Dried pasta

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jennyema said:
I'm an outlier, I guess because I think there is a noticeable difference in taste and texture between brands.

I usually buy DeCecco, which, to me, is hands down the best I can buy in my grocery store. I also buy Barilla when its on sale.
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+2 jenny !!


We DO find a difference in taste as well as texture between dried Pasta brands.
I also look for DeCecco first, but here in Cowboyville, in the middle of the desert, it's not easy to find.
So my second choice is Barilla.

Now here's another rub for me... We do enjoy Whole Wheat dried Pasta, and I was buying Barilla brans, which we prefer for texture sake, but now that we live in Cowboyville, I was told by each store manager (we only have three in our area) that it just doesn't sell, so they ALL discontinued it. I have to wait till we go to a large town to stock up :glare:

hmmm ?
homemade whole wheat pasta?
dunno, never tried that before
… let's look into that shall we … :chef:
Homemade Pasta is always THE best in our house over any other sort.
 
Kaneohegirlinaz said:
+2 jenny !!


We DO find a difference in taste as well as texture between dried Pasta brands.
I also look for DeCecco first, but here in Cowboyville, in the middle of the desert, it's not easy to find.
So my second choice is Barilla.

Now here's another rub for me... We do enjoy Whole Wheat dried Pasta, and I was buying Barilla brans, which we prefer for texture sake, but now that we live in Cowboyville, I was told by each store manager (we only have three in our area) that it just doesn't sell, so they ALL discontinued it. I have to wait till we go to a large town to stock up :glare:

hmmm ?
homemade whole wheat pasta?
dunno, never tried that before
… let's look into that shall we … :chef:
Homemade Pasta is always THE best in our house over any other sort.
Click to expand...
I used to make homemade wholewheat pasta. It works fine. I use hard wholewheat flour and regular pasta recipes. Actually, I usually just take some flour and stir in enough water to make a dough of the right consistency.

No Italian or ethnic stores? What about a health food store? I buy most of my imported Italian wholewheat pasta at the health food store or in the health food section of the supermarket.
 
taxlady said:
I used to make homemade wholewheat pasta. It works fine. I use hard wholewheat flour and regular pasta recipes. Actually, I usually just take some flour and stir in enough water to make a dough of the right consistency.

No Italian or ethnic stores? What about a health food store? I buy most of my imported Italian wholewheat pasta at the health food store or in the health food section of the supermarket.
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh, no, no Italian or any other ethnic stores, well, I take that back, there is a very small Asian Market, but she doesn't carry much, don't know how she stays open, must be a front for something else ;)

As to health foods stores, never looked there. We have one way over three towns up from us, but I'll look, for sure.
We tried other brands of Commercial Whole Wheat Dried Pasta, but only cared for the Barilla brand.

`Member now, this is REAL Cowboyville! (I can't say that around DH, he gets very perturbed and then insists that we move :LOL:)
They are Meat & Potatoes only! No fish, No funny stuff like Asian foods and the sort … I am surprised that they do like "Eye-talian" food though. We have several Pasta Joints. Let me also say that the restaurant scene is a whole lot better than were we came from in Southern Arizona. :D
 
Speaking of Asian and whole wheat, something that can be used to make WW pasta is atta flour - WW durum flour, and, after all, durum is the preferred wheat for pasta. It is found in Indian markets; Amazon had a good buy on it, but only as an "add-on" - shipping is high, due to the weight of these types of things.
 
When I lived a couple of towns away, there was a "Fresh Pasta" store right around the corner from my home. The only drawback was, "I HAD" to wait for her to make it for me. But it was so gooood! If I do buy it, I try to get freshly made pasta in the refrigerator section. Or I make my own. On the rare times I don't feel up to making it, I buy the house brand. I can get at least three or four meals from one box. Whereas, when I make my own, or buy the fresh made one, it is just enough for one meal for the two of us. I always try to have at least one box of long pasta and one box of a shaped one on hand in case of emergencies.

Like making your own bread, I find making my own pasta very calming.
 
I might detect pasta tasting better, made and boiled up fresh other than the dry (Ronco. His machine that mixed up flour and water and squeezed it out in any form, ready to boil).
 
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I never make fresh pasta with just water and flour - always eggs, usually just eggs, but for lo mein, half the eggs and a little water for the rest of the moisture seems more authentic.

I have tried 00 flour in pasta - something I have seen suggested in several places - but I was not impressed, as it has more starch and less flavor than AP flour. However, the best pasta I have made is with an artisan flour, which I got for making bread, and it makes the best tasting white bread! So I tried it with pasta. The gluten is in between AP and bread flour, and the flour is slightly darker, as less is removed in the milling, to make the flour, and this is what gives it flavor.
https://shop.honeyville.com/alta-artisan-unbleached-flour.html
 
Hmmmm...maybe this is why some of those dried pastas from Italy taste better - they have sources for these types of "artisan flour", durum, for pasta, as bakers do in specialty bakeries.
 
Kaneohegirlinaz said:
IMHO, sorry, the best Fresh Pasta I've ever made was with Semolina, YUM!
I went hunting for it today in "Cowboyville" and I could not find it!
Again, I'll need to wait until we go into the "Big City" to find it, stock up and hoard...
Click to expand...

I'm an hour away from my nearest Safeway, and more than 2 hours to the nearest King Soopers (Kroger) in Denver. That said, I've really never been able to notice any difference between brands of dry pasta. I'm having Barilla farfalla with a shrimp dish for Sunday dinner today. The store I mostly shop here is small, only had Barilla and their store brand, and they didn't have the bow ties in the store brand.

I guess that it's times like this when I'm glad that I'm not particularly picky.
 
Kaneohegirlinaz said:
IMHO, sorry, the best Fresh Pasta I've ever made was with Semolina, YUM!
I went hunting for it today in "Cowboyville" and I could not find it!
Again, I'll need to wait until we go into the "Big City" to find it, stock up and hoard...
Click to expand...

Using semolina flour really does help make a stronger and tastier pasta. I bought a bag of it, used some the last time I made it, (before all the health problems) and now it is sitting in a canister just waiting for me to remember it is there. I have been entertaining the idea of making some this week. A great time to do it. Can't go out in this crappy weather. May as well stay in and put my stocked up energy to good use.
 
taxlady said:
Thank you for sharing this. I didn't realize soft flour was ever used for pasta making. It explains why I don't need egg in the pasta I make. I have always used hard flour to make pasta. Live and learn.
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I knew that Northern Italian pastas used eggs, but Southern Italian pastas just used water. I assumed that it was just a preference, but never knew that it was because the wheat is different.
 
tenspeed said:
I knew that Northern Italian pastas used eggs, but Southern Italian pastas just used water. I assumed that it was just a preference, but never knew that it was because the wheat is different.
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It also could be because people were very poor in Southern Italy. It could have very well originated from that. I have old French Canadian recipes from post war era that says you can substitute a handful of snow for an egg if you don't have one..
 
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That is very interesting!

Yes, thank you tenspeed for posting that video!

In fact I was searching here in Cowboyville for Semolina
to make another round of fresh Fettuccini, but had no luck :glare:
So now I'm going to try it using Bread Flour, I just bought a new
bag of that!

Hard Flours=Water (and Oil if preferred)
Soft Flours=Eggs
 
Kaneohegirlinaz said:
Yes, thank you tenspeed for posting that video!

In fact I was searching here in Cowboyville for Semolina
to make another round of fresh Fettuccini, but had no luck :glare:
So now I'm going to try it using Bread Flour, I just bought a new
bag of that!

Hard Flours=Water (and Oil if preferred)
Soft Flours=Eggs
Click to expand...

Some of these TV chefs need to inform their viewers of these facts. I have yet to hear any one explain the differences in flours to their followers. I only use all purpose flour with one quarter of the flour being semolina. No eggs needed.
 
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