Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [73]
Take up another few inches of dough on the pin and repeat the combined motion: The hands moving out and in, the pin rocking forward and back.
When you have taken up and stretched all but the last few inches of dough, rotate the pin 180°, unfurl the sheet of dough opening it up flat, and start again from the far end, repeating the entire stretching operation described above.
As the sheet of dough becomes larger, let it hang over the near side of the table. It will act as a counterweight and contribute to the stretching action. But do not lean against it, because you might break it. As you take up dough on the rolling pin, you will allow the end of the sheet to slide gradually back onto the table.
When you have rotated the pasta sheet a complete turn and it is all fully stretched, open it up flat on the table and use the rolling pin to iron out any creases.
The entire third movement should be executed in 10 minutes or less for a standard quantity of pasta dough.
Suggestions:
• Thinning out a ball of dough into a sheer sheet of pasta is a race against time. Dough can be stretched as long as it is soft and pliable, but its flexibility is short-lived. The moment dough begins to dry out, it refuses to give and starts to crack. From the very beginning, you must work on developing speed.
• Do not make pasta while the oven is turned on, or near a hot radiator, or in a draft. All these cause dough to dry out.
• Work with the dough within easy reach of your arms to exercise better control of your movements.
• Before you begin rolling out real dough, it might be helpful to try out the stretching motion, using a circular sheet of oilcloth or non-sticky plastic.
Problems: Their Causes and Possible Solutions
• Holes in the pasta. It happens to everyone, occasionally even to experts. Usually it’s not serious. Patch the dough, narrowly overlapping the edges of the tears. Seal with slightly moistened fingertips, if necessary. Smooth the patch with the rolling pin, and resume working the dough.
• Tiny cracks at the edges. This means the dough began to dry out faster than you were stretching it. Or you thinned out the edge of the sheet more than the center. The sheet cannot be stretched further, but if it is already passably thin, it can still be used.
• The dough falls apart. Either you are letting it dry out by not stretching it fast enough, or you kneaded it too dry originally, with too much flour, that is. A fatal symptom. Start over again from scratch, taking special care, when kneading, to produce dough that is tender and elastic.
• You cannot get the pasta thin enough. Basically it’s a question of practice and perseverance. Reread the descriptions of the stretching movements. Work faster. There may also be technical reasons: The dough has not been kneaded long or thoroughly enough; it has too much flour; you didn’t let it rest after kneading; the kitchen may be too hot, too dry, too draughty.
• The sheet sticks to itself or to the rolling pin. You may be putting downward pressure into your stretching motion. Or you have kneaded the dough too soft, with insufficient flour. In this case, you may be able to rescue the dough by sprinkling flour over it and spreading it uniformly over the sheet.
• The pasta is too thick for fettuccine or tortellini, but looks too good to throw away. Cut it into maltagliati, quadrucci, or manfrigul, and use in soup. If very thick, allow adequate time when cooking.
Drying handmade pasta Spread a dry, clean, cloth towel on a table or work counter and lay the sheet of pasta flat over the towel, making sure there are no creases. Let one-third of the sheet hang over the edge of the table or counter. After about 10 minutes, rotate the sheet to let a different part of it hang. Another 10 minutes and rotate it again. Total drying time depends on the softness of the dough and the temperature and ventilation in the room. The dough must lose enough of its moisture so that it will not stick to itself when folded and cut, but it must not dry