Step 2
Flour.
"00" flour if you happen to bump into in the grocery.
all purpose flour works just fine...
Have cake flour on hand? Mix it with all purpose flour 50/50 half and half.. and you're kinda
coming really close to "00" flour.
Salt the water not the dough, because you want the gluten to act.
kneading the dough will create a texture and something toothy feel, not aldente which is firm to the tooth at the outset, but more of a chewy texture as you continue to chew and eat the pasta. Have you ever had mushy rice? Mushy pasta is similar in that it falls apart in your mouth. NOT ideal. It is what makes yucky mac and cheese from those kraft boxes.... you overcooked the macaroni. It soaked up too much water. That's what made it not aldente'... to KNEAD the dough is something one does before it hits the water to cook. Kneading the dough will stretch the gluten and gliadins. Gliadins are those things which help gluten.. it gives the stuff to make the bread or pasta rise. One needs this in pasta, but in a gentle way to create something to chew.
Gliadins, which are a component of gluten, are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking.
As for salting the water and not the dough... a forum entitled the hungryonion explained it best with a few posts... included here
"00" flour if you happen to bump into in the grocery.
all purpose flour works just fine...
Have cake flour on hand? Mix it with all purpose flour 50/50 half and half.. and you're kinda
coming really close to "00" flour.
Salt the water not the dough, because you want the gluten to act.
kneading the dough will create a texture and something toothy feel, not aldente which is firm to the tooth at the outset, but more of a chewy texture as you continue to chew and eat the pasta. Have you ever had mushy rice? Mushy pasta is similar in that it falls apart in your mouth. NOT ideal. It is what makes yucky mac and cheese from those kraft boxes.... you overcooked the macaroni. It soaked up too much water. That's what made it not aldente'... to KNEAD the dough is something one does before it hits the water to cook. Kneading the dough will stretch the gluten and gliadins. Gliadins are those things which help gluten.. it gives the stuff to make the bread or pasta rise. One needs this in pasta, but in a gentle way to create something to chew.
Gliadins, which are a component of gluten, are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking.
As for salting the water and not the dough... a forum entitled the hungryonion explained it best with a few posts... included here
When you make pasta dough you tend to make it
quite quickly and then roll it out. Adding salt to a dough slows the
gluten formation which isn’t a problem in a bread as you form the dough
over a longer period of time. But will be a problem in a quickly formed
pasta dough i.e. adding salt will mean you need to work the dough longer
to get the right consistency from the gluten.
So simpler to add the salt to either the water or pasta after you cook it.
An inspired cook asked the question I wonder if using water with salt already dissolved in it when making dough would be different from using salt as a dry ingredient in the dough? With an educated answer of ...For fresh pasta you only use flour and eggs: no water.
One slight problem with heavily salting pasta water is that it is useful to use a scoop or two of the water to loosen and thicken (from the starch released from the pasta) the sauce for the pasta - if the cooking water is very salty this can make the resulting sauce salty.
So simpler to add the salt to either the water or pasta after you cook it.
An inspired cook asked the question I wonder if using water with salt already dissolved in it when making dough would be different from using salt as a dry ingredient in the dough? With an educated answer of ...For fresh pasta you only use flour and eggs: no water.
And even if you did use dissolved salt it would still slow the gluten formation in much the same way.
HOWEVER... there were a few folks who had a new take on whether dding salt to a dough slows the gluten formation
Is this really true? Salt inhibits yeast but does it really inhibit gluten?
A quick search from King Arthur makes me think not too.
“Salt tightens the gluten structure. The tightening gives strength to the gluten, enabling the dough to efficiently hold carbon dioxide, which is released into the dough as a byproduct of the yeast fermentation. When salt is left out, the resulting dough is slack and sticky in texture, work-up is difficult, and bread volume is poor.”
Salt has a two stage affect - most baking textbooks focus on the second stage because the lengthy kneading masks the first stage (although apparently it has a material impact in industrial baking with salt added after kneading and before proving).
During the initial stage salt slows the hydration of the gluten which extends the mixing time needed to form a dough. But once the gluten structure has formed the salt acts to strengthen the gluten matrix and can counter the loss of elasticity in the matrix (so helping the dough rise).
In a pasta dough you want to form the gluten structure quickly to give it elasticity. Generally pasta dough is mixed, rolled and shaped quickly and therefore you don’t want an inhibitor.
Bread making involves a different technique. You are less concerned about the time for gluten formation as the kneading process is often lengthy (and high robust) and you need to allow sufficient time for the dough to prove (for the yeast to produce the C02 and aerate the dough) and then often a second proving.
One of the general features of “No Knead” doughs is that they are often left for a few hours or overnight to allow the gluten to form - the reason for this is the slowing effect of the salt in the mix. And as you note without the salt the gluten structure doesn’t hold and you get a flabby dough.
Then of course there is the historical basis, possibly
Pasta has evolved over the years from the time the arabs imported it to Italy thousands of years ago* after they conquered Sicily. In the 1500’s it was probably still cooked with sugar and spices and cooked for a long time - “al dente” had yet to be invented.
It is a dish that has evolved and will continue to evolve and I suspect history is no better a guide to great pasta as food science.
Two last comments,
HOWEVER... there were a few folks who had a new take on whether dding salt to a dough slows the gluten formation
Is this really true? Salt inhibits yeast but does it really inhibit gluten?
A quick search from King Arthur makes me think not too.
“Salt tightens the gluten structure. The tightening gives strength to the gluten, enabling the dough to efficiently hold carbon dioxide, which is released into the dough as a byproduct of the yeast fermentation. When salt is left out, the resulting dough is slack and sticky in texture, work-up is difficult, and bread volume is poor.”
Salt has a two stage affect - most baking textbooks focus on the second stage because the lengthy kneading masks the first stage (although apparently it has a material impact in industrial baking with salt added after kneading and before proving).
During the initial stage salt slows the hydration of the gluten which extends the mixing time needed to form a dough. But once the gluten structure has formed the salt acts to strengthen the gluten matrix and can counter the loss of elasticity in the matrix (so helping the dough rise).
In a pasta dough you want to form the gluten structure quickly to give it elasticity. Generally pasta dough is mixed, rolled and shaped quickly and therefore you don’t want an inhibitor.
Bread making involves a different technique. You are less concerned about the time for gluten formation as the kneading process is often lengthy (and high robust) and you need to allow sufficient time for the dough to prove (for the yeast to produce the C02 and aerate the dough) and then often a second proving.
One of the general features of “No Knead” doughs is that they are often left for a few hours or overnight to allow the gluten to form - the reason for this is the slowing effect of the salt in the mix. And as you note without the salt the gluten structure doesn’t hold and you get a flabby dough.
Then of course there is the historical basis, possibly
Pasta has evolved over the years from the time the arabs imported it to Italy thousands of years ago* after they conquered Sicily. In the 1500’s it was probably still cooked with sugar and spices and cooked for a long time - “al dente” had yet to be invented.
It is a dish that has evolved and will continue to evolve and I suspect history is no better a guide to great pasta as food science.
- The Marco Polo story was invented in 1929 by Italian pasta exporters who wanted a good marketing story for the US market.
Two last comments,
From a manufacturer’s standpoint, it’s better to
minimize salt and give the customer the flexibility to season the pasta
water, or sauce, as they want. I am curious though— gluten, texture,
etc. notwithstanding, i wonder how much salt you’d need to add to a
pasta dough to get it to taste the same as an unsalted pasta cooked with
1 Tbs. of kosher salt per quart of water (Dan Gritzer tested different
salt to water ratios, and preferred 1-2% .
As @PhilD points out, there are structural consequences to adding salt. Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking says that salt in the water adds flavor, limits starch gelation, and reduces cooking losses and stickiness. When talking about Asian noodles, he says that salt tightens the gluten network and stabilizes the starch granules, keeping them intact as they absorb water and swell. Very interesting. So, salt helps the pasta, but hurts the pasta water (assuming you wanted to use it to thicken a sauce).
Page 478 of an article on industrial Asian noodles confirms what salt does to dough. A zero to 2% increase in salt improves sensory evaluation scores, especially for low-quality flour. Salt decreases water absorption and increases the dough development time, results in a more uniform gluten structure, leads to an avoidance of strand breakage, toughens noodles during the sheeting (rolling out) phase, and increases yellowness but decreases brightness. However too much salt isn’t good. They don’t go into detail, but say that high salt (>3%) results in deterioration of raw noodle rheological (flowing) properties.
As @PhilD points out, there are structural consequences to adding salt. Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking says that salt in the water adds flavor, limits starch gelation, and reduces cooking losses and stickiness. When talking about Asian noodles, he says that salt tightens the gluten network and stabilizes the starch granules, keeping them intact as they absorb water and swell. Very interesting. So, salt helps the pasta, but hurts the pasta water (assuming you wanted to use it to thicken a sauce).
Page 478 of an article on industrial Asian noodles confirms what salt does to dough. A zero to 2% increase in salt improves sensory evaluation scores, especially for low-quality flour. Salt decreases water absorption and increases the dough development time, results in a more uniform gluten structure, leads to an avoidance of strand breakage, toughens noodles during the sheeting (rolling out) phase, and increases yellowness but decreases brightness. However too much salt isn’t good. They don’t go into detail, but say that high salt (>3%) results in deterioration of raw noodle rheological (flowing) properties.
Turn Your Pasta Into Ramen With Baking Soda
Also, if you feel compelled to add salt to your dough, use baking soda instead. Asian flour-and-water fresh noodles use an alkaline solution called kansui, which contains potassium potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda). This solution is a key ingredient in traditional Cantonese mooncakes. from http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/10/baking-soda-ramen-noodle-spaghetti-hack.html
One slight problem with heavily salting pasta water is that it is useful to use a scoop or two of the water to loosen and thicken (from the starch released from the pasta) the sauce for the pasta - if the cooking water is very salty this can make the resulting sauce salty.
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