Okay, so today I decided to try making farfalline, those cute little bow-tie pasta shapes. I’ve always just bought them from the store, but I figured, “How hard could it be?” Turns out, it’s a bit of a project, but totally doable, and kinda fun!
Getting Started
First, I gathered my ingredients. I’m a simple person, so I just went with:
- Durum wheat semolina flour (apparently, this is the key to good pasta)
- A couple of eggs
- A pinch of salt
- A little bit of water, in case it gets too crumbly
Making the Dough
I dumped the flour onto my (clean!) countertop and made a little well in the middle. Then, I cracked the eggs into the well and added the salt. I used a fork to slowly start mixing the eggs and gradually incorporated the flour from the sides. It got messy, I’m not gonna lie. Flour everywhere.
Once it started to come together, I ditched the fork and started kneading with my hands. This is where the workout began! I kneaded for a good 10 minutes, maybe even longer, until the dough was smooth and elastic. It felt kinda like Play-Doh, but firmer. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Apparently, this is important for the gluten to relax or something. Science!
Rolling and Shaping
After the dough had its nap, I unwrapped it and cut it into smaller pieces. I don’t have a pasta machine (yet!), so I used my trusty rolling pin. I rolled each piece out as thin as I could get it, which was… a challenge. Let’s just say it wasn’t perfectly uniform, but hey, that’s rustic, right?
Once the dough was thin enough, I used a pizza cutter (because why not?) to cut it into small rectangles. Then, here comes the fun part – making the bow ties! I just pinched the middle of each rectangle together. Some looked better than others, some were big, some were tiny but I think, in the end, I had a whole pile of farfalline!
Cooking and Eating!
Finally, I boiled a big pot of salted water and dropped in my handmade pasta. I cooked them for just a few minutes until they were al dente – that’s fancy talk for “not too mushy.” And then I tossed with butter. I thought butter would be the best taste for my first try.
Honestly, they were pretty good! A little thicker than store-bought, maybe, but they had a nice chewy texture. And the satisfaction of making them myself? Totally worth the flour explosion in my kitchen.
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