MrEmjoy

Sorry to barge into your little soiree but I need some assistance, if any of you are voiced in making pasta. I have just one question for now but will no doubt be back. Google hasn't helped.


How long do you dry pasta for storage, I feel the high humidity is playing havoc with my drying times, I made sure all my pasta was of uniform size and thickness but it still seems to moist to put in the air tight container after several hours.

Spaghetti is the pasta in question. I can answer any questions regards to flour used and the hydration percentage of the dough if needs be.

Thank you in advance!

Lorna at Vicenza

Hi Mr Emjoy,

when you say "storage" do you mean hard pasta that you intend to keep for months?

37100

Hello MrEmjoy. How long do you store it for? I just leave mine in a paper bag after a night drying and usually eat within a week or two.

TestaRossa

37100 - so you just treat it like the dried stuff we buy but eat it quicker? I'd always assumed fresh made pasta had to be eaten that day and that the stuff in the shops was put in some kind of drying cabinet to dehydrate it. Never knew that! Does it go off eventually? I have bags of shop bought dried stuff I've had months which is why I ask! Couldn't fresh be frozen too if you wanted it to last a few months, like you can with pastry and dough - home made that is, I've frozen store bought fresh pasta without a problem.

MrEmjoy

Hello!

Yes Lorna, that's right.

I make egg pasta to eat within a few days of refrigeration and egg less I intend to store!

It can be kept up to a year in the right conditions I'd read!

37100

Yes, I do. Just dries out naturally, though it can't be kept long because of the eggs. Never tried freezing though. The agnolotti oh's family make at xmas we do if there is any left over from festivities. Shop dried stuff will last for ages. Only just eaten some that we were given xmas 2008. Found it in the back of the larder. Didn't kill us. Quite possible that homemade eggless could last a year as long as it is stored in a dry place.

MrEmjoy

So I should just leave it hanging on the dryer until it's bone dry and then some?

I put what I thought was dry into my pasta jar and it had sunk to the bottom and made a nest the next morning

I also want to know how to make shaped pasta without a machine if it's possible.

Upon further thought, I guess I can just cut it and shape it by hand if I want Farfalle etc

But what I'm really after is penne or something similar. I can't see it being easy.

Madonna Rossa

What kind of flour are you using? US flour is different from the flour in Italy and I believe maybe in the rest of Europe. Are you using a US recipe or an Italian or English recipe. That could be part of your problem.

MrEmjoy

I'm using semolina, 100% at the moment.

I've also been using whole wheat and and an All Purpose which is most commonly used to try and replicate the Caputo 00 flour more commonly used by pizzerias and the like. It' comes close but not as fine as 00. It's one of the few flours in the US that comes close to the European flours as its also organic.


I think I just have to be patient and find an area in the house that isn't humid, but I don't want to stand my dryer in the basement

How long would an average drying time be? Is it more than a few hours?

Madonna Rossa

I always let mine dry for 12 to 24 hours depending on the humidity.

MrEmjoy

I guess, hopefully that will it then. I'm ok at everything else, the tortellini almost looks shop bought now I have my pasta at the right thickness!

But how on earth do you make tubular pasta!

TestaRossa

Don't you roll it around a wooden dowel to the thickness you want? Also I thought some machines came with special gizmo's?

Madonna Rossa

I always used a chitarra rather than an extruder. I never worried too much about roundness (is that a word?) just wanted the length and thickness. I assume you can roll the cut pasta once it's cut if you want but if I were going to go that far, I'd make something thicker and twisty like strozzapretti. That's just me, I like the thick pastas.

Madonna Rossa

I was reading something today about the best Italian dry pastas and it said the best of them dry their pasta for extended periods of time which ensure they'll have some tooth when they're cooked. Of course, I have no idea what "extended period" means in terms of time, but thought you might be interested.

MrEmjoy

Very!

I will gobble up any tit bit of information I can gather!

I was heading down the wrong path with my Penne, thoughts. I was trying to figure out how to make it smooth without a machine, by that I mean all once piece rather than folded slightly. But from the few images of hand rolled pasta shapes I've seen, I see they are folded slightly and looked to be a thinner setting on the rolling machine.

Experimentation is the key I guess.

Anyway here's a pile of whole wheat I made the other day and dried for 24 hours. It seemed a little brittle so I'm thinking maybe a bit thicker before drying and or just making shapes for storage instead.