Being creative with my hands began further back than I can remember, when I was a child we were always making or doing something. Pasta making was not something that was passed down to me, nor really was cooking. Creativity though was. The use of colors, patterns, textures, and any medium of our choosing. The larger the imagination the better.
I did not take a typical route to pasta or cooking. I am competely self taught, with my background of creativity and a full imagination and thought of how hard could it be I jumped into making handmade pasta one night for dinner. It was delicious but a total failure in comparison to now.
I have always used natural colors, and as kind of a challenge to push to see what their full capabilities are and how many hues can be achieved. Now with Selefina’s line of natural colors from deep blues to light purples and all colors in between with little to no added flavor we can explore just that.
I know what you're thinking - isn’t pasta supposed to have eggs in it? Not all pastas have eggs in them, this does not mean they are a lesser pasta. Way back in Italy, eggs were expensive and it was said only the rich had eggs. To work around this and appear rich they used things like saffron to create the look of egg dough.
— Janette C.
Please enjoy this series by Janette C of Ceracchi's Pasta. Food photography on this page is ©Janette Ceracchi.
With your scale measure out your flours and pour them both together out onto your work surface. Create a medium sized well. The well should be good in size more like a crater than a volcano. We want enough space to add the water and possible natural colorant.
With a fork begin mixing, stirring a circular motion begin adding in small amounts of flour from a inside edges of the well with the side of the fork. As that is absorbed continue mixing in more. After multiple scoops of flour from the side wall of the well without breaking it you will start to see a thick pudding like consistency emerge in the center of your well. Mix in another scoop or two of flour from the inside wall of the well the mixture will change from pudding to lumpy. You’ll find that if the well is broken at this point the liquid will not run off the bench if the well is broken.
With your bench scraper begin chopping and mixing. Scooping from the bottom and chopping across the top do this from all sides, this will mix in any free flour that was not mixed in the first portion. Continue to chop and mix until a scrambled egg appearance emerges. From there set your bench scraper aside and with your hands combine the dough into a rough shaggy ball.
Once a true ball shape has formed and most to all the bits and crumbles have been picked up with the ball the real kneading begins.
Knead for approximately 5 minutes, wrap with plastic wrap or cover with a large bowl and set to rest for 10 minutes. Knead again for 5 minutes then cover and rest dough for 30 minutes. Your second knead should be much gentler to not break the outer surface of the dough, keep it smooth and light. The dough should result in a springy but firm ball.
Once rested shape as desired.
Yield really depends on use, shoot for 120-150g finished pasta (prior to cooking) per person.
Also note your first batch of pasta may not come out as you had imagined and maybe “ugly” to you, just remember it all eats the same just be sure to cook it well and it will be delicious.
To make a single color add the butterfly pea flower powder to your well just prior to adding the water. Mix your water and color in the well to hydrate the color and begin mixing in small amounts of flour.
*The colorants will stain raw unsealed/unwaxed wood including other easily stainable surfaces. If your surface is waxed or sealed you should have no issues.
Quick links to our natural food coloring powders used in this series. Remember: Natural food coloring can add taste to your food creations in addition to color. Final color in naturally dyed foodstuffs will be altered by the cooking process!
