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.