Hand-Shaped Pasta
Cooking Skills: Pasta 2
Chapter 2 · Hand-Shaped Pasta
Skill goal
Shape pasta by hand from a simple semolina and water dough, without any machine.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
In southern Italy, pasta is mostly made without eggs, from semolina and water, and shaped by hand. The dough is firmer than egg pasta and needs more kneading, but it gives you a chewy pasta that holds its shape, and requires no machine. Many shapes use the same dough and just a different movement of the hands.
| Shape | How it is shaped | Cooks in | Best with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orecchiette ("little ears") | Drag a piece under a knife so it curls, then turn it over your thumb | 6 to 8 minutes | Greens, sausage, broccoli, cheese |
| Cavatelli | Press two fingers into a short piece and pull | 6 to 8 minutes | Tomato, ricotta, beans |
| Pici | Roll strands under your palms | 5 to 7 minutes | Garlic, breadcrumbs, ragù |
| Farfalle (bows) | Cut small rectangles of egg pasta and pinch the middle | About 3 minutes | Peas, light sauces |
- Semolina dough is made with about half its weight in warm water (100 g of flour to 50 ml of water). Warm water makes it easier to knead.
- Knead longer than for egg dough, up to 10 minutes. It's tough at first, then becomes smooth.
- Keep the dough you're not working with covered, or it dries out in minutes and the shapes crack.
- Dust with semolina, not flour, and set the shapes apart on a tray.
- Hand-shaped pasta is thick, so it needs a longer cook than ribbons, and a big pan of well-salted water.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Orecchiette with broccoli
The classic hand-shaped pasta. The dough has no egg, only semolina and water, which makes it firm and chewy, with a bite that dried pasta can't match. Each little ear is a cup that holds the sauce.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 100 g fine semolina flour (semola rimacinata), or 50 g plain flour and 50 g fine semolina
- 50 ml warm water
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 150 g broccoli, in small florets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 15 g parmesan or pecorino, grated
- Mix the semolina and salt in a bowl. Add the warm water gradually, mixing with a fork and then your hands, until it comes together. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and firm, adding a few drops of water if it is crumbly. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough into a rope about 1 cm thick. Cut it into pieces about 1 cm long.
- Press the point of a blunt knife on a piece and drag it towards you across the board so it curls into a shell. Turn it inside out over your thumb to make an ear with a thick rim and a thin middle. Dust a tray with semolina and set the ears on it.
- Boil the orecchiette in plenty of salted water for 6 to 8 minutes, adding the broccoli for the last 4. Meanwhile warm the oil, garlic and chilli in a wide pan.
- Scoop out a mugful of water, then drain. Toss with the garlic oil and 4 tablespoons of water, crushing the broccoli into the sauce. Finish with the cheese.
They won't look like the picture
The first few will be uneven, and that's fine. Aim for similar thickness, not perfection. Uneven pieces give you pasta with a bit of variety in the bowl.
Level 2 · Press
Cavatelli with tomato and ricotta
Cavatelli are small dumpling-like shells, made by pressing a short piece of dough with two fingers and pulling.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 100 g fine semolina flour (semola rimacinata), or 50 g plain flour and 50 g fine semolina
- 50 ml warm water
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 150 ml tomato sauce from Cooking Skills: Pasta 1, chapter 3
- 2 tbsp ricotta
- 4 basil leaves, torn
- Make and rest the semolina dough as for the orecchiette. Roll it into a rope about 1.5 cm thick and cut into 2 cm pieces.
- Press two fingers (index and middle) onto a piece and drag it towards you so it curls into a small shell. Set it on a semolina-dusted tray.
- Boil in plenty of salted water for 6 to 8 minutes, until they float and are tender. Drain, keeping a mugful of the water.
- Toss with the warm tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons of the water. Serve with dollops of ricotta and the basil.
Level 2 · Rolled strands
Pici with garlic breadcrumbs
Pici are thick, uneven strands rolled under the palms of your hands. A crisp, garlicky breadcrumb topping (pangrattato) is a classic cheap alternative to cheese.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 100 g fine semolina flour (semola rimacinata), or 50 g plain flour and 50 g fine semolina
- 50 ml warm water
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 30 g dried breadcrumbs or crumbled stale bread
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Make and rest the semolina dough as above. Cut off small pieces and roll them under your palms on the board into strands 4 to 5 mm thick and about 20 cm long. They will vary in thickness. Dust with semolina.
- For the topping: warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and toast the breadcrumbs for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until golden. Tip into a bowl.
- In the same pan, warm the remaining oil with the garlic and chilli over a low heat for 2 minutes. Take off the heat.
- Boil the pici for 5 to 7 minutes, scoop out a mugful of water and drain. Toss in the garlic oil with 4 tablespoons of the water. Serve topped with the breadcrumbs and parsley.
Level 3 · Pinched
Farfalle from egg dough, with peas, lemon and ricotta
Farfalle are made from rolled egg dough, not semolina dough, and shaped by pinching. They teach you to handle thin dough.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 100 g plain flour (or Italian "00" flour)
- 1 Lion-marked medium egg
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 2 tbsp fine semolina (or extra flour), for dusting
- 80 g frozen peas
- ½ lemon, zest and a squeeze of juice
- 40 g ricotta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped mint
- Make, rest and roll the egg dough from chapter 1 to about 1.5 mm. Let it dry for 5 minutes.
- Cut the sheet into rectangles about 3 × 2 cm with a knife or fluted wheel. Pinch each across the middle, wetting your fingers if it won't stay, so that it fans out like a bow tie. Set them on a semolina-dusted tray.
- Boil in salted water for 3 minutes, adding the peas for the last 2 minutes. Scoop out a mugful of water and drain.
- Toss with the lemon zest and juice, ricotta, oil, mint and 3 tablespoons of the water.
Experiments
Experiment
Semolina or plain flour
Does the dough need semolina?
- Make two small batches of the orecchiette dough: one with fine semolina flour and one with plain flour (50 ml of water to 100 g of flour).
- Shape, cook and taste both with a little olive oil.
Look for: The semolina pasta is firmer and chewier, the plain flour pasta is softer and more doughy. You can use plain flour in a pinch.
Experiment
Warm or cold water
Why does the recipe say warm?
- Make two batches of dough, one with warm tap water and one with cold.
- Knead each for the same time, and note how they feel.
Look for: Warm water makes the dough softer and quicker to come together. Cold water gives a stiffer dough that needs more kneading.
Experiment
Thin or thick
How much does thickness change the cooking?
- Make orecchiette from pieces cut 3 mm thick and 6 mm thick.
- Boil them together and take out one of each every minute from the 5-minute mark.
Look for: The thin ones are ready in about 5 minutes, the thick ones in 8 or more. When shapes are uneven, some are ready before others, which is why a bite or two of chewiness is normal.
Experiment
Cook now or dry first
Does leaving the shapes out change them?
- Divide a batch of cavatelli into two. Cook one half at once. Leave the other on a tray for 2 hours, then cook.
- Compare texture and cooking time.
Look for: The dried shapes keep their form better and are chewier, but they take longer to cook. Don't leave them much longer than a few hours.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orecchiette with broccoli | ||||
| Cavatelli with tomato and ricotta | ||||
| Pici with breadcrumbs | ||||
| Farfalle with peas | ||||
| Semolina vs plain flour | ||||
| Warm vs cold water | ||||
| Thin vs thick | ||||
| Cook now vs dried |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Dough cracks when shaped | Too dry | Knead in a few drops of water; keep the dough covered |
| Dough sticky | Too much water | Knead in a little semolina |
| Shapes won't curl | Dough too dry or too soft | Adjust the water; a knife with a blunt edge helps |
| Raw middle after boiling | Shapes too thick | Boil longer; make the pieces smaller |
| Shapes stuck together | Left in a pile | Dust with semolina and spread them apart on a tray |
| Gluey outside | Not enough water in the pan | Use a big pan of boiling salted water |
Food safety: hand-shaped pasta
Semolina-and-water dough has no egg, but still contains raw flour, so wash your hands and don't taste the raw dough. Farfalle uses egg dough, so the raw egg rules from chapter 1 apply. Shapes can be frozen on a tray, then bagged, and cooked from frozen with a minute or two extra. Cooked pasta is a starchy food, and like rice it can grow bacteria if it is left warm. There is no pasta-specific official guidance, so this course uses the cautious rule: cool it quickly (within about an hour), put it in the fridge, and eat it within 24 hours; freeze it if you won't. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can make a semolina and water dough.
- I can shape orecchiette, cavatelli and pici.
- I know why these shapes cook longer than ribbons.
- I can shape farfalle from egg dough.
- I can freeze shaped pasta.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Pasta 2, chapter 3 is Coloured Doughs and the Pasta Machine: spinach, tomato, wholewheat and black pepper doughs, and rolling thin by hand or by machine.