How to Make Water-based Pasta (an in-depth guide)

[@helenrennie]

After posting this video, I learned an important difference between "semolina" and "semola" thanks to Adam Churvis. Adam, you get the comment-of-the-month award :) What I am actually using in the video is Italian "semola" flour. I thought it's called "semolina" in English, but I was wrong. Both semola and semolina are made from durum wheat. But American produced semolina is coarser than Italian semola. I tested this recipe both with Bob's Red Mill semolina and Caputo Semola and got good results with both, though they were a little better with Italian semola. But I haven't tested this dough on a pasta extruder since I don't have one. I only make hand shapes like orecchiette, trofie, and cavatelli. It's possible that for an extruder, you'd see a bigger difference. If possible, get Italian Semola di grano duro, rimacinana. That's the flour I use. It's extremely confusing because many Italian semola flours are sold as "semolina" in the US.

[@lindapasquali2670]

Thank you Helen and Adam! I am ordering myself some Italian Semola flour. Amazon carries it!

[@Kelnoky]

It's the same in Germany. Every translation site will give 'Hartweizengrieß' if you wanna translate semolina - which is made from durum wheat as well, so it seems correct. But it's also much coarser than the Italian variant and not perfectly suited for pasta.

[@vasiliyzbaratskiy737]

Right... bought semolina, tried to follow directions from here... no luck :)... grainy dough. Now I understand why. Thanks for clarification

[@donaldoutdoors]

Oh wow! I just bought Bob's, but I just ordered Caputo brand "Italian Semola di grano duro, rimacinana" off Amazon! It will be here in a couple of days - but I will still try both - thank you so much!

[@gasperdipasquale2618]

M

[@maryaliceholmes4279]

Dear Helen, I was one of your students many years ago. Your Knife Skills class changed my life! And the lives of anyone who has seen me cook in my own kitchen. Just like with this video about water based pasta, your clear directions and explanations make it so easy for your students to replicate and then pass on the information to friends, children, and just this past weekend, nieces! Thank you so much for all your instructions. And congratulations on getting 1.4M views on your egg-based pasta video. I hope I can cook in your kitchen again some day! MaryAlice

[@triciapike6276]

Absolutely one of the finest teachers of all things culinary. I went to a pasta class taught by a local chef, and quickly came home to google the "details" he did not mention. I found Helen's video and my family and I watched it intently before embarking on our first pasta adventure. Without Helen, we would have been scrambling. Can't wait to attend a live class. in the future. Your detailed way of presenting as a scientist while imparting the passion of cooking is what makes me tick! THANK YOU, Helen!

[@LostQuays-wg6xn]

I've only made egg pasta but know nothing about water pasta. I can say that Helen's video is the best out there. ❤ Thank you Helen

[@chrislashley]

Helen has never met me, and yet I am 100% certain she believes in me as a cook. I enjoy your videos so much, Helen. I have learned a ton.

[@MsSilentH]

I love how you lay out information. You pack a lot of info but it just flows. All that you said felt like it should have been a 45 minute video! I made fresh pasta twice and could tell where I made my mistakes already, so thank you!

[@jacobsmith2424]

The fact that binging with babish is more popular than this is an outrage. This is the secret gem of KZbin cooking. Helan consistently produces videos that are more thorough and informative than any single source, whether in print or video format than I've ever seen all in one place and always much I've never seen, and I research cooking technique for fun. Spread this channel far and wide, for it is the gospel of the culinary truth.

[@grisbain]

bwb is sort of a different category. He is not and experienced cook so everything he does is based on quick google searches and the appeal to his channel is the production value and the novelty of the dishes he is recreating. When I was watching his shows he was mostly recreating food from tv and movies. Helen’s channel is much more informative. I’ve been making pasta for years but I am still learning and I find her videos really helpful.

[@bendingriver7101]

Helen is great but I find it hard to stomach this claim with J Kenji Lopez Alt out there as well as Bon Appetit, the Noma Guide to Fermentation and a million other books

[@QuackZack]

BWB is more of an "entertainer" cook than an informative cook. He doesn't usually go in super detail about the cooking process and his content is aimed to entertain rather than be a recipe. Some of his videos are completely unusable as recipes.

[@hstsyli]

1:09 made this mistake and it ended up tasting tlike rubber. Almost gave up making handmade pasta. Most useful tip I have ever heard. Thanks a lot

[@davidgoeller5843]

Very informative as always. The “eating knife” you refer to has always been called a butter knife in my family

[@jwstanley2645]

Much, yes. On the tech side.... I would call the slightly serrated metal one a "dinner knife." In my house, we have a different "butter knife," which is necessarily carved of wood. When spreading butter with a metal knife on hot food, the metal gets too warm for the butter and oops, there falls the butter, while a butter knife of wood will not pick up the heat and continue to hold the butter. On another side, the serration helps at dinner to cut some plated foods. Meanwhile, back in time, one might note that the metal table knife without a sharp cutting edge was the invention of Louis XIV of France, who wished his many guests to eat without sharp edges as he feared violence at the dinner table. What a dysfunctional family (and so many, many guests) that must have been to see people attacking one another with the flatware. For about five years, I had a scar on my hand from my older brother's fork. Thanks Louis, I could have been half-thumb-less. So, yes, most people would call it a butter knife or table knife. In the immortal words of Tiny Tim, 'Never his your grandma with a shovel. It makes a bad impression on her mind.'

[@blahdelablah]

Calling it a butter knife is interesting to me as I would have thought of the shape of a butter spreader (if you search online for a butter spreader you'll see the shape I mean, it's more rounded at the end of the knife). I don't really know what the "official" name for a knife you eat with is, so you may be right that it's called a butter knife, just thought I'd share why the name is interesting to me.

[@apuz13]

My house has always called them butter knives also

[@stuartrogers1694]

Here (Canada), what Helen is using is called a dinner knife. A butter knife is smaller; there's only one on the table, and it is paired with the butter dish for everyone to use; it's used to transfer butter from the dish to the side plate for bread. If a main dish requires butter (boiled spuds for example), then the diner transfers it from the butter dish to the side plate using the butter knife; then from the side plate to the dinner plate using their dinner knife.

[@debinnashville2009]

We call it "table knife".

[@marcpiscaer5567]

Thanks Helen. This tutorial is just as informative as the egg-based pasta video which I commented on.

[@Whatwhat3434]

I had no idea about any of these things - wow! Thanks Helen, I can’t wait to try out making some egg-free pasta

[@July-qo7jp]

thanks for finally explaining egg vs water in simple terms, subscribed for sure!

[@danepinar3506]

My gosh! I just tried making your egg-based pasta dough to make my own ravioli and I WILL NEVER buy store bought pasta again!!! Thank you thank you. Love from the Philippines 🤗🤗🤗

[@amgrob]

Great recipe. I've struggled with water-based pasta, for awhile, using semolina/semola flour. After closely following the intructions of this video and others of Helen's, I was finally successful. Cheap, easy and wonderful recipe to try.

[@rosabosco9258]

Complimenti per l'impasto che hai realizzato! Sono pugliese e apprezzo il tuo lavoro!

[@daxapanchal9959]

Love your chemistry, tips and mistakes. Thank you for your channel.

[@nessuno9945]

Helen; Grazie Mille! For explaining the different flour and their proper uses. I have made egg pasta tagliatelle, and filled pastas for yrs., now I tried the small hand-shaped ones and couldn't do it, I followed another KZbinrs video, with much frustration and no success, and they made their dough with an eggs + 00 flour...I don't know how they managed to make it appear successful! I have semolina flour, and will try your method, which I'm pretty sure will work.

[@Passionforfoodrecipes]

Those are some *hot* tips Helen! I really love homemade noodles, the *pasta-bilites* are endless!

[@helenrennie]

:)

[@bookmark8899]

Congratulations Helen, 200k subscribers !! So proud of you :)

[@helenrennie]

Thank you so much!!

[@jrizzorn]

Thank you again, to you and Adam. I love you. What are your thoughts about using semolina or semola for bread making?

[@astroxmisfit]

I made this for the first time, all by hand and I only used AP flour, and it turned out amazing!! At first I was really bad at making the shape but it got easier in no time. I tossed the pasta and finished cooking it in a creamy chicken sauce with peas. I will definitely make this pasta again!!

[@geojames1861]

I had totally nailed my egg dough for ravioli and spaghetti and tonight I tried to make some hand shapes with it and they were like rubber bullets! So glad I found your videos and figured out that I had used the wrong dough for those shapes! This makes so much sense. Great video, thank you so much!

[@barbkafilmout9449]

Well Miss Helen. That was a GREAT GUIDE ! And that broccoli and cauliflower looks delicious. Thank you for the post

[@marvinweigand2304]

Thank you for clearing up the common misconceptions of making pasta dough

[@cookingbymanisha]

Thank You Helen For Such A Most Useful Information. God Bless You.

[@FireWaterCooking]

Another great and helpful video Helen! You are an Amazing teacher! Thank you for all you do!

[@JTickridge]

Simply brilliant!

[@addysbeeandgarden320]

Brilliant! Thank you, this answers a ton of my questions!

[@reneemontejano1586]

Thank you for educating me on flour.

[@wagslarr]

Thank you Helen! You’re videos are so helpful. Perfect results every time.

[@galaf9790]

I am so inspired, I wil try to make this pasta with the broccoli and cauliflower sauce today! Thanks for another great instructional video!

[@imdunplugged]

This video is brilliant! Thank you so much for this detailed tutorial!

[@H2ON_MEA]

Perfect video presentation

[@Jivi_Galaxy]

I love pasta and noodles. I want to make them at home. Fresh pasta. Your video help alot. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@bobbyd1961]

Thank you for teaching me some stuff I didn't know

[@nmolinaro62]

Bravissima, Cara. Your videos are always helpful.

[@danielcollato5770]

Helen, you are amazing. Thanks very much for the master class. Awesome. Good job, by the way.

[@sdmahoney2623]

I'm looking forward to that sauce recipe! it looks great!

[@ralphboomer5734]

Thank you , you really help me to learn make pasta. Love you're show.

[@rmccabe117]

What a great video! Thanks so much!

[@sd.2528]

You are right, I did find your first video extremely helpful in getting me started on my homemade pasta journey. I do love rigatoni though and after a while I was wondering what it would take to make it as well. Now, I have come across this video as I'm starting my pasta extruding journey. I hope it brings me the same success. Thank you so much for the thorough explanation and the reasons behind when to use which type of dough.

[@danielleshelbourne220]

Thanks so much for this insanely helpful video, I learned so much!

[@diego6strings]

amazing, you have shed so much light to me. Thanks!

[@leahw2124]

I've used your egg pasta video as a guide and it has never failed me. Gonna give this a go because I only have 3 eggs lmao

[@agcons]

Your instruction about using very hot water is interesting. Years ago I made one of the bread recipes from Marcella Hazan's "More Classic Italian Cooking" that called for durum semolina. I'm an experienced bread baker so I had no trouble with the recipe, but I'd never used durum semolina before. I was puzzled at the coarse grain when I got it home, but went ahead, using warm water as directed. I'm not certain Ms. Hazan meant for people to use the typical North American product, but we'll never know now. The bread was to be baked on a stone in a ring shape (more crust for everyone), and it was very, very good in nearly all respects: beautiful golden colour, a hard, very crisp crust, firm and chewy - but gritty. This didn't spoil it for me, far from it, but it was enough for me never to make it again. I'm strongly tempted to try it a second time, using near-boiling water then letting it rest covered until it's cool enough to add the yeast. If this eliminates the sandiness, it would be nearly perfect bread. I remember it being especially good toasted (which actually helped disguise the grit somewhat, for some reason).

[@helenrennie]

definitely don't use hot water for bread. it will kill the yeast, destroy the gluten, etc. what you need is italian semola flour. when i made this video I didn't realize the semola/semolina difference. this will explain it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mInSY52nnKuNg9E

[@johnabardenhagenjr1119]

Excellent

[@ReidThaler]

Thanks for a very informative video. I used the dough to make pasta with a kitchen aid roller attachment. It worked well, but found the dough a little moist for my comfort level. I'm just glad it didn't stick together when boiled. I'll back off on the water some, and glad you suggested a food processor instead of the dough hook on the kitchen aid as it combined so fast!

[@helenrennie]

That's the wrong dough for rolling out into sheets. Here is the one you want (the egg dough): kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5DJpmiIlr2AjM0

[@ReidThaler]

Thanks, but would prefer to make egg free, just for the convenience. It turned out fine, I'll just use less water, likely tonight as my wife loved the pasta and we are having guests over.@@helenrennie

[@etherdog]

Dear Helen, great tips on the pasta making, especially using hot water. A note about the salinity of the water (and seasoning in general) that might be helpful: foods generally need about 1% of salt by weight for good seasoning. Your example of 65 grams of salt for 6 litres of water is just slightly more than that, but as you explained, the pasta is cooked for such a short time that a little boost is good. The average salinity of sea water is about 3.7% and if you were to salt your pasta water to this extent it would produce an inedible product. I love your work and think it is time to retire the misleading phrase "salt your water like the sea."

[@helenrennie]

Hi John, I am with you on retiring the "sea water" analogy. I think chefs use it to push the home cooks to use more salt than their instincts tell them ;) 1% by weight is a great guideline.

[@webhoard-was-taken]

Helen I just made my first batch of orecchiette for my family this weekend, and I could not have done it without this video!! It was a such a success! Thank you so much! (And for a tip on finding affordable semolina flour, my nearby Middle Eastern grocery store had every grind from very coarse to powdery fine.)

[@anaa6106]

Helen you hit 200k. Subscribers! 🥳 congratulations 🎈🍾🎉

[@helenrennie]

Thank you!

[@emberchord]

Flour Classifications vary widely from country to country, I've written a bit of text for people from Germany/Austria who may find this video: Falls jemand aus Deutschland/Österreich dieses Video ließt, die korrekte Übersetzung für Semolina Flour ist "Hartweizengrieß". In Österreich gibt es "Goldgrieß", was auch Hartweißengrieß ist aber es ist sehr, sehr grob. Man kann dennoch damit Pasta machen. Worauf man beim Kaufen achten muss ist "Durum-Weizen". Der Gluten-Gehalt ist höher, was die Pasta fester macht. Wenn kein feines Pastamehl verwendet wurde, kann dennoch der grobe Grieß verwendet werden, er muss nur so lange geknetet werden, bis das ganze auch wirklich durchgängig weich ist und keine Grießkörner mehr gefunden werden können.

[@mamasaidsew4843]

Just made my first batch of pasta this weekend, tortellini. Turned out great. Took some practice to get it shaped right but I got it. Family loved it. Had trouble finding 00 flour so I ordered on amazon. Since I can find Semolina easily I thought I'd just use a Semolina pasta recipe next time. Glad I watched your video. That is not a good idea for thin stuffed pasta like tortellini. I will make some Semolina pasta dough and use it for other shapes. I appreciate your tips.

[@jacquelinedouglas3483]

Very nice I really do need tips with my pasta making 🤩

[@racheldavis5229]

This was the missing piece from my pasta game! I guess the old adage "proper tool for the proper job" also applies to flour. On your advice I did purchase some 00 AP flour and I got some semola just in case. Now I'm glad I did. I haven't had a chance to try the semola yet. This video is just in time!

[@lauraflynn6062]

This is a wonderful and very helpful video. I’ve been making your egg pasta dough for a while now and it has been absolutely delicious. I just bought the KitchenAid pasta extruder attachment and now know to only use the water based dough. I haven’t tried it yet but I think it will also be delicious. In one of the reviews for that machine someone followed the recipe included with the booklet that came with it, which was an egg-based pasta, and they said it got all jammed up in the extruder. Now I know why. Thank you so much for helping me to avoid this mistake.

[@travissutherland8502]

This is extremely useful

[@LostQuays-wg6xn]

Thank you ❤Helen

[@lynnhoffmann3273]

The best ever!!! TYSM!!

[@playea123]

Could you please do a video on drying techniques for different pasta dough and shapes? Thanks and great video as always!

[@helenrennie]

Unfortunately, I don't ever dry my pasta. If you want to store for later use, freeze. Making pasta from scratch takes SO much time. Once it's dried, it's not any different than high end dried pasta that you can buy at any store.

[@tarahanratty8140]

​@@helenrennieI know it's been a long time since you made this comment but adding my vote to this request, for what it's worth! We keep chickens and part of the reason we make pasta is to use up eggs in a way that we can store for future use. It's very hard to find quality information online (I actually found your channel while searching for this info) and I get the sense that you would be a fantastic person to do justice to the topic.

[@TinaNewtonArt]

Love this. "Half way through the batch you'll get good"

[@Eric-nm4rp]

This channel is great!! Thanks Helen! New suscriber

[@jodygettleman5768]

I am relatively new to making fresh pasta. Your tutorials on egg pasta and water and semolina pasta were awesome. Could you please advise on how to make semolina dough for use with an extruder???

[@helenrennie]

unfortunately, I don't have an extruder, so can't test it, but the dough I would try is my water-based dough and I would make sure to use Italian semola flour

[@SteenyLou]

Your way of speaking is very soothing. How do you get such a clear recording audio? What type of microphone did you use? And I am trying to figure out your beautiful accent. What is your native language?

[@MrsEff54]

So, I tried this recipe on the weekend because I wanted to try making spaghetti with the KitchenAid extruder attachment I got for Christmas. I weighed everything out as the recipe indicated but still found it to be quite sticky and wound up adding about another quarter cup of semolina. I thought it took care of the excess stickiness. I wrapped it in plastic and let it sit for about 2 hours. I rolled it into walnut sized balls and placed them in the feed tube of the mixer and when the spaghetti started coming out it immediately stuck together. I was unable to unstick it and cleaning out the attachment was quite a job. Because you said it's never too late to add more flour I did just that - probably about another half cup, kneaded it in and let it sit a while longer. Because of the mess of my machine I decided to roll it out and cut it into fettucine ribbons instead which worked perfectly. Not quite as luscious as the egg noodles - a very delicate noodle. I just noticed your response to a comment where you mention that you have not actually tested it with an extruder so thought I'd share my experience with you. Interestingly, the booklet that comes with the extruder includes a recipe for dough that is egg based. I wonder if your egg pasta recipe would work better for spaghetti.

[@brunogiambroni1422]

Can’t wait to try this recipe!!!

[@donkruse]

Thank you!

[@justicebeske5704]

this worked great

[@S0nny1984]

Just found you and you are AMAZING!!

[@FutureCommentary1]

I like your video from way back where you mixrd water pasta dough with fork on a bowl.

[@ladyhawk6999]

Thank you!!!!!

[@cozyflannel]

OH MY GOD I have used your rookie mistakes video for egg pasta and this was my #1 most wanted video. Edit: Probably a stupid question but can I run this kind of dough through my pasta roller (Hand crank) to make sheets, cut them into 2inch squares, and roll them on a garganelli board? Or is it not suited for all of that? Seriously, I was a complete pasta novice and my egg pasta has been perfect since the first try. All thanks to her video. Thank you so much!!!!

[@helenrennie]

So glad you've had pasta success. I haven't tried rolling this dough out. My guess is that it would rip very easily because I use hot water. What you could try to do is use warm, but not hot water and then you should be able to roll it out and shape as you described.

[@cozyflannel]

Helen Rennie thank you! I would like to give some homemade pasta as gifts this year but I worry about drying egg pasta. Is that safe?

[@PETERFRANKLIN-i2f]

helen i love your blog do you have any gluten free recipes?

[@donaldoutdoors]

Oh my gosh - you're amazing. I just subscribed! I'll be making your pasta with the broccoli/cauliflower sauce (I'm on to that video next)!

[@jerrycash5606]

Good to know Thanks

[@aledi3239]

Bedankt! I am going to try the waterpasta dow! :))

[@SuzannesKreativeKitchen]

Nice❤

[@christellethomas9443]

Hi Helen, thank you for your amazing fully explained videos, I have a question please, how can I store fresh pasta for sale, and what kind of materials should I use ? Thank you

[@charlesolsen3994]

Helen, have you used this recipe (water past) with a pasta extruded? Thanks Charlie

[@Coasterdude02149]

That pasta water you save is great to put in a mason jar and use to rinse your hair. Makes your hair soft as a could.

[@sherrymiller804]

I grind my own flour. What about using fresh milled Khorasan wheat flour?

[@Ivy_1057]

Thank you for the instructions! How many cups holds your food processor? What are your recommendations for the size of the food processor? I can’t make my decision because I do not know. Thank you 🙏

[@CC-ko2ds]

Your videos have been so helpful! I tried making bowtie/farfalle pasta with the egg based pasta dough. The first time the bowties broke in the center. The second time they did not break but were just very floppy. Should I use the water dough for the bowties instead? Thank you!

[@tristensmithson6991]

Do you just cook what you need and keep the sauce on the side or can you make a while thing and how do leftovers work without getting gummy

[@marthafearsme]

Helen, I tried your water pasta dough today, it is lovely. I think the hot water is the key to hydrate the semolina, but it was way too soft for my Kitchen Aid pasta press. I did use Caputo Semola, but think this would work well with semolina. Do you think that cutting down on the hydration will help, or do you have a recipe for extrusion machines? Love your videos....

[@helenrennie]

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with extruded pasta since I don't have an extruder. I hear from people semola is what you want not the course semolina. you can definitely play with hydration. I am also not sure if the hot water is beneficial for extrusion. Try looking up a recipe that is specifically formulated for extruded pasta.

[@marthafearsme]

Thank you.

[@erna.robertson]

Very informative. Thank you. How do you cook the frozen pasta? Do you thaw it or put itinto the boiling water still frozen?

[@safahmie]

I can't get semolina/samola flour here. Every time I order online it comes broken all over the box. Need a video with regular all. Purpose flour. I do use King Arthur now.

[@harpritamsingh1219]

Hi helen great video I have a few questions like how to store hand made pasta for long time and which pasta is better to store egg or water pasta

[@Divelucaya]

Am I correct in assuming that other liquids like juice (carrot, beet, tomato, etc.) would work as long as the temperature criteria is met? I believe I've learned more about cooking and baking from your videos than anyone else on KZbin. As a disabled, old man with very few things to do in the Philippines (no more New England snow) I can at least try to hone my very rudimentary culinary skills. 😉

[@helenrennie]

yes. you can certainly use other liquids and juices. It might be fun to make a pink version with beet juice ;)

[@Soverakera]

I made orecchiette from this video and thank you thank you it was amazing. I’m allergic to eggs 😩 Is it at all possible to make lasagna and tortalini or ravioli from this. Doesn’t have to be perfect but my success with the orecchiette made me want to try it ALLLLLLLL? ♥️

[@heatherb918]

Can you use this to make lasagna sheets?

[@Roonitochka]

Hello and thank you very much for the advice! I grind my own flour from wheat berries. Is it good / wrong instead of semolina? Any tips? Thanks!!!

[@kim94503]

What advice so you have for people who grind their own?

[@cookingbymanisha]

Helen Please Share A Link Of Another Water Pasta Video. Thanks In Advance.

[@suzibeerman192]

Is there a recommended substitute for the semola flour for the water pasta dough?

[@caillumhector9706]

does this taste like store bought dried pasta

[@kathrynblackwell3918]

Thank you for an excellent video! Can you tell me how WIDE the pasta comes out of the manual machine and how WIDE the pasta comes out of the Kichenaide attachment? I want to make egg rolls and don’t know which to purchase.

[@jentalbot3561]

should I use water or egg dough for farfalle?

[@patrickst-arnaud9814]

Hi! I tried to extrude the pastas with the kitchen aid rigatoni attachement and they were way too soft. Is it because I added 1/4 tsp of salt? I did the rest exactly the same. Nice dough, kneaded for 8 minutes, cover with plastic film for an hour, then cut into balls to put in the kitchen aid attachement

[@Mattvieir]

i'm always pumped to see you videos! Have you ever tried to make pasta from lentil powder?

[@helenrennie]

haven't tried it. have you? I can imagine it's a good idea for someone due to a gluten allergy, but can't imagine it would taste nearly as good as wheat pasta ;)

[@Mattvieir]

@@helenrennie Haven't tried it yet, but got intrigued when i saw a barilla box of red lentil penne. I don't even know how it can be done since there is no gluten to give it structure.

[@catherinegrace828]

Can I use AP flour with this recipe

[@emf9]

Any recommendations for a dough that can be rolled without eggs? My daughter is allergic to eggs...