After posting this video, I learned an important difference between "semolina" and "semola" thanks to Adam Churvis. Adam, you get the comment-of-the-month award :) What I am actually using in the video is Italian "semola" flour. I thought it's called "semolina" in English, but I was wrong. Both semola and semolina are made from durum wheat. But American produced semolina is coarser than Italian semola. I tested this recipe both with Bob's Red Mill semolina and Caputo Semola and got good results with both, though they were a little better with Italian semola. But I haven't tested this dough on a pasta extruder since I don't have one. I only make hand shapes like orecchiette, trofie, and cavatelli. It's possible that for an extruder, you'd see a bigger difference. If possible, get Italian Semola di grano duro, rimacinana. That's the flour I use. It's extremely confusing because many Italian semola flours are sold as "semolina" in the US.
It's the same in Germany. Every translation site will give 'Hartweizengrieß' if you wanna translate semolina - which is made from durum wheat as well, so it seems correct. But it's also much coarser than the Italian variant and not perfectly suited for pasta.
Oh wow! I just bought Bob's, but I just ordered Caputo brand "Italian Semola di grano duro, rimacinana" off Amazon! It will be here in a couple of days - but I will still try both - thank you so much!
Much, yes. On the tech side.... I would call the slightly serrated metal one a "dinner knife." In my house, we have a different "butter knife," which is necessarily carved of wood. When spreading butter with a metal knife on hot food, the metal gets too warm for the butter and oops, there falls the butter, while a butter knife of wood will not pick up the heat and continue to hold the butter. On another side, the serration helps at dinner to cut some plated foods. Meanwhile, back in time, one might note that the metal table knife without a sharp cutting edge was the invention of Louis XIV of France, who wished his many guests to eat without sharp edges as he feared violence at the dinner table. What a dysfunctional family (and so many, many guests) that must have been to see people attacking one another with the flatware. For about five years, I had a scar on my hand from my older brother's fork. Thanks Louis, I could have been half-thumb-less. So, yes, most people would call it a butter knife or table knife. In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, 'Never his your grandma with a shovel. It makes a bad impression on her mind.'
Calling it a butter knife is interesting to me as I would have thought of the shape of a butter spreader (if you search online for a butter spreader you'll see the shape I mean, it's more rounded at the end of the knife). I don't really know what the "official" name for a knife you eat with is, so you may be right that it's called a butter knife, just thought I'd share why the name is interesting to me.
Here (Canada), what Helen is using is called a dinner knife. A butter knife is smaller; there's only one on the table, and it is paired with the butter dish for everyone to use; it's used to transfer butter from the dish to the side plate for bread. If a main dish requires butter (boiled spuds for example), then the diner transfers it from the butter dish to the side plate using the butter knife; then from the side plate to the dinner plate using their dinner knife.
The fact that binging with babish is more popular than this is an outrage. This is the secret gem of RU-vid cooking. Helan consistently produces videos that are more thorough and informative than any single source, whether in print or video format than I've ever seen all in one place and always much I've never seen, and I research cooking technique for fun. Spread this channel far and wide, for it is the gospel of the culinary truth.
bwb is sort of a different category. He is not and experienced cook so everything he does is based on quick google searches and the appeal to his channel is the production value and the novelty of the dishes he is recreating. When I was watching his shows he was mostly recreating food from tv and movies. Helen’s channel is much more informative. I’ve been making pasta for years but I am still learning and I find her videos really helpful.
Helen is great but I find it hard to stomach this claim with J Kenji Lopez Alt out there as well as Bon Appetit, the Noma Guide to Fermentation and a million other books
BWB is more of an "entertainer" cook than an informative cook. He doesn't usually go in super detail about the cooking process and his content is aimed to entertain rather than be a recipe. Some of his videos are completely unusable as recipes.
Dear Helen, I was one of your students many years ago. Your Knife Skills class changed my life! And the lives of anyone who has seen me cook in my own kitchen. Just like with this video about water based pasta, your clear directions and explanations make it so easy for your students to replicate and then pass on the information to friends, children, and just this past weekend, nieces! Thank you so much for all your instructions. And congratulations on getting 1.4M views on your egg-based pasta video. I hope I can cook in your kitchen again some day! MaryAlice
I love how you lay out information. You pack a lot of info but it just flows. All that you said felt like it should have been a 45 minute video! I made fresh pasta twice and could tell where I made my mistakes already, so thank you!
Absolutely one of the finest teachers of all things culinary. I went to a pasta class taught by a local chef, and quickly came home to google the "details" he did not mention. I found Helen's video and my family and I watched it intently before embarking on our first pasta adventure. Without Helen, we would have been scrambling. Can't wait to attend a live class. in the future. Your detailed way of presenting as a scientist while imparting the passion of cooking is what makes me tick! THANK YOU, Helen!
My gosh! I just tried making your egg-based pasta dough to make my own ravioli and I WILL NEVER buy store bought pasta again!!! Thank you thank you. Love from the Philippines 🤗🤗🤗
Helen; Grazie Mille! For explaining the different flour and their proper uses. I have made egg pasta tagliatelle, and filled pastas for yrs., now I tried the small hand-shaped ones and couldn't do it, I followed another RU-vidrs video, with much frustration and no success, and they made their dough with an eggs + 00 flour...I don't know how they managed to make it appear successful! I have semolina flour, and will try your method, which I'm pretty sure will work.
I made this for the first time, all by hand and I only used AP flour, and it turned out amazing!! At first I was really bad at making the shape but it got easier in no time. I tossed the pasta and finished cooking it in a creamy chicken sauce with peas. I will definitely make this pasta again!!
Dear Helen, great tips on the pasta making, especially using hot water. A note about the salinity of the water (and seasoning in general) that might be helpful: foods generally need about 1% of salt by weight for good seasoning. Your example of 65 grams of salt for 6 litres of water is just slightly more than that, but as you explained, the pasta is cooked for such a short time that a little boost is good. The average salinity of sea water is about 3.7% and if you were to salt your pasta water to this extent it would produce an inedible product. I love your work and think it is time to retire the misleading phrase "salt your water like the sea."
Hi John, I am with you on retiring the "sea water" analogy. I think chefs use it to push the home cooks to use more salt than their instincts tell them ;) 1% by weight is a great guideline.
Great recipe. I've struggled with water-based pasta, for awhile, using semolina/semola flour. After closely following the intructions of this video and others of Helen's, I was finally successful. Cheap, easy and wonderful recipe to try.
I had totally nailed my egg dough for ravioli and spaghetti and tonight I tried to make some hand shapes with it and they were like rubber bullets! So glad I found your videos and figured out that I had used the wrong dough for those shapes! This makes so much sense. Great video, thank you so much!
Your instruction about using very hot water is interesting. Years ago I made one of the bread recipes from Marcella Hazan's "More Classic Italian Cooking" that called for durum semolina. I'm an experienced bread baker so I had no trouble with the recipe, but I'd never used durum semolina before. I was puzzled at the coarse grain when I got it home, but went ahead, using warm water as directed. I'm not certain Ms. Hazan meant for people to use the typical North American product, but we'll never know now. The bread was to be baked on a stone in a ring shape (more crust for everyone), and it was very, very good in nearly all respects: beautiful golden colour, a hard, very crisp crust, firm and chewy - but gritty. This didn't spoil it for me, far from it, but it was enough for me never to make it again. I'm strongly tempted to try it a second time, using near-boiling water then letting it rest covered until it's cool enough to add the yeast. If this eliminates the sandiness, it would be nearly perfect bread. I remember it being especially good toasted (which actually helped disguise the grit somewhat, for some reason).
definitely don't use hot water for bread. it will kill the yeast, destroy the gluten, etc. what you need is italian semola flour. when i made this video I didn't realize the semola/semolina difference. this will explain it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bXo2jqgFZMo.html
Thanks for a very informative video. I used the dough to make pasta with a kitchen aid roller attachment. It worked well, but found the dough a little moist for my comfort level. I'm just glad it didn't stick together when boiled. I'll back off on the water some, and glad you suggested a food processor instead of the dough hook on the kitchen aid as it combined so fast!
That's the wrong dough for rolling out into sheets. Here is the one you want (the egg dough): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m_fu5RaXMVk.html
Thanks, but would prefer to make egg free, just for the convenience. It turned out fine, I'll just use less water, likely tonight as my wife loved the pasta and we are having guests over.@@helenrennie
Helen I just made my first batch of orecchiette for my family this weekend, and I could not have done it without this video!! It was a such a success! Thank you so much! (And for a tip on finding affordable semolina flour, my nearby Middle Eastern grocery store had every grind from very coarse to powdery fine.)
Flour Classifications vary widely from country to country, I've written a bit of text for people from Germany/Austria who may find this video: Falls jemand aus Deutschland/Österreich dieses Video ließt, die korrekte Übersetzung für Semolina Flour ist "Hartweizengrieß". In Österreich gibt es "Goldgrieß", was auch Hartweißengrieß ist aber es ist sehr, sehr grob. Man kann dennoch damit Pasta machen. Worauf man beim Kaufen achten muss ist "Durum-Weizen". Der Gluten-Gehalt ist höher, was die Pasta fester macht. Wenn kein feines Pastamehl verwendet wurde, kann dennoch der grobe Grieß verwendet werden, er muss nur so lange geknetet werden, bis das ganze auch wirklich durchgängig weich ist und keine Grießkörner mehr gefunden werden können.
This was the missing piece from my pasta game! I guess the old adage "proper tool for the proper job" also applies to flour. On your advice I did purchase some 00 AP flour and I got some semola just in case. Now I'm glad I did. I haven't had a chance to try the semola yet. This video is just in time!
OH MY GOD I have used your rookie mistakes video for egg pasta and this was my #1 most wanted video. Edit: Probably a stupid question but can I run this kind of dough through my pasta roller (Hand crank) to make sheets, cut them into 2inch squares, and roll them on a garganelli board? Or is it not suited for all of that? Seriously, I was a complete pasta novice and my egg pasta has been perfect since the first try. All thanks to her video. Thank you so much!!!!
So glad you've had pasta success. I haven't tried rolling this dough out. My guess is that it would rip very easily because I use hot water. What you could try to do is use warm, but not hot water and then you should be able to roll it out and shape as you described.
I am relatively new to making fresh pasta. Your tutorials on egg pasta and water and semolina pasta were awesome. Could you please advise on how to make semolina dough for use with an extruder???
unfortunately, I don't have an extruder, so can't test it, but the dough I would try is my water-based dough and I would make sure to use Italian semola flour
You are right, I did find your first video extremely helpful in getting me started on my homemade pasta journey. I do love rigatoni though and after a while I was wondering what it would take to make it as well. Now, I have come across this video as I'm starting my pasta extruding journey. I hope it brings me the same success. Thank you so much for the thorough explanation and the reasons behind when to use which type of dough.
Unfortunately, I don't ever dry my pasta. If you want to store for later use, freeze. Making pasta from scratch takes SO much time. Once it's dried, it's not any different than high end dried pasta that you can buy at any store.
@@helenrennieI know it's been a long time since you made this comment but adding my vote to this request, for what it's worth! We keep chickens and part of the reason we make pasta is to use up eggs in a way that we can store for future use. It's very hard to find quality information online (I actually found your channel while searching for this info) and I get the sense that you would be a fantastic person to do justice to the topic.
Your way of speaking is very soothing. How do you get such a clear recording audio? What type of microphone did you use? And I am trying to figure out your beautiful accent. What is your native language?
Just made my first batch of pasta this weekend, tortellini. Turned out great. Took some practice to get it shaped right but I got it. Family loved it. Had trouble finding 00 flour so I ordered on amazon. Since I can find Semolina easily I thought I'd just use a Semolina pasta recipe next time. Glad I watched your video. That is not a good idea for thin stuffed pasta like tortellini. I will make some Semolina pasta dough and use it for other shapes. I appreciate your tips.
So, I tried this recipe on the weekend because I wanted to try making spaghetti with the KitchenAid extruder attachment I got for Christmas. I weighed everything out as the recipe indicated but still found it to be quite sticky and wound up adding about another quarter cup of semolina. I thought it took care of the excess stickiness. I wrapped it in plastic and let it sit for about 2 hours. I rolled it into walnut sized balls and placed them in the feed tube of the mixer and when the spaghetti started coming out it immediately stuck together. I was unable to unstick it and cleaning out the attachment was quite a job. Because you said it's never too late to add more flour I did just that - probably about another half cup, kneaded it in and let it sit a while longer. Because of the mess of my machine I decided to roll it out and cut it into fettucine ribbons instead which worked perfectly. Not quite as luscious as the egg noodles - a very delicate noodle. I just noticed your response to a comment where you mention that you have not actually tested it with an extruder so thought I'd share my experience with you. Interestingly, the booklet that comes with the extruder includes a recipe for dough that is egg based. I wonder if your egg pasta recipe would work better for spaghetti.
This is a wonderful and very helpful video. I’ve been making your egg pasta dough for a while now and it has been absolutely delicious. I just bought the KitchenAid pasta extruder attachment and now know to only use the water based dough. I haven’t tried it yet but I think it will also be delicious. In one of the reviews for that machine someone followed the recipe included with the booklet that came with it, which was an egg-based pasta, and they said it got all jammed up in the extruder. Now I know why. Thank you so much for helping me to avoid this mistake.
Am I correct in assuming that other liquids like juice (carrot, beet, tomato, etc.) would work as long as the temperature criteria is met? I believe I've learned more about cooking and baking from your videos than anyone else on RU-vid. As a disabled, old man with very few things to do in the Philippines (no more New England snow) I can at least try to hone my very rudimentary culinary skills. 😉
Helen, I tried your water pasta dough today, it is lovely. I think the hot water is the key to hydrate the semolina, but it was way too soft for my Kitchen Aid pasta press. I did use Caputo Semola, but think this would work well with semolina. Do you think that cutting down on the hydration will help, or do you have a recipe for extrusion machines? Love your videos....
Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with extruded pasta since I don't have an extruder. I hear from people semola is what you want not the course semolina. you can definitely play with hydration. I am also not sure if the hot water is beneficial for extrusion. Try looking up a recipe that is specifically formulated for extruded pasta.
Any suggestions for me? I can only use cassava flour for pasta, I cannot have dairy , eggs or gluten, nor rice or legume. Can I use only water and cassava and follow the same protocol? You're amazing, btw!
Your videos have been so helpful! I tried making bowtie/farfalle pasta with the egg based pasta dough. The first time the bowties broke in the center. The second time they did not break but were just very floppy. Should I use the water dough for the bowties instead? Thank you!
I made orecchiette from this video and thank you thank you it was amazing. I’m allergic to eggs 😩 Is it at all possible to make lasagna and tortalini or ravioli from this. Doesn’t have to be perfect but my success with the orecchiette made me want to try it ALLLLLLLL? ♥️
Hi Helen, thank you for your amazing fully explained videos, I have a question please, how can I store fresh pasta for sale, and what kind of materials should I use ? Thank you
I have a quick question... I follow a vegan diet, so an egg based pasta isn't an option for me. However, I really want to make tortellini's with a vegan ricotta. You say in this video that a water based pasta dough won't work for the sheet pasta, do you have a recommendation on something else I can try to make these without using the egg pasta dough? Is there an alteration I can make to this water based pasta dough to make it work better for the sheet pasta? Any insight would be much appreciated!! Thank you! And P.S. I love your accent!
Thank you for the instructions! How many cups holds your food processor? What are your recommendations for the size of the food processor? I can’t make my decision because I do not know. Thank you 🙏
I use your egg pasta recipe all the time and I’m gonna use your semolina pasta recipe today. But is there a way to make it half the size. Does cutting the quantities in half work?
I once read that by adding salt to the hot water that is mixed with the semola, it helps the gluten structure. Does this make culinary sense to you or any fellow readers? I’ve been making egg based dough for years but would like to try water-based with semola. Thank you in advance for your assistance!
Hi Helen! Thank you for all your videos. They are really heplfull. I have one question, as I haven't founded a satisfying response yet.. What is the difference beetween semolina di grano duro and semolina di grano duro rimancinata? Is rimancinata event more milled? I have both at home and to be truth I do not see the difference.. Please help! Thank you :)
a lot of it is just terminology. if you don't see a difference, they are the same thing. if rimacinata is specified on the package, it's definitely the right thing for pasta (that means "remilled"). if you see the word semola somewhere in italian, it's probably remilled. In about a month, I'll post another water based pasta video. I got both american semolina and italian semola and I'll show both in the video so that you can see the difference.
@@helenrennie Thank you very much for your comment! I think that they are the same but from different companies. Thank you once again and I look forward to watching your next video :)
Hi! I tried to extrude the pastas with the kitchen aid rigatoni attachement and they were way too soft. Is it because I added 1/4 tsp of salt? I did the rest exactly the same. Nice dough, kneaded for 8 minutes, cover with plastic film for an hour, then cut into balls to put in the kitchen aid attachement
haven't tried it. have you? I can imagine it's a good idea for someone due to a gluten allergy, but can't imagine it would taste nearly as good as wheat pasta ;)
@@helenrennie Haven't tried it yet, but got intrigued when i saw a barilla box of red lentil penne. I don't even know how it can be done since there is no gluten to give it structure.
First time rolled out noodles was with this water-based semolina dough (refrigerated overnight, then rested until room temperature), it came out perfectly and it produced some of the most wonderfully silky noodles with no structural issues. Everywhere I've seen said you shouldn't use this type of dough for this, despite all dried noodle pasta being made of this. I never dried mine (I've heard this is nearly impossible to do well at home), but just used it fresh or frozen without issues. I've also tried egg-based, but still prefer water-based for noodles. I can understand why egg dough can be bad for thicker pasta shapes, but I genuinely don't understand why egg-less dough for fresh homemade noodles is so widely frowned upon. Is my palate just busted or am I missing something?
@@helenrennie Thanks for the response, love all the work you do! That makes more sense to me. I haven't made stuffed pasta yet, but I can imagine the dough ripping more easily. Texture-wise they're a bit more delicate and silky smooth. To handle, I lay them out on a table with semolina, and pick them up with a skewer to transfer to the pot or a bag for freezing. For me, noodles made with this dough are a must for simple, creamy emulsion-based pastas like cacio e pepe or burro e parmigiano.
