Bread Flour Casarecce | Casarecce di Farina Manitoba

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The Story

This week we left the eggs in the fridge and the pasta machine in the cupboard, and made some good old flour and water casarecce. None of that fiddling around with egg to egg-yolk ratios and oil to water moisture levels; just two ingredients and our hands. And because this sort of pasta benefits from being a little dry as it’s shaped, you can prepare the whole batch in one go. It also makes for a great pasta to turn out madly and messily with your little humans, or slowly and peacefully by yourself. To those of you who fall into the latter category, appreciate that for the rest of us madly, messily, and with children are mutually inclusive.

But it’s the best.

The Pasta

‘Casarecce’ means ‘homemade’, so the first rule of making it is to relax. You don’t need uniform, even pieces of pasta here, in fact we reckon it tastes better if they’re all over the place. Little Al made his own varied mini-batch, and they were perfect.

Start off with our recommended ratio of water to flour, but increase either amount very gradually if the dough seems too wet or dry as you’re bringing it together into a ball. If you’ve ever wanted to practice making pasta dough by touch rather than measured ingredients, then this dough is a great place to start. Just add your water slowly into the flour, mixing as you go, and get your hands in there! If you go too far and it begins to stick to everything, just add a sprinkle or two of flour. Eventually you’ll have a big old lump that respectfully minds its own business, and is ready for kneading. As you sweat and pummel your way through the next obligatory 10 minutes of dough punching, you’ll see dramatic changes in the softness and sheen of the dough. This is the gluten doing its thing, and if it doesn’t bring you true joy then I’m afraid that nothing will.

close up of bread flour pasta dough

Now, you’ll notice that we’re using bread flour. Ever since we gleefully traded a few serves of tagliatelle for a bag of this stuff, we’ve been obsessed with turning it into pasta. Its gluten strength and high elasticity give it a smooth texture but firm bite, particularly if you’re not using any eggs. I could talk at length about choosing pasta flour (little Al just finished helping me construct a storage shelf specifically for our 20+ varieties) but the gist of my hypothetical ramblings are: know your flour’s gluten strength, protein levels, and elasticity, and know what type of handling your dough will require to turn it into pasta. For example, 00 flour is often talked about as the essential pasta flour, but it’s a stretchy nuisance if used for the wrong type of pasta, or if not mixed with something of a higher protein percentage like durum semolina flour. By contrast, using pure semolina will give you a fantastic firm dough, but it won’t stretch too well. While it’s great for extruded pasta or things like orecchiette that rely on this inflexibility, you won’t have a good time using semolina alone for intricate filled pasta.

Bread flour is made of hard wheat, which means that it has a fairly high amount of protein (up to around 13%). When you knead dough, you’re developing gluten by forming cross-links between the protein types; so this flour’s higher protein level is what makes bread, and our casarecce, so delightfully chewy. By mixing durum semolina into 00, as in that previous example, you’re actually increasing the protein ratio towards something approximating that of bread flour. But it doesn’t end there: arguably the most glorious characteristics of bread flour are the strength of the gluten, and its elasticity. So it’s firm but stretchy. This means that your pasta will have a great bite to it, but remain smooth. Chewy, chompy, and refined. This is why we’re obsessed.

Once your dough’s rested for 30 minutes, divide it into 8-10 pieces, and roll each into long, thin sausages. Then just chop them into small lengths, grab a thin dowel, knitting needle, or skewer, and get rolling!

The trick for most rolled, stretched, or generally hand-bothered pasta like this is to balance the downwards pressure with the sideways movement. It might take a few test pieces to get a feel for it, but eventually you should find each piece of pasta rolling up and over the skewer as you pass it across the pasta’s surface. Let your casarecce dry out uncovered in the fridge for up to a week to maximise that delicious bite.

casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board

For the perfect paired sauce to go with these firm but creamy casarecce, try out our sausage ragu!

casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl
close up of casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl

Happy cooking, and buon appetito!

– Al & Al.

close up of casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board

Bread Flour Casarecce

A simple and joyful pasta. Served with a hearty ragu or a quick butter sauce, this chewy, smooth casarecce is the perfect comfort food. 
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Resting Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: bread flour, casarecce, eggless, Pasta
Servings:
Calories: 605kcal

Equipment

  • Narrow dowel, or knitting needle

Ingredients

  • 250 g bread flour
  • 50 g semolina
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 80 ml water plus more if required

Instructions

  • Mix the flours together, and form into a well. Pour the water and 1 tbsp of oil into this, and use a fork to gradually bring it together into a dough.
  • Form into a ball using your hands, and then knead vigorously for 10 minutes. If the dough sticks to your hands or the kneading surface, add 1-2 teaspoons of flour at a time; if it is too dry, add water in similar amounts.
    close up of bread flour pasta dough
  • Transfer to an airtight container, and leave to rest for 30 minutes, away from heat or direct sunlight.
  • To form into casarecce, separate the dough into 7-8 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll into long thin sausages, of around 1cm in diameter. Return what is not being used to the airtight container.
  • Cut into approximately 5cm lengths. Using a narrow dowel or knitting needle, and aligning it horizontally to each piece of pasta, roll from one long side to another. Apply gentle downwards pressure as you go, so that the dough rolls slightly up and around the dowel.
    close up of casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board
  • Transfer to baking paper lined trays and refrigerate uncovered for up to 1 week. If you're looking for the perfect sauce to pair our casarecce with, check out our sausage ragu!
    close up of casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl

Nutrition

Calories: 605kcal | Carbohydrates: 113.6g | Protein: 16.1g | Fat: 8.5g | Saturated Fat: 1.2g | Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 180mg | Fiber: 4.4g | Sugar: 0.3g | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 7mg
Made this recipe? We’d love to see!Mention @pastaetal or tag #pastaetal!
close up of fresh handmade spaghetti pasta

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2 thoughts on “Bread Flour Casarecce | Casarecce di Farina Manitoba”

  • I’d love to try this soon. So I make gnocchi, but that’s about it for homemade pastas. So semolina is not the same as semolina flour? Everywhere I look, I just see semolina flour,
    Thanks!

    • Hi there! It’s a great, simple pasta to make 😊. Semolina and (durum) semolina flour are actually two different things. They’re both milled from durum wheat, but semolina is the much coarser endosperm of the wheat, whereas the flour is finer and softer. Unfortunately, they’re marketed with many different names! We use both almost interchangeably, but generally the coarser semolina is better for a pasta like this, while durum flour works best in more delicate pasta. Hope that helps!

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close up of bread flour pasta dough
casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board
casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl
close up of casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl
close up of casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board
close up of bread flour pasta dough
close up of casarecce pasta spread out on a wooden chopping board
close up of casarecce pasta with sausage ragu and cheese in a bowl
close up of fresh handmade spaghetti pasta
Striped Ricotta Fagottini with Garlic and Fennel Confit Purée
Tomato Day 2023
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One of our most delicious doughs yet! This was 50% dark rye flour, a blend of maize, rice, and tapioca, and finely chopped rosemary mixed throughout. Served up in a simple minestra, straight out of the book (page 103)👌

It’s tricky weather for pasta making in Perth at the moment. Due to the heat (or air-conditioning blasting away to counter the heat), pasta sheets are drying as soon as they hit the board! So it’s all a mad rush of cling wrap, tea towels, and water spritzing (these ones needed a dab of water on every square). What are you all cooking up as 2024 comes to an end?

Incidentally, we’ve had a few queries about cutters lately. This fantastic brass cutter is one of my favourite pasta tools, and (if you’re in AUS/NZ) you can pick one up in our store. They’ve been selling fast over Christmas, so get in now! Link in bio or via this post 😊🍝

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42°C and the ravs are rolling. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas... ☀️🍝 

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This tasty dough is half light rye, with a blend of maize and tapioca starches, and rice and maize flours.

Counting down to festive pasta…

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Please note that we can only ship to Australia and New Zealand, and can only guarantee delivery before Christmas for parcels shipped within Australia up until and including the 13th of December (apologies and much love to our international pals). Offer ends 12th December.

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Recipe link in bio 👌

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Stepping through the fillings of our cheeseburger fagottini...

Start it off with a square of sesame seed dough, then lay down a circle of American red cheddar, a dollop of ketchup made with the tomatoes strained from our bacon broth, a squeeze of mild American mustard, and then a miniature meatball of bacon (also from the broth) and beef nestled on top 👌

Full recipe via link in bio!

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To form fagottini, bring the corners of your stacked cheeseburger squares together in neighbouring pairs, pinching the very tips but leaving the top and edges open. Draw those same pinched corners together to meet above the filling, and press together to form a pyramid. Follow along clockwise from the middle row in the first photo!

Swipe to see the finished dish and the juicy filling. And head to our blog (via the link in our bio) to find the full recipe for our Cheeseburger Fagottini in Tomato, Bacon, and Pickle Broth with Homemade Ketchup 🍔🍝

#pastaetal #fagottini #cheeseburger #broth #sesamepasta #pastaia #pastaio #pastafresca #acquafarinamarcato #agfg #cookgoodfoodau #pastafattaincasa #buzzfeast #makeitdelicious #foodblogfeed #chowhound #bbcgoodfood
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I really don't know why it's taken us so long to do this. Highly recommended, guaranteed to make you smile, cheesy-bacony-pasta goodness.

Find the full recipe by following the link in our bio 🍔🍝

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Dear @sprugles aka @fortytwocakes,

Happy ten year anniversary of putting up with me making your lunch like this.

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Nonna's trademark spinach dough works for any pasta, and is absolutely delicious (even the kids agree)! 

We form our farfalle using small rectangles of 2–3 × 4–5 cm, cutting the shorter edge with a zigzag (though of course, mix this up however you like).

To shape the pasta, make three pinches, similar to pleating, across the middle of each rectangle. The first pinch is from one side to about one-third of the way in, then the same on the other side, before squeezing those two pleats together firmly. With a practiced or lazy hand you can also just pinch once across the middle, gathering the dough as you go. Just ensure that you keep a channel down the centre to allow water to flow in and cook the pasta evenly. The pinch is so important, that this shape is known as stricchetti in Emilia-Romagna, meaning ‘pinch’ in local dialect.

An alternative to hand-pinching the channel is to lay a thin skewer lengthwise down the centre of each rectangle. Pinch a little peak on either side of it, and then squeeze together over the top, pulling the skewer out to complete the shape. 

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Making sunset agnolotti del plin with my OG pasta sidekick ☀️

Little Al's working with scraps of beetroot and turmeric doughs, left over from our recent giant ravs 🧡

You can find a tutorial for this shape in our book, or by scrolling back far enough in our Reels!

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A favourite of ours: scarpinocc! Little Al, in particular, has always loved giving them their finishing poke in the middle. 

These were made with a traditional taleggio filling, and you can spot the GF variations with their slightly lighter dough.

Anyone else a scarpinocc fan?

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We've now developed gluten-free versions for all of our recipes (grain-free is a work-in-progress)! These little ravs are made with our standard GF dough. For four serves of dough: 400 g GF flour (ours is a mix of maize, tapioca, and rice flours, with rice bran), 4 eggs, 80 ml water, 3 tsp xanthan gum, and a little olive oil and salt. 

The filling can be whatever you like, but this time around we went for a mix of browned mince, salami, and pecorino 👌 

You can check out our book or blog for all kinds of recipe ideas! Blog via any recipe link in bio 🍝 

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Ocean Sunset 🌊☀️

These giant ravs are dedicated to the pure bliss of watching the sun sink into the waves. Right before the midges start eating you alive. I’ve lived in and visited many incredible locations over the years, but the sunset’s always been all over the place. So it’s nice to finally have everything back where it belongs 😉

Our sunset sky and golden beach is made with an ombré of beetroot and turmeric doughs, with an ocean of blue spirulina, and silhouetted dunes of dark cocoa. And fittingly, for a WA-inspired pasta (if you know, you know), they’re stuffed with spuds 🥔🤙

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Little Al showing off this week’s cappelletti 💪⁣
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These are made using our go-to whole egg dough, with a portion of it coloured using blue spirulina. Hit up our blog or our book for the full recipe, or do your thing with this:⁣
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- 250 g plain (all-purpose) flour⁣
- 150 g 00 flour⁣
- 4 eggs⁣
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil⁣
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt⁣
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For the blue spirulina, add around 1 tsp for every 100g of flour, or until you’re happy with the colour!⁣
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And the filling… really I just boiled some potatoes, mashed through some pecorino, and seasoned until we were all happy with it…⁣
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I 98 and 3/4 percent guarantee that adding blue squiggles to your pasta will improve your mood 💙

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