Is 1/16 to 1/8 inch too thick for ravioli?

[BAPyessir6]

Yes, I am a bit stumped by the yoghurt. I am struggling to see what it brings to the cottage cheese and ricotta. Anything it might bring is already covered by those two other ingredients, in my opinion.
But if you insist, you might try hanging the yogurt overnight, I don’t know…

I just threw in the yogurt cause I had it. It's neither my usual ricotta filling or something I'd do regularly.

I did drain the yogurt (all the ingredients I drained) overnight, and the filling was. . .almost the texture of softened whipped cream cheese (or slightly loose whipped butter. It stayed on a spoon but sagged when scooped up. Wish I had taken a picture) after I added bread crumbs, seasonings, etc. Is there a way to know what the texture of ravioli filling is supposed to be properly, so there's less risks or cracking when freezing/boiling?

 

[BAPyessir6]

Getting back to the original statement about the cracking, Jade suggests that there was excess liquid in your mix and the expansion split the dough.
So you have two things to look at - excess liquid and the splitting dough.
Now if these are the cause of the splitting... question - do you see excess liquid pooling when you mixed those 3 ingredients? (cottage cheese, ricotta, yogurt) IMHO those are 3 very liquid ingredients to start with. I can see the cottage cheese and ricotta flavour wise but I don't really see the yogurt adding anything to it - other than excess liquid?
Cracking dough - maybe try a little thicker dough? To allow for expansion? Do you see the dough has cracked as you take them out of the freezer or only after boiling?

I noticed a few of them cracking after I froze them. Not all of them, but maybe like 10 percent?

 

[dragnlaw]

To be fair, I've never seen a ravioli recipe for just ricotta and cottage cheese. Almost always has a significant amount of mozzarella or parmasan and usually spinach.
Just ricotta and/or cottage cheese is often used to fill pasta like shells or manicotti.

OK, I went back and see that you do add parmesan, my bad, but then...
Why the bread crumbs??

 

[Jade Emperor]

I can say with a small degree of certainty that the mixture had too much liquid in it, even though you drained it.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are going to be freezing your ravioli (no matter the filling) you should always give them a one minute blanch, allow to dry completely before dusting and then freeze.
And @dragnlaw is right. The most common version is spinach and ricotta, usually with a decent amount of Parmesan. It’s actually a really nice meal and one of those for vegetarians when you’re unsure about what to serve a plant based eater.

 

[BAPyessir6]

To be fair, I've never seen a ravioli recipe for just ricotta and cottage cheese. Almost always has a significant amount of mozzarella or parmasan and usually spinach.
Just ricotta and/or cottage cheese is often used to fill pasta like shells or manicotti.

OK, I went back and see that you do add parmesan, my bad, but then...
Why the bread crumbs??

I guess I figured bread crumbs would hopefully negate any of the excess liquid in the filling. I'm learning!

Though thinking about it, I should probably get good with making ravioli the correct way before I start putting a spin on it, then I'm more likely to know what I'm doing and thus less likely to mess up/have cracks.

Oh and for note, this was the filling I was working off of:

 

[dragnlaw]

You're very brave to jump in like that. I still only follow a recipe for fillings but then I don't make very many anymore. But I DO have a ton of recipes I've just never gotten to! LOL

 

[BAPyessir6]

You're very brave to jump in like that. I still only follow a recipe for fillings but then I don't make very many anymore. But I DO have a ton of recipes I've just never gotten to! LOL

Aw thanks! I love being creative in the kitchen whenever possible, even when I hit snags like cracking ravioli (thankfully it's still wonderful though). I'll make more soon and try blanching them like @Jade Emperor said. I've honestly never heard of blanching ravioli before! It sounds so cool!

 

[BAPyessir6]

You're very brave to jump in like that. I still only follow a recipe for fillings but then I don't make very many anymore. But I DO have a ton of recipes I've just never gotten to! LOL

Sometimes I feel like Thomas Edison when I cook. Now I know 100 things that don't work!

 

[BAPyessir6]

Well, let’s start with the reason your ravioli is cracking in the freezer. It’s happening because the filling has some liquid in it and when you are freezing it, the liquid expands and cracks the pasta.
The solution is to make your ravioli, and then give it a quick blanch - 1 minute only in boiling water.
Then arrange on a baking tray and allow to cool completely and dry. Turn the ravioli over after about 30 minutes to allow both sides to dry completely. At this point you want it to be fully dry. Leaving them on the baking tray, dust with some flour all over and place the tray into the freezer for a further 30 minutes.
Now you can put them into a bag or container and freeze for up to three months. Cook from frozen.

As for fixing them when already cracked, I would allow them to thaw and then wet your hands and try to smooth out the dough. You will need to be sure that they are once again fully sealed. If necessary you might need a little more flour to do a “plaster” job on them.
Personally, I would just cut my losses and throw them.
Good luck!

I'd love to come back to this with a follow up question.

You said to blanch them a minute before allowing them to air dry. I will do this in the future and report back to the experts!

My question is: do you know why would this make for less cracking? Is it because having hydrated dough will allow it to expand more when freezing?

 

[Jade Emperor]

When you blanch the pasta, it allows the gluten in the flour to stretch and bind together. This will help seal it and protect against any cracking, because now the gluten is bonded together and it allows more flexibility in the dough.

 

[BAPyessir6]

When you blanch the pasta, it allows the gluten in the flour to stretch and bind together. This will help seal it and protect against any cracking, because now the gluten is bonded together and it allows more flexibility in the dough.

Smartie!