6 Red Flags That You're About To Ruin Your Pasta, According To Professional Pasta Makers

Few things are more satisfying than digging in to a bowl of freshly made pasta, letting silky lengths of noodles loop around your tongue and feeling the al dente resistance of cooked dough on your teeth. Making homemade pasta is an art, which means there are plenty of ways it can go wrong.Even pasta’s most experienced creators will curb their imaginations and follow skill and science when it comes to certain pasta principles. Here are six things a seasoned Italian chef worth their salt(ed water) would never do.1. Getting Too Fancy Too FastWhile it’s tempting to jump into fun shapes with the hopes of revealing yourself a pasta prodigy, “Making pasta needs practice — it’s something that you feel under your hands,” said Katiuscia Rinaldi, Rimini-born head chef at Roman restaurant Yeppa & Co. And even with experience, there are certain types of pasta that pro chefs say will test their technique … and patience. To Rinaldi, it’s strozzapreti and tortellini, both of which are time-consuming since each piece needs to be individually made by hand. She teaches classes on making the former — which can be both humbling and hilarious, since it’s not the easiest. Garganelli is another toughie, according to Michael Riddell, executive chef for Team San Jose in California. “You need a specific tool to roll this out one by one. Farfalle can be a pain, too!” Even with an extruder — a machine that pushes pasta dough through a die to form its respective shape — some shapes are trickier than others. Jeb Aldrich, the executive chef at Relais & Chateaux resort Cataloochee Ranch in North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains, and Tyler Haake of modern regional favourite Indaco in Georgia, both cite skinny, breakage-prone cappelletti as a pain to work with.Most chefs agree that filled or stuffed pastas are more challenging. “They require a little more craftsmanship,” Haake said, which is incidentally why it’s his favourite type to make. For example, he shared that you have to get the egg balance in ravioli dough right or “it can create small cracks and cause it to bust.”So start with something easy, like pappardelle, fettuccine, gnocchi or orecchiette, and set yourself up for success. “A common mistake I’ve noticed is that people don’t realize different types of pasta require vastly different cooking times,” said pasta maker Alberto Lucchetta.2. Using The Wrong FlourIf there’s one purpose all-purpose flour can’t fulfill, it’s pasta. Across the board, our pro chefs tell us the regular stuff will disappoint.“It’s too grainy and adds roughness to the texture,” Aldrich said, and “doesn’t deliver that same structure and silkiness,” according to celebrity chef Scott Conant. Rinaldi explains that this is because it’s often lumpy, and even if home cooks sift it, “they can still expect to lose elasticity,” since it’s not made for stretching.Haake said, “You want something rich in protein and [that] has a higher gluten content,” which is why so many swear by soft grain double zero (00) flour, typical for pastas made in Northern Italy. Imported Caputo Pasta Fresca 00 is a favourite of serious pizzaioli. Its finer grain results in a better texture, Aldrich promises, with a gluten content of “around 12-14%,” Riddell cites. Mess with too little gluten (cake flour) or too much (bread flour), and the dough will either be too dense or you’ll have to knead it for too long, he said.For the more robust pastas of Southern Italy, you’ll want durum wheat, which can be coarsely milled and sold as semolina flour, or Rinaldi’s preference, the finer-ground durum flour. Alberto Lucchetta, pasta maker for the Atlanta location of Serena Pastificio, says that, as a sturdier grain, “Semolina flour is the best choice for extruded pasta.”However, many chefs will meet in the middle of Italy and use both. Riddell dusts his 00 pasta with semolina to keep it from sticking. Piero Premoli, the executive chef of Atlanta’s Pricci, has preferences that change with the seasons. “In the winter, I tend to reach for flours that are more robust and heavier, while in the summer, I use flours that are refined and lighter. My go-to is 75% 00 and 25% semolina,” he said. 3. Making Mistakes With The DoughDough can be tricky. Overwork it and it becomes “tough and mealy,” Conant notes. Or as Chase Green, executive chef of Ford Fry’s Decatur, Georgia, “red sauce joint” No. 246 gripes, “tight and too elastic — making your sheets will become a pain.” Overworking happens most often with extruded dough, where too much mixing will “make the pasta very gummy, slow down the extrusion process, and, if overly worked or too wet, you run the risk of breaking your extruder,” Green warned. Underwork it, though, and you’ll be “leaving gluten proteins unformed, which yields a brittle pasta that tears,” he said.However, the latter is where our chefs think beginners often trip. Haake assures us it’s common to add water preemptively as the dough starts to feel too dry. But keep kneading! It’ll get to “that velvety texture,” he promises. If you quit before that, “it won’t have silkiness to it because the starch of the flour isn’t fully developed,” Premoli said. Aldrich agreed, saying, “You need the gluten to have time to relax and let the dough rest properly.”This resting stage is crucial, too. According to Green, “This is the most common mistake I notice — not letting their dough rest before rolling out or using. Resting allows the newly formed gluten strands you created by kneading to relax and fully hydrate the flour.” Recommendations range from 30 minutes at room temperature to two hours in the fridge. Riddell’s rule of thumb is to use yours: “Press the dough with your finger and if it bounces back,” you’re good to go. 4. Ignoring Moisture LevelsWhen the ingredients are so simple, each one counts. This is why “the most common mistake is not adding the proper amount of liquid,” Rinaldi said. Lucchetta said too-dry dough “leads to easy pasta breakage during cooking.”However, it’s not just in the dough phase that moisture is critical. Lucchetta notices that many people “tend to store fresh pasta in warm and humid environments” — like a kitchen counter, uncovered. “Leaving fresh pasta, especially [made with] egg, will cause them to gum up, stick to everything and create a mess,” Green said. Some cooks will dust more heavily to avoid that sticking, but “adding too much flour will also dry out your pasta over time,” Green added.Instead, Rinaldi advises that you place it on a tray, covered up, and allow it to dry in a controlled room temperature before putting it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for consuming within two days.Ravioli is one of the more challenging types of pasta to make if you're a beginner.5. Not Heeding Cooking Times“A common mistake I’ve noticed is that people don’t realise different types of pasta require vastly different cooking times,” Lucchetta said. “Fresh pasta cooks much faster than people realise,” Green said. This is why Green suggests “testing a single noodle to find your ideal cook time before dumping in your whole batch.” This doesn’t mean throwing it at the wall to see if it sticks, a pet peeve of both Conant and Rinaldi. “That means it’s overcooked!” Rinaldi exclaimed.But make sure you “adjust the time for it cooking twice: first in water, then again in the sauce,” Conant said. Our entire panel of pros are adamant that fresh pasta should always be finished in the pan with its sauce. Premoli explained, “Instead of plating the pasta and spooning the sauce over it, you want to ‘marry’ the two together in the saucepan and add the pasta before it’s fully cooked.”The other things you don’t want to do is skip generously salting the cooking water, adding the pasta to the water before it reaches a full boil, or adding oil to it. That this keeps pasta from sticking is a myth, Lucchetta and Ridell agree. “In reality, it makes the pasta slippery and hinders sauces from adhering properly” and “causes it to roll off,” they commented, respectively.Rinsing will also do the same, Green said. “When you rinse pasta, you lose all of its exterior starch, which is how you get your sauces to adhere to the noodle. If you’ve ever wondered while eating a plate of spaghetti at your buddy’s house why no matter how much you twirl, you can’t get any sauce with your noodle bite, this is why.”6. Pairing It With The Wrong SauceOnce the pasta’s made, the tough part’s done. But make sure you finish on a high note by matching your pasta type with the right sauce. “I suggest avoiding using heavy sauces with thin and delicate pastas. Instead, pair that with lighter sauces,” Lucchetta said. Save wider, more robust pastas for heavier, meatier sauces. For example,Conant considers pairing spaghetti with Bolognese a misstep: “That shape just can’t hold up to the weight and texture of the sauce.”“With filled pasta like ravioli or tortellini, sauces must be as simple as possible, or you risk killing the taste of the filling,” Rinaldi said. For her, this means staying away from too much heavy cream or anything too overpowering. Plus, “When you’re working in a ragu sauce with pasta, you have to really work air into it due to the chunkiness as well as marrying the sauce with the pasta water. These movements and the amount you have to work the sauce can damage the filled pastas,” Haake said.As Green pointed out, “You don’t want to hide the pasta.” That’s the last thing you want to do after all your hard work! Related...Italians Say This Is The Worst Way To Boil Pasta, And OopsI Just Learned How Much Water Italians Use To Cook Pasta – And I Have Been Doing It WrongLet's Settle This: Should You Add Olive Oil To Pasta Water Or Not?

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