Author Silvia Colloca shares a recipe from her book Simple Italian: The Essentials of An Italian Home Cook. Here is Silvia’s recipe for Basic Vegan Pasta Dough and an excerpt from her new book.
Have you ever tasted homemade orecchiette in Puglia? Or vacationed in Tuscany and eaten forkfuls of fat homemade spaghetti called pici?
I bet you didn’t know that those traditional pasta shapes are made with just flour, water and a pinch of salt. In fact, many pastas are eggless, from well-known dried varieties (linguine, rigatoni, penne and the like) to regional specialities, such as strozzapreti, scialatielli or the intricate Sardinian lorighittas.
Some recipes call for 100% durum wheat flour, a fine semolina flour primarily used for pasta making. I find that a dough solely made of semolina can be very hard to roll and I prefer cutting it with type ‘00’ flour to give it more pliability. I recommend trying both ways and seeing which one you prefer.
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 cup) type ‘00’ or specialty pasta flour, plus extra for dusting
- 150 g semolina flour (see note), plus extra for dusting
- 1 teaspoon salt flakes
- 250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
Instructions
Put the flours and salt in a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre and slowly start pouring in the water, mixing as you go to incorporate the flour. Don’t add all the water at once as you may not need it all.
Tip the dough onto a floured surface, oil your hands and knead for 3–4 minutes or until it comes together in a smooth ball. Add a little extra flour if the dough feels a bit wet.
Wrap it in plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
NOTE
Semolina flour (or semola) is fine durum wheat flour and is sold in specialty stores or online.
Simple Italian by Silvia Colloca, Published by Plum, RRP $39.99, Photography by Rob Palmer
You can buy Silvia Colloca’s ‘Simple Italian’ cookbook here.
