Pasta 101

Please contact me at (816) 308-1038 to inquire about classes!!

While this is a beginners class, there is nothing novice about it…

Class starts with a conversation about the most simple ingredient in pasta dough: Flour. I will demonstrate creating a pasta dough from scratch via the well method, the most reliable method. Once finished and the dough is wrapped to rest, everyone will break out into individual stations and repeat the process on your own. As you mix and knead I will inspect your dough and help you understand the texture, consistency, and moisture your looking for and how to adjust if necessary. The feel of the dough is immensely more important than any recipe, as your final product is influenced by so many different uncontrolled factors. The hands on learning is invaluable in that regard. Once finished, your dough will be wrapped and ready to travel home with you for more practice!

Next we move to rolling. I have four different ways of creating pasta sheets and you will get to try them all: 1 hand cranked roller, 2 separate electric rollers and the traditional, my favorite, Mattarello. There is a lot of nuance to rolling out your dough, especially what to do with it before pasta formation, and we will discuss this all.

Finally, we will form our pasta. We always make a noodle like spaghetti or pappardelle, and shaped pasta like cavatelli or stricelli, and finally a filled pasta like ravioli or agnolotti. Everyone will participate in hand forming these shapes. There is always left over dough near the end of this process to play and try any shape that is your favorite, so come prepared to request a shape.

We wont just make pasta, we will also eat it! The filled pasta will be served as an appetizer, the shaped as a first course and the final course the noodle. Each course will be served with a different sauce but more importantly you will learn how to combine the noodle with the sauce to become one through a process Italians know as Mantecato. This is as important to your final dish as the pasta itself.