Pasta is one of the most popular dishes not only in Italy but also in many other countries of the world. However, this dish is also one of the easiest to prepare. To knead the pasta dough, all you need is flour, eggs, water and salt.
There are several secrets to making the perfect pasta, namely:
1. Real Italian pasta is made from hard flour and spring water. Often, such a dough is prepared if the house has a food processor and a special machine for rolling the dough.
2. If you use soft flour, eggs are added to the flour instead of water (one egg per hundred grams of flour).
3. Never forget to sift the flour, it is very important that it is perfectly clean. Sifting will also help oxygenate the flour.
4. It takes about 15 minutes to knead the pasta dough, and often fold and stretch the dough, due to which gluten is produced in it. However, it is worth remembering that kneading the dough for too long is also not worth it, it can, on the contrary, destroy the gluten.
5. After you are finished kneading the dough, place it in a cool place for 30 minutes, so it will become more elastic and it will be easier for you to roll it out.
6. If your house does not have a special dough rolling machine and you intend to use a regular rolling pin, dust the surface on which you will work. It is advisable to roll out the dough in small pieces, this will be much more convenient. You need to roll out the dough from yourself, while constantly turning the layer. It is advisable to fold the dough several times and roll it out again.
The ideal thickness for pasta dough should be approximately two millimeters.
7. You can cut the pasta both in the dough cutting machine and on your own with an ordinary knife, which must first be dipped in flour or with a special wheel for cutting pizza and pasta. Before cutting the dough, be sure to sprinkle it with flour. Leave the cut strips for a while so that they can dry out.
8. If you do not want to cook all the pasta, you can dry it even on a conventional tumble dryer. The paste should dry for 24 hours. In a dry, tightly closed container, such a paste can be stored for no more than a month.
You can also freeze the paste. Lay it out on a board in the freezer first, and when it freezes, you can put it in a bag and store it for up to six months.
9. To properly cook the pasta, remember to cook it in plenty of water. One hundred grams of pasta should be boiled in one liter of water. The paste should only be thrown into boiling and well-salted water. To prevent the paste from sticking, add a little vegetable oil to the water during cooking. And remember that the average cooking time for pasta is about 10 minutes, the pasta should be a little undercooked.
You can season your pasta with any sauce you like.
