Easy Semolina Pasta Dough

Written By Lis Austin

This easy pasta dough recipe is a fairly simple introduction to homemade fresh pasta suitable for shaping into cavatelli or malloreddus. You won’t need a pasta machine or a mixer. But you will need a ridged gnochii board (see photo below) to make the final shape. The dough is slighter firmer than that used for other pasta shapes and is easy to work with. It makes a great pasta to serve with a hearty ragu or broccoli cavatelli.

Makes 1lb - enough fresh pasta to feed 4

What You’ll Need:

  • 2 cups durum pasta flour (semolina)

  • 1/2 cup 00 flour, or all purpose

  • 1 cup lukewarm water

  • Coarse semolina flour for dusting

  • Mixing bowl

  • Bench knife or dough scraper

  • Gnocchi board

What To Do:

  • in the bowl combine the two flours and mix well

  • make a well in the center and pour in the lukewarm water

  • using your hands, mix the ingredients together until combined. You want a dough that comes together enough to knead. Add more water little by little if needed. But don’t add too much - the dough should’t be sticky or wet

  • tip the dough onto a clean counter and knead for 8-10 minutes until you have a smooth, elasticated dough

  • form the dough into a rough ball and wrap in cling wrap. Rest for 30 minutes on the counter

  • dust a baking sheet with coarse semolina flour

  • using your bench knife, make the dough into a ball and divide into quarters

  • working with one quarter at a time (pop the remaining dough under an inverted bowl to prevent it drying out), use your hands to roll the dough into a rope roughly 38” long and about the width of a sharpie. Try not to use flour at this stage - extra flour will make the dough slip all over the counter making it hard to roll

  • using your bench knife, cut the rope into 3/4” pieces

  • holding the gnocchi board in one hand, roll each piece of dough down the board with the thumb of your free hand (if the dough sticks to the board, dust the dough pieces with a little flour) and pop onto the tray. Make sure the pasta pieces don’t touch - they will want to stick together

  • repeat until all the pasta is formed. Cover the tray with a clean, dry kitchen towel until you’re ready to cook

  • leave on the counter for up to an hour. Or, cover the tray with cling wrap and freeze solid - then pop in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer for another day

  • when you’re ready to cook, put a large pan of water on to boil. Salt well. Cook the pasta for roughly 4 mins, until they float to the surface. Don’t overcook - you want them al dente

  • add the pasta to your ragu with a little of the pasta water and heat for 1-2 mins to finish off the cooking and meld the flavors together







Lis Austin
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