A dive down pasta rabbit hole

[Richard Chrz]

This winter I watched Chef’s Table: Noodles on Netflix—seeing Evan Funke use a matarello and all of the craftsmanship in hand shaped, got me hooked.

As of now, I’ve completely parked my KitchenAid roller and switched back to hand-rolling.I’m really enjoying the process. I wish I could do it every day, though it’s definitely a workout for my upper shoulders and posture. Still, it’s a path I’m committed to—there’s so much to learn from hand shaping.

The extra width of the larger roller makes hand-rolling much easier.

My current dough ratios are 50–53% water and 5% oil. I’ve been using semola, bread flour, and Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour. I’ve also enjoyed laminating fresh herbs, grated hard cheese, lemon zest, and more into my pasta sheets. Now that it’s summer and we have fresh herbs growing, I’ll be doing that more often.

Here are a couple of photos.


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[Hulagn1971]

Deliciousness!

[Michael_in_TX]

That first photo is just perfect. Much experimenting!

[Draznnl]

Love the photos. I think you will never be satisfied with your pasta, no matter how good it is. That is the sign of the true artist.

[Richard Chrz]

Thank you, more of a possible personality disorder, than artistry. 😂

[Oak Smoke]

That’s amazing! Layering in herbs and cheese, that has to be so good. Here I sit with a bottle of Rao’s Marinara, a box of Barillo pasta and some Kraft parmigiana cheese. You inspire me to do better.

[Uncle Bob]

I could let you slide on the first two, but the green can of death is just unacceptable....

[hoovarmin]

I wish I could be a guinea pig in your noodle laboratory!

[Richard Chrz]

I’m definitely sending some out to friends to get feedback.

[Skip]

Nice Richard!

[DaveD]

Great stuff! I was just thinking about you sir, hadn't seen ya in a while. Good to see you

[SheilaAnn]

Richard Chrz Fettuccine, orecchiette, gemelli?

[Richard Chrz]

Also some (maybe not shown), trofie, garageneli, farfalle, although most of my hand shaped are pretty crude still.

[barelfly]

Pasta is, or was, one of my favorite things to make! So much fun and artistry to it! Love the photos, Richard!

[DavidNorcross]

Good work as always Richard. Pasta is something that I have never made. Certainly on my list.

[Alan Brice]

Ima gonna need a longer list.

[tamidw]

Love the photos! The pasta looks great, I can be a Guinea pig too! Haha.

[shify]

THose look amazing.

I love making homemade pasta and also really enjoyed that Chef's Table (Also Evan Funke was in an episode of Dinner Time Live with David Chang on Netflix that had him rolling out/cooking the dough real time) but don't think I would have the patience to roll out completely by hand. I tend to stick with long shapes but my son's favorite is garganelli so I make that fairly often. I did do orecchiette once and although it was good, it just took so much time to make hundreds of those little ears that I would never do it again.

I am a bit surprised to hear you use oil in your dough. I've only made two types of pasta, a fresh egg pasta with bread flour and egg/egg yolks and a semolina pasta with just semolina flour and water. Curious how you wound up with oil in the dough and if you have tried with/without. I'm guessing it makes it more supple and easier to roll out but does it make a softer/less chewy noodle?

[Richard Chrz]

But, fats like oil, butter, even eggs from my understanding from making pitas, tortillas, etc.. helps prevent some of the gluten formation (which helps them puff), as it lessens the chance of the gluten formation.

So my thoughts are, It will reduce some of the gluten tension when rolling out, also, if I need to let it sit for a while because batch size, that will also allow it to sit longer and again, not create to much gluten structure that will not roll out well. Eggs have their own fat..

[shify]

Richard Chrz - I think its was the Noodle Extravaganza episode of Dinner Time Live

Thanks for the response on the oil, makes complete sense to me. I can certainly feel the difference in handling the dough when I use oil in pizza dough (for NY style) compared to other pizza or bread doughs so it makes sense as it relates to the rolling out aspect of pasta dough

[Richard Chrz]

shify I’m fully prepared to be told someday that I’m over thinking it, and can make corrections without oil. But apply what you think you know, right?

Back to noodles again, the lady (and her daughter) that were just nonchalantly hand shaping and flicking the Trofie like it is no big deal, that’s witchcraft, that is one of the parts that really got me, and the rolling methods, I don’t understand them yet, but will be cool to see where it leads.

[JCBBQ]

Good for you! Looks great. Fun to have a new obsession!

[RichieB]

Thanks for sharing your passion and results. I've never considered doing this.