Variations for pasta would make a good math problem.
Joe wants to make homemade pasta for his family for dinner tonight. Joe can make pasta with:
- Eggs
- Semolina and no other flour
- A combination of half semolina and half white, whole wheat, spelt or rye flour
- White, whole wheat, spelt or rye flour and no semolina
- Gluten-free rice, corn or chickpea flour
- Olive oil
- Water
- Salt
- Fed sourdough starter
- Unfed sourdough starter
- Pumpkin
- Spinach
- Tomato
For simplicity, the measurements won’t vary in Joe’s pasta. So, if he uses pumpkin, he’ll use a set amount in each batch. Otherwise, you’ll have to figure out the number of combinations for 1 tablespoon of pumpkin, 2 tablespoons of pumpkin, 1/4 cup pumpkin and so on.
How many different pasta combinations can Joe make? Show your work for full credit.
After I wrote my recent Homemade Pasta post, several people asked me for a vegan pasta recipe. I’ve been testing different combinations ever since—all with sourdough because I wanted to come up with another recipe for using up my unfed sourdough starter.
I’ve made sourdough pasta with a white and whole wheat flour combo, only semolina flour, with salt, with olive oil, with water, without water… It turned out best with semolina, starter and a bit of water.
So you will need a sourdough starter to make this. (I’ll have to add non-sourdough eggless pasta to my to-blog list.) You can read about starting a starter here.
Here is the short version of the recipe
Combine 3/4 cup semolina, 1/2 cup unfed starter and 1 tablespoon of water in a bowl. Mix together and form a ball. Knead for about seven minutes. Rest for at least 20 minutes. Roll out into a very thin rectangle. Roll the rectangle up into a tube. Slice off noodles. Cook in boiling salted water for one minute or until tender. This will feed one extremely hungry person or two people who will also eat a side dish.
And here is the long version with pictures…
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup semolina flour
- 1/2 cup unfed starter, 100 percent hydration (equal parts water and flour)
- 1 tbsp water
Directions
1. Mix together semolina, unfed starter and water in a bowl with a fork. Form a ball with your hands. The dough is quite stiff. Turn the ball out onto a generously floured surface and knead for seven minutes until smooth and no longer sticky. Sprinkle on more flour as necessary while you knead.
2. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into two equal portions.
4. Roll out the first portion as thinly as you can into a rectangle (more or less). I was able to get the dough below down to about 1.5 mm thick. Dust with flour as necessary as you continue to roll out the dough thinner and thinner. You don’t want it sticking to your rolling pin or your work surface.
5. Dust the rectangle with flour, roll it into a tube slice off noodles. Repeat with the second half of dough.
6. Cook pasta in salted, boiling water for 1 minute or longer (but not much longer) until tender. These get sticky if you overcook them. I rinsed some of the noodles immediately with cold water after dumping in my colander to halt the cooking. They turned out really well.
I ate the handmade noodles with some fresh tomatoes and basil and tossed everything with a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt. I inhaled this for lunch today. It tasted good.
These noodles have a different consistency from egg noodles. They are stickier and something like rice noodles. I’m not going to lie. If I have eggs, I’m making egg noodles. But if I don’t have eggs and want pasta, I’ll certainly make these.
Eggless Sourdough Pasta
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup semolina flour
- 1/2 cup unfed starter, 100 percent hydration (equal parts water and flour)
- 1 tbsp water
Directions
1. Mix together semolina, unfed starter and water in a bowl with a fork. Form a ball with your hands. The dough is quite stiff. Turn the ball out onto a generously floured surface and knead for seven minutes until smooth and no longer sticky. Sprinkle on more flour as necessary while you knead.
2. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into two equal portions.
4. Roll out the first portion into a rectangle to a thickness of from 1 mm to 1.5 mm. Dust with flour as necessary as you continue to roll out the dough thinner and thinner. You don’t want it sticking to your rolling pin or your work surface.
5. Dust the rectangle with flour, roll it into a tube slice off noodles. Repeat with the second half of dough.
6. Cook pasta in salted, boiling water for 1 minute or longer (but not much longer) until tender. These get sticky if you overcook them.
Notes
1. Use freshly fed starter if you prefer.
2. My older starter is runnier than my fresh starter, so adjust the amount of water you add if necessary.
3. These can get sticky if you overcook them. After dumping them into a colander, rinse with cold water to halt cooking if desired.
I make my eggless pasta with just semolina flour and water. Works just fine that way. I will have to try this with the sourdough starter – just have to start one.
Hi Sara, That’s on my to-blog list too. I plan on doing a series of pasta posts. There are so many combos! A starter is such a great thing to have on hand and not just for bread. I regularly make pancakes and crackers with mine. Pizza too. ~ Anne Marie
!!!!
Wow, I’m looking forward to this tasting as beautiful as it looks – will definitely be making myself!
Great, Joe. Enjoy! ~ Anne Marie
I love the detail you add in the instructions; this looks pretty easy! I’ve always wanted to make pasta from scratch, but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe this recipe will give me the inspiration I need! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
My pleasure! Thanks for checking it out. It is pretty easy to make, especially after you’ve done it a few times. Enjoy!
[…] via Homemade Eggless Sourdough Pasta — The Zero-Waste Chef […]
Easy *ss recipes are my life so digging this. 👍🏼 I’m wondering if any nut flours would work like this knowing the gluten is most likely the “glue” in your recipe. Maybe I’d have to add ground chia and or flax seed to make it come together (the gelatinous code!) 😝 Thanks for the cool post and incentive. Nice photos too!
Thanks. Glad you like the post. I specialize in easy, otherwise stuff wouldn’t get done. I haven’t tried nut flours but that sounds incredibly delicious, especially with a nutty pesto topping (or with any topping really…). I am thinking they might help reduce some of the starchiness too. I plan to write more pasta posts. There are so many variations, I could write my entire blog just on that!
Excellent!! Love to see what you come up with. I do all kinds of stupid simple stuff as I have little patience in the kitchen. But darned if they’re not some of my best creations. But by all means…. you go ahead. Hahaha!! 😆🌸
I’ve added “pasta with nut flour/ground chia or flax seed” to my to-blog list. The nut flours especially sound SO good. Thanks for the idea 🙂
Cool!!! Looking forward to the write up hon. 👍🏼🌸
[…] via Homemade Eggless Sourdough Pasta — The Zero-Waste Chef […]
Love your post but most of all I love the fact that you promote zero waste in the kitchen!Good job!
Thank you Teti. I found that was the hardest place to implement it. I don’t need a lot of stuff but I do need food. Really good food 😉 ~ Anne Marie
[…] These 16 vegetarian soups all look absolutely divine! So. Many. Pastas. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], […]
Is there any way to make a double or triple batch and then preserve or dry them to use later? I often come home from work and only have 30 minutes to put together a meal. I am looking for a way to make vegan pasta ahead of time and then use later in the week (or later in the month). I love your blog! I am also attempting a 0-waste, 0-processed food lifestyle!
I find this pasta doesn’t dry out well unfortunately. I wish it did. But you can refrigerate (for a couple of days) it or freeze it (for longer). Be sure you dust it with flour first before you store it. Thanks for the kind words about my blog and enjoy your quest!
[…] These 16 vegetarian soups all look absolutely divine! So. Many. Pastas. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], […]
[…] If you don’t have a pasta machine, make your dough, roll it out very thinly with a rolling pin, roll the dough up into a log and slice off noodles. (Click here for my homemade pasta recipe. Click here for a vegan sourdough version.) […]
Hi. I notice the ingredients list is slightly different in the short and long versions. Just checking ithe 1tbsp is water rather than flour? Thanks.
Oh dear. Thank you for noticing that! That should be a tablespoon of flour :O The starter is very wet. Makes a wet dough.
Hi there again. Nope, it should be water. I’ll go update the recipe. Thanks for noticing!
Hi! So happy I found this recipe. I’ve made the egg version before with all purpose flour but never with Semolina flour. This is great as I’m no longer incorporating eggs into my diet. I’m planning in using this recipe to make lasagna noodles. Have you tried it before? Wondering if it would bake well.
Looking forward to your feedback.
Thanks!
Do you have a version of this with eggs?
Hi Katelyn,
Sorry, I don’t have a sourdough version with eggs. You’d have to leave the water out of this and increase the flour to make up for the extra hydration from the egg. I have a non-sourdough version of pasta with eggs here if you’re interested: https://zerowastechef.com/2017/09/20/homemade-pasta/
~ Anne Marie
I tried it today. It’s so simple and tasted so good! I added 1 tbsp do olive oil and added dried oregano and rosemary herbs. Love the chewy texture of the noodles. So nice. Thanks for sharing this eggless version.
Can you store the pasta for a while before cooking?
Hi Emily,
I usually cook this pasta right away but I have stored my other fresh pasta. After making it, I sprinkle it with flour and then toss it around a bit. This keeps it from sticking to itself. Then I store it in a jar in the refrigerator for a day or two. As I said, I haven’t tried it with this one. This is quite sticky pasta. If you want to try storing it that way, I’d make a small amount, cook some right away and store the rest and see how it keeps. I hope that helps.
~ Anne Marie
Hello! Quick question: do you know how many portions or servings this makes?
Hi Emilia,
Thanks for asking! I would say this is enough for one large serving or two small ones.
~ Anne Marie
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I’ve been looking for a good egg-less pasta recipe since I tend to use my eggs for other things. I ended up making this with half sprouted whole wheat and half unbleached all purpose flour (since that’s what I had on hand) and it was perfect!