Do You Own A Cookbook That You Will Never Cook From?

[pictonguy]

Would someone explain "laminate" to me within the concept you are talking about insofar as pasta is concerned?

After you unwrap the pasta from bench resting you then cut it into an amount that is easily manageable, flatten it somewhat with your hands then in the widest setting run the pasta through once. Lie it down and fold in half or in thirds and run it through the same wide setting, alternating direction. Repeating until it feels silky and more pliable and during this process the exact width of the machine can also be achieved which also facilitates a consistent width during the rest of your pasta making. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Shining Wizard]

Yep, as said.
I run my pasta through the widest machine setting about five or more times. As it goes through, you fold and shape the dough into the size of the roller machine and make it square or rectangular to fit your rolling apparatus.
I keep laminating through the number one setting and then it’s ready for number two onwards.
@pictonguy - your pasta looks great, and it’s pretty much exactly how I do mine. You’re right about the humidity, the age of your flour counts too, and there is a big difference between 00 and all purpose flour and also whether you sift or not. I don’t sift my 00 because I go through so much that it is always very fresh and not clumping in any way. Eggs are really important too. I have a place nearby where they sell fresh eggs from their farm in the hills. Their eggs are excellent and maybe a couple of dollars more, but the quality is worth it.

 

[taxlady]

I learned to do the laminating when I first learned to make pasta from an Italian American woman from New York, while I was living in Copenhagen. Today I learned what it is called. I always just called it "letting the pasta roller knead the dough". Before I bought the pasta roller, I kneaded the dough a lot longer with my hands than I would now. I get a lot more tired kneading dough with my hands than I do running it repeatedly through the pasta roller on the thickest setting.

So, I guess I have been doing it wrong. It has always turned out good. Is there an advantage to kneading by hand longer and laminating for fewer times? BTW, I make pasta using whole wheat flour, if that's relevant.

 

[pictonguy]

I learned to do the laminating when I first learned to make pasta from an Italian American woman from New York, while I was living in Copenhagen. Today I learned what it is called. I always just called it "letting the pasta roller knead the dough". Before I bought the pasta roller, I kneaded the dough a lot longer with my hands than I would now. I get a lot more tired kneading dough with my hands than I do running it repeatedly through the pasta roller on the thickest setting.

So, I guess I have been doing it wrong. It has always turned out good. Is there an advantage to kneading by hand longer and laminating for fewer times? BTW, I make pasta using whole wheat flour, if that's relevant.

Why do you use whole wheat?

 

[dragnlaw]

OK, that's exactly what I do with pasta. Isn't that what everyone does? I thought that was the norm for rolling out pasta.
It was when the word laminate was used I thought perhaps you were buttering (or something) in between the folds as one does with pastry/phylo.

@taxlady if it came out good then nothing wrong with the technique! it is the end result that is the important part.

 

[Shining Wizard]

Haha. One of the YouTube “Italian” cooks that I have watched says you should knead your pasta by hand for no less than 30 minutes.
Arrant nonsense.
About five minutes is enough, but you need to knead it correctly. Roll out your dough on a floured board.
When you are kneading, use the flat of your palm. Don’t use the fist, roll with the flat palm, fold it over and continue.

 

[caseydog]

I've got that cookbook with the red and white checkered cover. My mother gave it to me.

I think every mom in the sixties and seventies had that cookbook.

CD

 

[caseydog]

When we made the andouille, I would have preferred tossing the whole batch, as the nutmeg, cloves and mace gave the sausage a very unpleasant taste to me.

I've had some andouille from SW Louisiana that I didn't like, and it was probably those spices that were the reason.

CD

 

[taxlady]

Why do you use whole wheat?

Because I like whole grains. I used to eat regular, not whole grain pasta because all the commercial whole wheat pasta wasn't very nice tasting. Then I found some imported Italian whole grain pasta and gave that a try. I liked it better than white pasta, so then I could switch pasta to whole grain too. There really isn't much that is made of grain that I eat if it isn't whole grain. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, since I do occasionally eat white rice or other non whole grains when I'm at a resto or in someone's home.

 

[Meryl]

Wow, all you great pasta makers, I must get round to making some myself too, one day! What's the "round to it" joke?
I've never been one for kneading by hand, I prefer using my mixer for pasta and pizza doughs. My MIL obviously used to say that pasta tasted much better if the dough was kneaded by hand and rolled out with a wooden rolling pin. No metal could touch her doughs!
She was very skilled at making "orecchiette", not me! I must have a defect in my thumbs, after so many years of trying, I gave up in the end.

 

[pictonguy]

Because I like whole grains. I used to eat regular, not whole grain pasta because all the commercial whole wheat pasta wasn't very nice tasting. Then I found some imported Italian whole grain pasta and gave that a try. I liked it better than white pasta, so then I could switch pasta to whole grain too. There really isn't much that is made of grain that I eat if it isn't whole grain. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, since I do occasionally eat white rice or other non whole grains when I'm at a resto or in someone's home.

Interesting, I usually go for whole grain in pretty much everything but pasta. Whole grain pasta is mostly for people that are health conscience and/or wanting more fiber in their diet and not about taste or mouthfeel, whole wheat/grain pasta really doesn't work in the true sense of what is understood as conventional pasta and I'm just referring to Italian pasta only. Of course there will be people where that means very little, and for sure, eat what you enjoy and that's why we have pasta's now made from every conceivable and workable substrate imaginable.

 

[pictonguy]

If anyone is interested, this tutorial about making pasta is very good, and Helen goes into detail about "lamination" as well, that's unusual, and while I don't agree with every word, this is one of the most informative tutorials I've come across.

 

[pictonguy]

I'm also going to link this in the pasta section because I believe this is a "must watch" for people just starting or want to improve their pasta making abilities.

 

[caseydog]

Wow, all you great pasta makers, I must get round to making some myself too, one day! What's the "round to it" joke?

Here ya' go. Get to work on that pasta.

CD

 

[taxlady]

Interesting, I usually go for whole grain in pretty much everything but pasta. Whole grain pasta is mostly for people that are health conscience and/or wanting more fiber in their diet and not about taste or mouthfeel, whole wheat/grain pasta really doesn't work in the true sense of what is understood as conventional pasta and I'm just referring to Italian pasta only. Of course there will be people where that means very little, and for sure, eat what you enjoy and that's why we have pasta's now made from every conceivable and workable substrate imaginable.

That whole wheat pasta from Bionaturae, tastes really good. Back when I still drained my pasta and then served it with sauce to add on top, I used to munch it out of the colander, plain. It's the only pasta that I have done that with. I mean, sure I might have munched a single piece of some other kind of pasta, but the Bionaturae stuff, I found it hard to stop munching it while I was finishing cooking. It was that good plain.

 

[pictonguy]

Haha. One of the YouTube “Italian” cooks that I have watched says you should knead your pasta by hand for no less than 30 minutes.
Arrant nonsense.
About five minutes is enough, but you need to knead it correctly. Roll out your dough on a floured board.
When you are kneading, use the flat of your palm. Don’t use the fist, roll with the flat palm, fold it over and continue.

I agree SW 30 minutes is quite long but it does stretch the gluten strands and creates a silky and soft dough, so not a bad thing. Personally I normally knead for around 8-10 minutes and laminate.

I also don't flour the board when I dump the dough from the processor. I knead for a minute or two first and more often that not any stuck dough that might have clung to the board gets absorbed. The problem can arise, because it has with me, if the dough absorbs too much flour where water needs to be added back in and adding water on a floured board is not what anyone making pasta wants to happen and actually should be avoided, water is not easily absorbed without a lot of kneading and you end up having a mess on your hands. This all comes down to understanding the feel of the dough when it's in the food processor.

 

[dragnlaw]

Which is why in the FP I have found as I am adding the walnut lumps back in - I could tell if it needed extra water or not. When added the FP did the gunky part and soon the bowl was self cleaning with the dough.

I've not made any pasta since moving here. One of the things I like about DC is the inspirations and motivations it gives me to do more/new things and improving (trying to) old things.
For me a lot has to do with controlling patience! my bugbear.

 

[pictonguy]

Good for you.

 

[jennyema]

Laminate means folding the dough back on itself to make tiny layers within the dough ….. does that make sense?

 

[Shining Wizard]

If anyone is interested, this tutorial about making pasta is very good, and Helen goes into detail about "lamination" as well, that's unusual, and while I don't agree with every word, this is one of the most informative tutorials I've come across.

Helen is a wonderful YouTuber.