Fresh pasta

The popularity of homemade pasta has recently surged. Until a few years ago, Italian gastronomy was identified worldwide as pizza and spaghetti. That was it. However, in recent times, Italy has increased the variety of its exports, and fresh pasta has become very popular in many countries. Moreover, the widespread use of dough mixers or pasta makers has boosted the domestic production of this simple yet tasty food.

The ingredients of homemade pasta

Eggs are the main ingredient when you make homemade pasta. Use medium, room-temperature eggs. Breaking the eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to the flour is a good practice. This way, you won’t find traces of its shell in the flour and can check whether the eggs are fresh before compromising the dough.

Proceeding slowly and carefully is the real secret of soft, well-kneaded dough. Handmade pasta needs calm and patience. A few tricks might help if you use a pasta-maker. Sirman’s pasta machines have a tool that might look trivial, but is extremely helpful for processing the dough and maintaining the machine’s functionality. This tool is a funnel that distributes the liquid evenly and homogeneously. Moreover, this funnel has been configured to keep the bowl cleaner. The funnel directs the liquid down onto the flour, preventing it from sticking to the paddles or the bowl's walls. Generally, after adding the liquid, it is necessary to scrape off any dough stuck to the paddles and the bowl’s edge. The funnel prevents this from happening, making homogeneous dough.

The flour

According to Italian law, flour is divided into types. They begin with the lightest and progress to the darkest and highest in fibre, that is, from type "00" and "0" to types "1" and "2" and wholemeal flours. In Italy, fresh egg pasta has always been prepared with light flours, which were accurately sifted before use to break up clumps. To obtain a traditional sheet, you can use “00” or “0” type flours. The difference is quite negligible. Even a well-trained eye can hardly tell the difference between these two flours. The result will be excellent, whatever type of flour you choose, given the simplicity of the recipe.

The recipe

Fresh egg pasta is made with two ingredients only: flour and eggs. Every family has its secret recipe, but they all put one egg for every 100 g of flour. However, this recipe is not appropriate if you use a pasta machine. That’s because the mixing procedure is faster, and the dough doesn’t harden and, therefore, needs less hydration. The liquid part (eggs) must be around 4% of the dry part. This percentage drops to 39% if you mix water and eggs and to 38% when the liquid part is just water.

meet every need. For example, the Sinfonia model is ideal for those who run a small restaurant since its bowl can contain 2 kg of flour, which becomes 2.8 kg by adding the liquid part. The Concerto model can contain 3 kg of flour, which can reach 4.2 kg by adding 40% humidity. Finally, the Orchestra model is the largest one, reaching 10 kg with 7 kg of flour and 2.80 kg of liquid.

Making the dough

Making the dough by hand is a long process that takes a lot of energy. It’s essential to work quickly and vigorously to prevent the dough from drying out. So, if you don’t use a pasta machine and want soft dough, remember to add one egg for every 100 g of flour. Professional pasta machines speed up the procedure. These machines take 10 to 12 minutes to make the dough and about 15 to 20 minutes to extrude it, depending on the type of pasta you want to make. Therefore, the whole cycle, from when you add the ingredients to when you give the shape to the dough, takes 30 minutes.

The drawing stage

The drawing and then the extrusion stages complete the process. Sirman’s pasta machines are fitted with one motor that starts the mixer and the propeller to extrude the dough. With the dough inside the bowl, you can’t see in which direction the blades turn. As a result, you may start extrusion when the dough is not ready, straining the pasta machine. That’s why the user must hold down the related button to start the extrusion process. Moreover, Sirman provides a wide range of extruders: 50 are in stock and others can be ordered. On request, Sirman can also provide more creative and less popular formats. Moreover, we can customise the extruders based on your drawings. Sirman provides affordable bronze extruders thanks to its partnership with extruder manufacturers.