I still find it hard to navigate around this forum so hope this question finds it way to the right place!
My husband is very keen, and who am I to disagree, to make pasta.
He keeps going into kitchenware shops, asking lots of questions as to what does what, but hasn't yet found out what flour to use. Can someone advise please? The one and only Italian shop has closed in Perigueux and I have absolutely no idea what to look for on the supermarket shelves if indeed it can be found there.
Yes, it usually shows on the package.... sometimes you need to search a bit ;-)
We import 00 but actually fluide works perfectly well. If making a buckwheat (saraceno) pasta the fluide is better than 00, so we live to learn...
Our daughter brings us 00 flour from the Italian supermarket in Munich, which is no help to you I know.
There seems to be plenty of people who have successfully made it without 00, so good luck!
Wow thank you so much everyone for your input and even a recipe. So nice.
Now might seem like a stupid question to those of you who buy flour for pasta and without going to the supermarket and having a look, does the number appear on the packet? I do shop a lot and bio-coop in Trellisac and have noticed they have signs on the flour like T2 e.g. but when I asked if they had flour for making pasta she said no but my guess is she didn't really know. Anyway MOH is now very keen to investigate and go and buy that pasta machine he's asked so many questions about!
300 grammes Flour type/grade 405 (but "Francine Fluide" grade 45 will do also)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of water (if needed to get the right consistency of the dough
put the flour in a heap on a flat surface and make a hole in the centre.
put the eggs and the salt into the middle and start workingt he flour form the rim to the middle with a fork
after all the flour has been incorporated you should get a ball of dough.
use the water only if the mixture gets to dry / crumbly.
Press the dough with the palm of your hands until you get a ball that doesn't stick to your hands
take this ball and beat it several times to evacuate the air trapped inside.
Work the dough again and repeat the process of beating and working the dough to the point where the dough becomes flexible, easy to work.
Take some cling-film and wrap the ball of dough in it and put it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
This should give you a dough that can be easily transformed into pasta with a pasta-machine or even a rolling pin (on a floured surface bien-sur)
Form the pastas into whatever shape you want them and air-dry them for about 12 hours just on a chair (linguinis etc) or a baking tray (smaller pastas)
I make pasta all the time. Grade 55 works for me.
vic