In fact, once you've got your colored purée, the process is virtually identical to making regular neutral-colored pasta. These are the crispiest, most flavorful roast potatoes you'll ever make. The pasta will be much more elastic after resting. Make fancy-colored fresh pasta at home. I find that a spray bottle works best to evenly moisten the dough without adding water in excess. Once the dough feels firm and dry, and can form a craggy-looking ball, it's time to start kneading. Most experts will tell you that if you tried to roll out your dough at this point, disaster would ensue—your dough will be too dry and too elastic to roll out. Fresh pasta is many things, but vibrantly hued is not one of them. I also like to keep a bench knife around to make tasks a little easier and a little neater. All the benefits of sous vide cooking, paired with deep, roasty flavors and extra-crispy skin to satisfy a crowd. But sometimes you want to keep things super simple without sacrificing an eye-catching presentation. Some HTML is OK: link, strong, em. Excepting some minor prep, the process is virtually identical to making regular fresh pasta. (For those of you new to the game, you can find our full instructions for making fresh pasta right here.). For the orange and black doughs, we're pulling our coloring straight out of a jar, whereas for the pink and green dough, we boil our vegetables then purée them until completely smooth before incorporating them into the dough. *If you're planning to wait several hours, rest the ball in the fridge, instead. To get a homogenous colored green dough, follow this simple trick: toss the cooked spinach and eggs in a blender or food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Rotate the ball 45 degrees and do it again. This effectively kneads the dough, ensuring the resulting pasta is silky smooth. A wood table; a marble countertop; a big cutting board—just find yourself a spot where you can make a big floury mess. Knead the pasta until smooth, 2 to 5 minutes. [Photos: Vicky Wasik]. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Copyright 2014 | By accessing this site, you agree to our Terms and conditions. Do you have a website or cooking blog? 8 … The only real variable you'll want to watch out for is water content. Make a well in the center … A bright pink dough colored with beets, a deep dark black dough colored with squid ink, a green dough made with spinach, and a golden orange dough that gets its hue from tomato paste. I should make it crystal clear from the get go: colored pasta is not the same as flavored pasta. There are ways to add flavors to your pasta and we may get to them eventually, but for the most part, colored pastas are purely an aesthetic undertaking. Continue as per the Basic Pasta Dough method. Make the basic pasta dough And sometimes you just want some bright pink noodles, dammit. If, on the other hand, it's so dry that it refuses to come together, you'll want to add a little water. Then add color. Niki is the Editor in Chief at Serious Eats and a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. Use 1 large egg instead of 2 medium ones and whisk with the vibrant saffron water before adding to the well in the flour. In fact, once you've got your colored purée, the process is virtually identical to making regular neutral-colored pasta. Then, begin to fold additional flour into the dough with the bench knife, turning the dough roughly 45 degrees each time, to more evenly incorporate the flour. Pass the dough through this setting a total of 4 or 5 times. Use 1 large egg instead of 2 medium ones. Then use your fingertips to make a hole in the center, like a big floury doughnut. Once you've got your dough, you can follow my rolling instructions to produce wide noodles for lasagna, use the toothed cutter for noodles, or transform it into ravioli or tortellini. Today we're going to be making four different colored pasta doughs. You can plop the eggs right in—these photos show the old-school technique, in which you actually whisk the eggs once they're on the countertop—but there's no reason why you can't whisk them ahead of time. If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment. But when it came to testing colored pastas, that natural water content in my puréed vegetables made it unnecessary to add quite as much egg white. Add 2 tablespoons grated cooked beet to the well in the flour. To knead, simply press the heel of your hand into the ball of dough, pushing forward and down. It's also helpful to have a parchment-lined sheet tray ready for your rolled-out dough, a kitchen towel and/or plastic wrap to cover it and keep it from drying out, and some extra flour for dusting the pasta to keep it from getting too sticky. Now that you've built up that gluten network, you have a dough that's incredibly elastic and springy. There are times when this couldn't matter less—times when you're dousing it in a thick, colorful sauce or making uova in raviolo. Gradually mix the egg mixture into the flour using the fingers of one hand, bringing the ingredients together into a firm dough. Add oil and knead...adding 1 TBS of water to dough until all the flour is incorporated into the dough.Split the dough into 5 parts. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy. Jenny's Cheesy Stuffed Sausage Pasta Bake, Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce, Broccoli, and Peas. Luckily, if you've been following our fresh pasta series, you already know that making pasta from scratch isn't all that hard or complicated. 1 2/3 cups Italian “00” flour (or half Italian “00” flour and half Farina di Semola) At this point, take out your bench knife and scrape off any dough sticking to your fork or your hands. The resting period allows the flour to continue to hydrate, and the gluten network to relax a little. When you're done, it should look something like the doughs above. This easy pie dough recipe doesn't require special equipment or training. At Serious Eats Headquarters, I call on the help of a stand mixer attachment; at home, I turn to one of the simple, hand-cranked rollers. Add a different color powder to 3 of the dough pieces leaving 2 dough pieces plain colored.Knead in the colored powder into the dough for approx. Once you have your ball of kneaded dough, wrap it tightly in plastic. If the dough feels too dry, add a few drops of water; if it’s too wet, add a little more flour. Her general rule to start: For every 1.5 cup of flour, use 2 eggs, and at least 3 tablespoons of color additive. You'll keep adding flour until it no longer makes sense to use the fork—the dough will be wet and sticky, but holding together as a single mass. If your dough feels wet and tacky, add more flour as necessary. Sift the flour onto a clean work surface. Soak 1 sachet of powdered saffron in 2 tablespoons hot water for 15 minutes. In my traditional pasta recipe, I found that using a higher ratio of egg yolks to egg whites was the way to go. Add 1 sachet squid ink to the eggs and whisk to combine before adding to the flour. If you don't have one, though, I think you'll still manage to get by. And frankly, speaking from personal, if limited, experience, I'd urge anyone looking to flavor their dough to reconsider: you'll always get better, fresher, more nuanced flavor from a sauce. 1 red beet until softened, about 45 minutes. Some comments may be held for manual review. Learn more on our Terms of Use page. Lightly massage it with a hint of olive oil, pop the dough into a plastic food bag, and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. (You will soon grow accustomed to how the dough should feel after you’ve made it a few times.) A little extra flour may be needed. See, pasta relies on one thing above all others: gluten, the network of proteins that form when water and flour mix to give pasta its stretchy texture and bite. Keyingredient.com is a free cooking website. Continue as per the Basic Pasta Dough recipe. Coloring pasta dough is as easy as coming up with an intensely colored purée and adding it to your dough as you bring it together. Peel and grate or puree in a food processor. Powered by Brandeploy The Subtle Secrets to Making the Best Ice Cream Mix-Ins, How to Trim Pork Spareribs Into a St. Louis-Style Cut. A perfect accompaniment for turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. That said, I typically let my dough rest as long as it takes me to clean up my work station. Start to feed the blob of pasta dough through the widest setting of a pasta machine. As for adding some color to the mix? Today we're going to be making four different colored pasta doughs.