Whole Wheat Pasta Question
I received an email today that (probably accidentally) points out an excellent topic in the endless discussion about pasta:
>Hello, Joe–
>I was looking for a recipe for whole wheat pappardelle– or better yet,
I’m looking for a pasta brand that makes pappardelle from whole wheat
flour, so I don’t have to make it myself.
>Any clue if it’s out there?
>Thanks,
>Leanne
Leanne,
I’m away from my library for a few weeks, but the recipe I usually use for whole wheat pasta is some variation on the recipe in Lidia Bastianich’s book Lidia’s Family Table, which is an excellent book for many, many reasons, but especially a very thorough and well-tested section on pastas made from all sorts of things, from chickpeas to almonds. And they’re not just recipes, either, it’s a comprehensive guide to making pasta with a zillion full color photographs. I recommend that recipe and that book. Also, you could take most any pasta recipe and subsitute half the flour (by volume) for whole wheat flour, and maybe increase the amont of water slightly (by a teaspoon or so for a pound of pasta).
As for buying whole wheat pasta, I don’t recommend it unless you have a pastaficio in your neighborhood (a place you can buy fresh pasta). The overwhelming majority of pasta you will find to buy is not “fresh pasta” (*pasta fresca*), but “dry pasta” (*pasta asciutta*). What’s the difference? Well, fresh pasta hasn’t been dried, duh, but it’s also made with a softer kind of wheat and with eggs (usually), which temper its texture. Dry pasta is made with durum wheat- a very hard type of wheat- and with water. Add whole wheat to that combination and you have a grainy, unpleasant strand of pasta in your mouth that resembles a cross between sandpaper and unhulled sunflower seeds. Even the whole wheat dry pasta from saintly Barilla sucks as far as I am concerned, and I wouldn’t wish it on you.
Pick up Lidia’s book and make the pasta yourself. Make a whole bunch some weekend and freeze it in 12-ounce nests so you have it when you want it. It’s worth the effort, believe me.
Listening: “Close (to the Edit)” Art of Noise (Who’s Afraid of?) The Art of Noise!
