hand made fettucini pasta

I was on vacation in Italy at a cooking school. We were taught to make hand made fettucine pasta using flour, egg and a pinch of salt. The only problem is, I'm not sure of type of flour to use......I tried all purpose flour, but it just didn't turn out as well. Any suggestions on type of flour I should use?

Nick
  • Posted by: Nick
  • September 26, 2015
  • 1929 views
  • 9 Comments

9 Comments

Smaug
Smaug September 26, 2015
All Purpose flours are not all the same. Bleached AP is generally very low gluten, but they all vary- a strong AP, such as King Arthur, will do as well as imported 00. According to my sources (Giuliano Bugialli, mainly) semolina is rarely used for fresh pasta, but stands up well to the stresses of machine extrusion for dry pasta.
 
Nick
Nick September 27, 2015
Thanks for the tip....I'll keep trying.
 
pierino
pierino September 26, 2015
In Italy they use "00" flour for pasta. You should be able to find it here without too much difficulty.
 
Nick
Nick September 27, 2015
My partner had mentioned "00" flour as well....I live in a smaller town in MI, may take a little searching. Tks for the tip.
 
Marcmarc
Marcmarc September 26, 2015
What specifically was wrong with it?
 
Windischgirl
Windischgirl September 26, 2015
I use the recipe from Jacob Kenedy's " The Geometry of Pasta" which uses half all-purpose flour and half semolina. Some recipes use all semolina but it's harder to knead.
Also, did you use weight or volume to measure the flour ? It's common to end up adding too much flour if you are using volume measures, resulting in a drier or denser pasta.
 
Nick
Nick September 27, 2015
Unfortunately I didn't weigh the flour....at the school the approach was to pour 1-2 cups of flour onto the board and slowly mix with the egg until the dough density "looked right". Not so scientific I guess. Thanks for the tip, I'll look up Jacob Kenedy's "The Geometry of Pasta"...
 
pierino
pierino September 27, 2015
On the contrary, I don't know anyone here or in Italy who weighs flour for pasta---bread yes. Use two cups leaving some bench flour for your hands. The flour will absorb as much egg as it "wants">
 
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