Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [72]
The second movement You will now begin to stretch the dough. Hold the near edge of the dough down with one hand. Place the rolling pin at the opposite, far edge of the dough, laying it down parallel to your side of the table. One hand will be working the pin while the other will act as a stop, holding down the edge of the dough nearest you.
Curl the far edge of the dough around the pin. Begin to roll the pin toward you, taking up as much dough as needed to fit snugly under the pin. Hold the near edge of the dough still with your other hand. Roll the pin toward you, then use the heel of your palm to push it back. Do not roll it back, but push, making the sheet of dough taut between your two hands, and stretching it. This should be done very rapidly, in a continuous and fluid motion. Do not put any downward pressure whatsoever into the movement. Do not let the hand working the pin rest on the dough longer than 2 or 3 seconds on the same spot.
Keep rolling the pin toward you, stopping, pushing it forward to stretch the dough, taking up more dough with it, rolling it toward you, stopping, stretching, repeating the sequence several times until you have taken up all the dough on the pin. Then, while the dough is curled around the pin, rotate the pin a full half turn—180°—so that it points toward you, and unfurl the dough, opening it up flat.
Repeat the rolling and stretching operation described above until the dough is once again completely wrapped around the pin. Rotate the pin another 180° in the same direction as before, uncurl the dough from it, and repeat the operation once again. Continue this procedure until the sheet of dough has been stretched to a diameter of about 12 inches. Proceed immediately to the next movement.
The third movement This is the decisive step, the one in which you’ll stretch the sheet of dough to nearly double its preceding diameter, when it ceases to be merely dough and becomes pasta. When your hands have mastered the rhythmic and pressureless execution of this movement, you will have acquired one of the most precious of culinary crafts: handmade pasta in the Bolognese tradition.
The circle of dough lies flat before you on the table. Place the rolling pin at its far end, parallel to the edge of the table near you. Curl the end of the dough around the center of the pin and roll the pin toward you, taking up with it about 4 inches of the sheet of dough. Cup both your hands lightly over the center of the pin, keeping your fingers from touching it. Roll the pin away from you and then toward you, taking up with it no more than the original 4 inches of dough. At the same time that you are rolling the pin back and forth, slide your hands apart from each other and toward the ends of the pin, and back to the center, quickly repeating the motion a number of times.
As your hands move away from the center, let the heels of your palms brush against the surface of the dough, dragging it, pulling it, in fact stretching it toward the ends of the pin. At the same time that you are sliding your hands from the center toward the ends, you must roll the pin toward you. Bear in mind that there is some pressure in this motion but it is directed sideways, not downward. If you press down on the dough it won’t stretch because it will stick to the pin.
When the hands move back toward the center they should float over the dough, barely skimming it. You want to stretch the dough outward, toward the ends of the pin, and not drag it back toward the center. At the same time that you are bringing your hands back to the center of the pin, roll it forward, away from you.
Your hands must flit out and back very rapidly, touching the dough only with the heel of the palm, applying pull as they move outward, never weight. And