Semolina Pasta Dough
Big semolina pasta fan over here. As an Italian, I’ve spent my life tasting and making pasta. I have strong feelings about noodles. What shape they are, what they’re made of, whether they’re fresh or dried, how long they’re cooked. etc. Currently – I’m obsessed with a good semolina dough. Not only do I love the taste, but semolina shapes are so much fun to make and eat. A semolina noodle is sturdy and doesn’t get soggy like flour + egg pasta gets sometimes. One of my favorite simple shapes to make out of it is gnocchi sardi, which is a thicker noodle with a little pocket to hold all of the sauce.
The general rule of semolina pasta dough is a 2:1 ratio of semolina flour to water. So, for every 2 cups of semolina flour, you use one cup of water. Or 1 cup of semolina flour to 1/2 cup of water and so on. She’s as simple as she is good! Once you get the method down and learn the visual cues, you won’t even need a recipe to remember.
For semolina dough, I prefer the well method. So, I pour out my semolina, create a well in the middle, and add in my water. I slowly start whisking the semolina into the flour until a rough dough starts to form. Then, I take a bench scraper and slowly start to incorporate and chop everything together. If your water ever starts to pour out of the well during the whisking step, do not worry! It happens to me all of the time. When that happens, go right to the bench scraper. It helps scoop all of that runaway water back into the flour. Once you have a rough and choppy dough made with your bench scraper, it’s time to knead. Semolina dough goes through 2 kneads. The first knead will be about 4-5 minutes until it’s a ball with some dimpling. Then, wrap it in saran wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then, knead it again for 3-4 minutes, until it’s a smooth ball. Wrap it again and let it rest for an hour. After that, it’s yours to create with! I’ll attach some photos of the process below and the recipe underneath.
Semolina Pasta Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Pour your semolina flour out onto a kneading board or counter top.
- Create a well in the middle. Add the water into the well.
- Using a fork, start to slowly add the semolina flour into the water and whisk it in until it starts to form a very rough dough.
- Grab a bench scraper and start incorporating everything together creating a shaggy dough.
- Once everything is incorporated, start kneading with your hands, forming the dough into a ball. Knead for 4-5 minutes, until your dough ball is combined but has some dimpling.
- Wrap with saran wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Knead again for 3-4 minutes, or until the ball is smooth.
- Wrap agian and let rest for 1 hour.
- The dough is now yours to create with!
