How to Make Water-based Pasta (an in-depth guide)

Rindfleisch
Published on Apr 16, 2021
How to Make Water-based Pasta (an in-depth guide)

00:00 Intro
00:24 When to use water-based dough and when to use egg-based dough
01:20 Semolina vs "00" flour
03:00 How to measure ingredients
03:35 Making the dough
07:56 Shaping orecchiette
11:16 Cooking orecchiette

Pasta Dough Recipe:

For 4 first course servings (3 main course)

300g semolina flour (ideally Italian semola)
175g water at 170F (77C)

Put semolina and water into the food processor or stand mixer with a paddle attachment (in the video I said a dough hook, but a paddle will work faster). Run the machine until a dough just comes together. Get it out onto a clean (unfloured) surface and knead for a total of 8 minutes (longer is fine). It will be sticky in the beginning and might require scraping off the counter, but should become completely smooth and not sticky very quickly. If after 1 minute of kneading the dough is still sticking, knead in flour 1 Tbsp at a time. Even if the dough feels great after 2 min, make sure you still knead for 8. Sprinkle the dough with flour, wrap in plastic, and rest at room temp at least 30 min and up to 5 hours.

If you want to make the dough completely by hand, here is a video that shows how to bring the wet and dry ingredients together using the well method: https://youtu.be/SU996yiaTng

Shape the dough as shown in the video. If serving the same day, cover with a towel and let sit until ready to cook. Or put in the freezer for 2 hours on a sheet until hard and then collect into a freezer bag.

Cook in generously salted boiling water. I use 65g salt for 6.5 quarts (6 L) water. After they float, they should take about 2 min, but make sure to taste frequently.

By the way, I adore Pasta Grannies channel https://www.youtube.com/user/pastagrannies Itâ€™s very inspiring and you can get many tips.

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