An Easy Pasta Hack For Keeping Fresh Pasta From Sticking Together
It’s no secret that making homemade pasta is one of the most rewarding cooking endeavors. Yes, it takes time but it is a great family activity for a slow or rainy afternoon and odds are you have all of the ingredients you need already in your kitchen: flour, eggs, water and salt.
And its versitile: you can make it by hand or in a mixer. You can keep it simple or add in special flours or herbs. You can use it immediately or hang it to dry and save it for another day.
But if you've made fresh pasta, you know that if you don't take special care, all the work you put in can be ruined by your spaghetti or linguini sticking together in one giant mass. Here is a no-fail way to prevent that from happening.
Suppies
The best part about this tip is that it is incredibly simple and you don’t need anything special on top of your pasta making supplies. Here’s what you’ll need:
a wide bowl
semolina or rice flour.
How To Keep Fresh Pasta From Sticking Together
1. Use semolina, Corn or rice Flour
Once you've made and thinned out your pasta, you're ready to start cutting! But at this point of the pasta-making process, the dough can easily start to stick together, creating one giant clump that you have to re-roll and cut.
Coating your fresh pasta in semolina, corn or rice flour immediately after you cut it prevents your dough from sticking together. Whatever you do, DO NOT use regular flour. That’s right, I’ve warned you.
The trouble with using the flour you used to make your pasta it has the potential to soak back into your dough, making coating it pointless in the first place because it will just stick to the surrounding pasta again.
The second reason you want to use these flours is that they are heavier than regular flour, so when you cook your pasta the excess flour will separate from the pasta and sink to the bottom of the pot instead of making it a cloudy mess.
2. Place A Bowl With Alternative Flour Under Your Pasta Cutter
Place a wide bowl with 3T of semolina, corn or rice flour under your pasta cutter. This prevents you from having to handle the dough too much or transfer it to a baking sheet. Since the pasta is being collected right into a bowl with your flour, you just need to lightly toss the pasta in the flour before forming nests.
I don't know about you, but every time I make pasta I find little bits all over my counter and floor. This hack also helps with your mess because it catches all of the little bits that fall.
It may sound like super simple trick, but it prevents you from making a huge mess and makes the entire process a whole lot easier.
Conclusion
This incredibly simple tip goes a long way in protecting all of the hard work and love you put into your homemade pasta. The last thing you want is to ruin your hard work and this tip ensures an un-clumpy, pasta that won’t stick together before or during the cooking process..
Try My Homemade Pasta Recipe
This fool proof method is a great introductory recipe for pasta making in a stand mixer.
