for a homemade look. Dust with flour and roll around your fingers to make nests. Keep on a dry perforated tray. Cover and refrigerate if required.

Tips on cooking pasta
1. Have the sauce ready before you start to cook the pasta — that way when the pasta is ready you can add it to the sauce straight away and toss it up.
2. Take water that is 10 times the amount of pasta.
3. Bring the water to a boil before dropping in the pasta.
4. The water should be salted to light brine.
5. Be sure to stir the pasta every 2 minutes after you drop it in the boiling water.
6. You need not add oil to the water for all types of pasta. Oil is usually added when you are blanching lasagna or such sheets.
7. Cook the pasta using the time given on the packet as a guide — it’s good to cook the pasta a minute under the recommended time, because the next minute or so will be spent in the pan along with the sauce.
8. When cooking fresh pasta, the cooking times usually vary between 2 to 5 minutes depending on the thickness and shape of the pasta.

baking with Bill & Sheila
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