Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [71]
PASTA BY THE ROLLING-PIN METHOD
The necessary equipment To make pasta by hand you need a large, steady table and a pasta rolling pin. For cutting the pasta after it is rolled out, it would be helpful to have a Chinese cleaver, which is what most closely resembles the kind of knife used in Bologna.
A depth of 24 inches is sufficient for the table, but the longer it is, the easier it is to work with. Three feet would be adequate, and 4½ would be ideal.
The best material for the table’s top is wood, either solid hardwood planking or butcher block. Formica or Corian is satisfactory. The least desirable material is marble, whose coldness inhibits the dough, making it inelastic.
If the top is wood, make sure the edge near you is not sharply angular, because it would cut a sheer sheet of pasta hanging over it. If it is not smooth and rounded, sand it to make it so. Laminated tops usually don’t present this problem because the edge is either covered by a molding or it is finished blunt.
The rolling pin for pasta is narrower and longer than pastry pins. Its classic dimensions are 1½ inches in diameter and 32 inches in length. It’s not easy to come by outside of Emilia-Romagna, although some particularly well-stocked kitchen equipment stores occasionally carry it. A good lumber-supply house can cut you one from a hardwood dowel whose thickness can vary from 1½ to 2 inches. Sand the ends of the dowel to make them perfectly smooth.
Curing and storing a rolling pin: Wash it with soap and water, then rinse all the soap away under cold running water. Dry thoroughly with a soft cloth. Allow the pin to become completely dry in a moderately warm room.
Moisten a cloth with any neutral-tasting vegetable oil and with it rub the entire surface of the pin. Don’t put on too much oil, it should be a very light coating. When the oil has seeped into the wood, rub the pin with flour.
To maintain the pin in good condition, repeat the “cure” once every dozen times the pin is used.
Store the pin hanging free to keep it from warping. Screw an eye hook into one end, and suspend the pin from a hook set into a wall or inside a cupboard. Take care not to dent the pin because any unevenness in its surface may tear the pasta.
Before you pick up the rolling pin, read through all the following instructions carefully. The movements with the pin are like a ballet of the hands and they should be learned as a dancer learns a part. Before your hands can take over and their action become intuitive, the logic and sequence of the motions must unfold clearly in the mind.
The dough Prepare a kneaded ball of dough exactly as described in the section on "Pasta by the Machine Method."
Suggestion: When making pasta by hand for the first time, you’ll find it easier to start with green pasta dough. It is softer and easier to stretch.
Relaxing the dough Even when you have become accomplished in the use of the pin, it is desirable to let the kneaded dough rest and relax its gluten before rolling it out. When it is fully kneaded, wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or as much as 2 hours.
The first movement Remove the plastic wrap from the ball of dough and place the dough within comfortable reach in the center of the work table. Flatten it slightly by pounding it two or three times smartly with the palm of your hand.
Place the rolling pin across the flattened top of the ball, about one-third of the way in toward its center. The pin must be parallel to the edge of the table near you.
Open out the ball of dough by pushing the pin forcefully forward, letting it roll lightly backward to its starting point, and pushing it forward again, repeating the operation 4 or 5 times. Do not at any time allow the pin to roll onto or past the far edge of the dough.
Turn the dough a full quarter turn, and repeat the above operation. Continue to turn the gradually