Some nights, there’s nothing better than boiling some noodles and making pasta for dinner (optional side: vino!). A simple, classic dinner. But there are so many types of pasta. So let’s learn about the most common.
Pasta comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Short pasta, long pasta, sheet pasta, packed pasta, and dumpling pasta can all be divided into a few categories. Long pasta can be hand-rolled or extruded, but many forms of short pasta (but not all) require the use of an extruder to achieve their distinctive shapes.
You've probably noticed unique pasta varieties on store shelves. Gluten-free versions are being developed, with beans or lentils as the sole ingredient. Whole grain pasta is also available, indicating that there is a need for healthier versions of our favourite pasta dishes.
How is dried pasta made?
You've seen the pasta aisle at the supermarket, so you're aware of your possibilities. If you travelled the world, you would come across hundreds of different pasta types, some of which had various names in different locations. However, in the United States, there are 20 to 30 that are the most prevalent. There are two ways to make them: hand-rolled or extruded.
The most common forms of pasta are made with just two ingredients: flour and eggs. It's also possible to make it using simply flour and water. The flour and egg (or water) are kneaded together until a dough formed, which is then flattened out and cut into different shapes. This concludes the first approach.
The majority of commercially available pasta is created using the second method, extrusion. The dough is fed into a machine that cuts the pasta into various long and short forms. The egg is usually replaced with water in the recipe, and semolina flour is often used instead of all-purpose flour. Semolina is a coarse flour made from durum wheat that is slightly darker in colour than ordinary flour.