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Any tips for hand-rolling pasta? I can never get it thin enough.
I was wearing myself out rolling sheets of lasagne noodles last night. I feel like I can get it to a certain thinness, but I can’t get it any thinner. Obviously for lasagne I want it THIN thin.
Or should I just invest in a pasta roller? Though I like doing just one pan-sized sheet for my lasagne.
When you try to roll it thin, does it shrink back into itself? If that’s the problem, you may need to give it more resting time before you roll it out.
It does - ok I’ll try a longer rest!
Look at second hand stores and ebay for a used pasta roller. Got mine at an estate sale for $15US.
Be careful though, there are cheap knock-offs that look like the well-known brands but have horrible tolerances. You'll never be able to roll out any dough with those. So, read the reviews or buy from a place that has easy returns.
Watch Chef Evan Funkes work on rolling pasta fatto a Mano. His documentary called Funke is soooo good
His documentary called Funke is soooo good
Maeby so
Yep. He's a Jedi Fucking Master of handmade pasta.
So, this might not work with pasta, but I don't see why not, with enough flour.
I've seen a lot of Asian recipe videos where the chef will roll out the dough kinda thin, but not super thin and then layer the dough over itself, and then roll out the stack. So you might not be able to get pan-sized sheets, but maybe like quarter-pan sheets, depending on how big your kitchen/ countertop is?
Yes! Great technique. I make a lot of dumpling wrappers, not exactly pasta but pretty close I’d say. It’s also a similar technique used in filo pastry if you need visual aid!
Basically stack multiple layers of thin dough on top of each other, flour well in between! Then roll the whole stack and separate the layers after. You would notice the extra bulk of stacking would allow each layer to become thinner individually.
An Atlas pasta machine is a lovely thing.
You might consider getting a rolling pin that is perfectly cylindrical and a couple of slats of hardwood, or strips of metal the desired thickness. Lay them on either side of the pasta and roll away.
I struggled with pasta for years until I began mixing all purpose flour with fine semolina. Now my pasta is always a smash hit.
