Homemade Pasta (Basics & Tips)

Common mistakes when cooking pasta

You don't use enough water. Save yourself the trouble and follow the 0.5:6 rule. For 500 g of dry pasta add six liters of water. The classic measure is: for 100 g of pasta – 7 g of salt and 1 liter of water. My advice is to use a little less flour, because the elasticity depends on the size of the eggs.

You forget to stir. Many people make the mistake of adding oil or olive oil to the pasta water to prevent sticking. Instead, the solution is to stir constantly. If you make the mistake of adding olive oil to the pasta water, the finished pasta will be too slippery to hold the sauce.

You cook all kinds of pasta the same way. Different types of pasta require different cooking methods. Fresh pasta is boiled for a shorter time – 3 to 5 minutes – and should be cooked at a lower temperature so the integrity of the dough is not broken on contact with the boiling water. Lasagna sheets should be boiled in small batches and left slightly undercooked, so they finish cooking in the oven to a sufficient but not excessive degree. Whole-grain pasta boils longer and requires attention so it doesn't turn to mush.

You cool the pasta with cold water. Never put pasta under running cold water right after taking it off the stove. This stops the cooking, which is wrong. If you are making a cold dish, such as a salad, let the pasta cool on its own in a wide dish for about 5 minutes, adding a few drops of olive oil to prevent sticking.

You rinse and drain off all the pasta water. Don't rinse the cooked pasta unless you will use it in a cold salad. Pasta water is excellent for adding to sauces, as it retains flavor and part of the starch. Instead of draining off all the pasta water, reserve about 1/4 cup for use in the dish. Don't worry if a little water remains in the pasta when you add it to the sauce.

You let the pasta sit too long before adding the sauce. If you can't add the cooked pasta directly to the sauce, sprinkle it lightly with olive oil. Pasta left in the air sticks together and becomes tacky. For the best pasta dish, slightly undercook the pasta and add it to the sauce in the final stage of its preparation, so it finishes cooking and the flavors merge.

You don't match the type of pasta to the sauce you're making. The same type of pasta should not be combined with just any sauce. Depending on the ingredients, a corresponding type of pasta is recommended. If the sauce is thicker, choose ridged pasta such as penne. If the sauce is more liquid or creamy, long types such as spaghetti, spaghettoni, tagliatelle etc. are more suitable.

How to work with a pasta machine? If you have a machine for rolling out fresh pasta, divide the dough into small pieces. First pass it through the widest setting of the pasta machine. Then fold the resulting sheet into 3 and pass it through the machine again, but this time on a narrower setting. Repeat the procedure until the pasta reaches the thickness you want. If you are going to make spaghetti or tagliatelle, pass the sheets of fresh pasta through the cutting blades that every pasta machine has.

Important for fresh pasta

• Prepare the amount of flour you need, but add it gradually so the dough doesn't become dry. After all, every egg is a different size :)
• After kneading the dough, let it rest wrapped in foil.
• Fresh pasta, whether when you knead, roll or cut it, should always be lightly floured.
• After you cut the fresh pasta, let it dry out a little for 2-3 hours. If you don't have time, it's not fatal to put it straight to boil.
• Fresh pasta is always boiled in salted water.
• Fresh pasta boils faster than dry/semi-finished. It needs 3-4 minutes in boiling water.
• A sure sign that fresh pasta is done is when it floats to the surface of the water.

Colored pasta – carrot, black sesame, spinach. I did some research on where the right flour can be found in Sofia:

• Delicatessen shop Pulya – address: Sofia, 45 Kostenski Vodopad St., 088/240 90 06
• Delicatessen shop iSensi A Casa – address: Sofia, 17 Aksakov St., entr. A, Tel. (02) 980 8504 / +359878 988 337

From https://recepti.rozali.com/gotvarski-tehniki/kak-da-si-napravim-priasna-pasta-u-doma.html