yeasted pasta

Talking to a Chef awhile back, I was told that there is a very traditional pasta from one region of Italy that is yeasted.  This was a Chef that told me that my hand kneaded pasta was better then his because I am a baker.  I knead bread so often that I was not surprised.  Last week, bread was made at least four times and I am not counting this pasta!

I did a bit of research and found out that this pasta was actually made on baking day.  That way you did not have two doughs going.  I read the recipe for this pasta a year ago and decided that I did not wish to go through the process of getting the book from the library and using it as a go by.  I

know how to make bread.  I know how to make pasta.  I know how pasta dough should feel.  My Beloved asked for sourdough pasta so why not!

The taste of this is similar to a non-yeasted pasta. There is more flavor.  It rolled easier.  Which is a plus.  And if I am making a simple bread, I would put a bit of dough aside to make into pasta.  It just need tweaking.

yeasted pasta dough

Note:  I started this from scratch.  If you have a French dough, Italian dough, or a baguette dough, just knead in flour until you have a VERY stiff dough and go from the resting point of these directions.

sourdough starter

100 grams water

100 grams white whole wheat flour

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

1 1/2 to 2 cups flour

Eight to fourteen hours before, refresh your starter with 100 grams of water and 100 grams of flour.  Cover and let it get bubbly.  I have been finding that cling wrap works very well for this step but I want to make some of the coated linen to try.  

When the starter is bubbly, remove a bit for next time.  A bit is a couple tablespoons.

Mix in two eggs.

Mix in the flour.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead.  You want a very stiff dough.  Wrap and let sit.  I would have liked it to sit for more then the couple hours it did but I kept forgetting what I was doing on Saturday.  That was because I was mostly sleeping.

Unwrap the dough.  It will be a bit puffy.  Divide in half and roll out into a thin sheet.

Cut and place on a floured baking sheet.  Dust with more flour as more pasta is sliced.

Put the pasta into salted boiling water.  Cook for about three minutes.  A few more if you did not roll the dough very thin.

Serve with any sauce you wish.  One of the reasons I wanted eggs in the pasta was I knew I was going to serve it with a vegetarian sauce.  It was a day of sleep and looking for calories.  In another words, a weekend of healing and not traveling.  Guess what I wanted it be doing!

I will be making more of this.  It makes my life easy because I just have to knead extra flour into a bread dough and I have pasta for dinner.  Talk about frugality!