Home Made Pasta

[A Balic]

When making home made egg pasta, it is a source of annoyance that it always looks white or even slightly grey, if oxidation sets in. We use many free range eggs, to the point that the raw dough looks bright yellow, yet after cooking it turns white when cooked. What is going on here, is it ment to look like this and the commercial stuff is dyed? Are there some tricks I should know?

[markabauman]

You didn't mention what type(s)  of flour you are using to make the pasta. Lots of people just use regular, unbleached flour with eggs. I think this type of pasta looks a little more white when cooked. I tend to use a blend of fine durum semolina( which is yellow) with white flour (I like to use Italian "00"-under the DelVerde name-found in better Italian food  markets), but regular flour is fine, as well. This tends to cook up a little more yellowish- if this is what you're  looking for.

[A Balic]

markabauman - thanks for the comments. I (actually, more and more my wife) use Italian "00" flour. I will try to track down some of the hard wheat flour. Do you have to source it from speciality shops and what does using durum ehaet flour add to th texture of the pasta?

[=Mark]

Any Italian bakery should be able to supply duram wheat flour pretty cheap.  If you don't have such a place, try to find where the local pizzarias get their supplies.

Durum has a higher gluten content than regular flour which results in a more pliable, flexible dough.  It is easier to manipulate in pasta makers and is less likely to tear.

[A Balic]

Italian Baker? In Scotland??!!!

[Liza]

We've had a lot of success using cake flour for homemade pasta. It turns out incredibly silky and pliable. I'm hoping they have some of that in Scotland?

[Fat Guy]

Balic, you dummy, are you trying to make pasta from oats? Sigh.

[A Balic]

Mark, Lisa thanks for the information. I have no problems at all with texture (except when making sodding buckwheat pasta, I wonder if cake or hard flour would help here), colour is my bane.

Steven - oh, golly is that what I have been doing wrong? Actually, I have made Haggis Raviolo (yes, singular). I liked them.

[Fat Guy]

You also need to wash your hands before you make the pasta.

[A Balic]

Well you've heard of 'Dirty Rice' right? And I have a recipe for 'Shitty Lasagne' (a real Sicilian recipe), so why not "Balic's-Grey-Sodding-Pasta"?

[helenas]

Adam,

are you using a pasta machine? If yes, what kind?

[A Balic]

Helena - I have a "Marcato"  manual pasta maker. It is fantastic and very easy to use. Infact we often give guests an apron when they come for dinner and get them to make the pasta. Dead simple.

[Miss J]

We've had a lot of success using cake flour for homemade pasta. It turns out incredibly silky and pliable. I'm hoping they have some of that in Scotland?

If they have cake flour in Scotland, I'll be pretty bloody jealous down here in London!  I've been searching fruitlessly for a source of decent, softwheat cake & pastry flour for AGES (for cakes, not for pasta) and have finally resorting to bribing my friends to bring it back for me whenever they go to North America.

Back on topic: I use Italian OO flour OR Waitrose's Canadian bread flour to make pasta, and I've never had any problems. Could the rollers on your pasta machine be the culprit?

Miss J

[A Balic]

Nope, pasta maker is fine. If I take some of the dough and boil it, it turns the same pasty white colour. Can only assume that commercial pasta is dyed.

[gutman]

The yellow color of the pasta is not the flour.The culprit,very fresh eggs.My friend was telling me how her ravioli were yellow,I asked if they would stay that color after cooking,she said they would turn back to the normal shade.My friend  has been making pasta for 70 years,I think I can trust her findings.

[A Balic]

Right, I use free range eggs that are very fresh (both types of egg white differentiated), the yolks are deeply coloured, the raw dough is bright yellow, the cooked pasta is a pasty white.

Scientist that I am, this weekend I will make different batches of pasta, using different recipes and I will report on my findings.

[Rachel Perlow]

What about adding an extra yolk or two to the recipe?

[markabauman]

I've added an extra yolk but also sometimes have added a little saffron to the mix, especially when not using a red or white sauce, e.g. just dressing the pasta with olive oil and perhaps some green veg like peas. Color really stands out.

[Bux]

A Balic:  I have made Haggis Raviolo (yes, singular). I liked them.

You made one and you liked them? Now I'm confused.

[A Balic]

Raviolo - you know one large stuffed pasta for eating as an individual unit. I needed to taste test while I created them, so I ate two or three I would guess.

I was discussing this with a friend and we decided while correct Italian would be ravioli, if you had more then one, Raviolo was a better culinary term for a very large stuffed pasta.

Still confused?

[Bux]

I know. What I don't know is why my humor failed. I'd like to think it's because I'm not good at being pedantic, but I suppose it's because my humor is failing. My reply was based on an assumption that once you make your second raviolo, you've made ravioli. If you make it, you've made a raviolo. If you make them, you've made ravioli. Size, in this situation, shouldn't matter. Should you choose to agree, there is plenty left in life for me to say yes, I'm confused anyway.

[A Balic]

Score 1: Dry Australian Humour.

There was a good 15-20 minute pause between the creation of each individual pasta. I make a personal ravioli/raviolo temporal distinction of exactly two minutes. Any two (or more) stuffed pasta made with < two minute delay between the creation of individual pasta is a ravioli, any pasta with a > two minute delay is a Raviolo.

[Bux]

Any two (or more) stuffed pasta made with < two minute delay between the creation of individual pasta is a ravioli, any pasta with a > two minute delay is a Raviolo. [my empasis]

I thought we had already established a single unit as a raviolo and were just discussing the interval in time between units before there was a significant degree of guilt by association.

[A Balic]

Teeheehee

[Bux]