Today is my first day ever making pasta dough from scratch! Thought it was going to be like ABC but I’m so sad it’s not :;(
I used 400g of AP flour and 4 eggs and 3 yolks. I kneaded and let it rest for 15mins, and then kneaded again, which is when this started happening. A quick Google Search told me that my dough was too dry, so I wet my hands and kneaded again and let it rest; I think it’s been about 6 hours now. The above is the latest pic of it; still won’t knead!
I feel like tossing it but I don’t want to. Please help!
by Fit_Top_3158
6 Comments
ABC?
In the picture it looks like a really dry surface, indeed.
I normally use a lot less egg and a different flour, so I don’t know if my advice can be of any help. How did you let it rest? In a covered bowl or wrapped in plastic? Kneading it and then wrapping it in plastic really tight, without any air, can do a lot for a dough. It helps to distribute moisture more evenly.
But six hours is really long, it should be fine after that. How does it feel? Sticky? Dry? Crumbly? Did you try rolling it and if so by machine or with a rolling pin?
Has it been kept wrapped up during the resting? I will go for 57% hydration for the pasta dough. So for 400g of flour you should have 228g of fluid in the mix. It typically works out to be 1 egg per 100g of flour. You weigh the eggs/yolk combination and add water until you hit the proper weight of fluid. Mix it all together and then start kneading. I have never used AP flour only 00 flour, but you should be close. When it’s done right it feels like kids fresh Play-Doh. I’d keep getting my hands wet and knead the water into the dough until you get that play-doh consistency.
I know how it feels
Two tips.
Don’t experiment with new things when you’ve got people coming over, it almost always goes wrong!
Don’t give up and don’t be discouraged. So you’ve made a bum pasta dough. Everyone has started out doing that. But you now have the experience from that and you’ll do better next time. We learn from our mistakes, no one really learns much from success.
You can do two things with your current lump. Toss it and start again with new ingredients (the easy way out) or flatten the lump as much as you can then chop it into tiny bits, put the bits in a bowl and add a bit of water and start squeezing the bits together, carefully add more water if you feel it’s needed. You should end up with overly wet dough (for pasta at least). Cover your bowl and leave to rest for 10-15 minutes, then pour your wet dough onto your counter, dust it with flour and start kneading, add flour as you go until you feel you’ve got a tacky, but firm dough. Kepp kneading for another ten minutes, or until it feels smooth and bounces back when you poke it. Cover with an inverted bowl and leave in room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Just keep going and you’ll be fine.
Eggs will be stiffer than water