Pasta flour vs. all-purpose flour?

[trish_ks]

I am making pasta from scratch for the first time tomorrow. All the recipes I've seen call for unbleached all-purpose flour, which is easy b/c I always have that on hand. But I can't help wondering if I should be using pasta flour instead. Should I bother?

[cangoss]

I made pasta for the first time a couple of weeks ago for my supper club, and followed the recipe/instructions from Lidia Bastianich. The recipe called for AP flour, and it turned out beautifully. So my vote would be that you don't need to worry about pasta flour.

[dorothyntototoo]

Trish,
You must've gotten your pasta machine. I used all purpose flour for my pasta. I had some semolina so I mixed in a little of that (about 1/3) and also used the semolina to keep pasta from sticking to the cookie sheet after I made it. Too much semolina in the dough will make it hard to work with. Have fun this weekend with The Coach. :D

[trish_ks]

Trish,
You must've gotten your pasta machine. I used all purpose flour for my pasta. I had some semolina so I mixed in a little of that (about 1/3) and also used the semolina to keep pasta from sticking to the cookie sheet after I made it. Too much semolina in the dough will make it hard to work with. Have fun this weekend with The Coach. :D
Yes I did, and yes I will!!!
Since it sounds like it won't hurt me, and also because I have a HUGE amount of AP flour I'll just use that. I'm making ravioli with the spinach & ricotta filling recipe you sent me, and I think I've settled on CL's Alfredo sauce. Salad & crusty bread to round it out...sounds good to me!
Oh, and to top it off...When we're done with dinner Drew wants to watch the Buffalo Bills game. Yay. Just what I wanted to do that night when I haven't seen him in months!

[karen w]

I've been making homemade pasta for a few years. I initially always used AP flour. Now I use a combo of AP flour and semolina. Either one works out well. The dough with the semolina is a bit stiffer, but the end result IMHO is a "sturdier" pasta with a nice flavor. I also make mine with ww flour quite often which is very tasty not to mention more nutritious! :)

Have fun,
Karen

[Paula H]

I've been making homemade pasta for a few years. I initially always used AP flour. Now I use a combo of AP flour and semolina. Either one works out well. The dough with the semolina is a bit stiffer, but the end result IMHO is a "sturdier" pasta with a nice flavor.

I used to make pasta with all-purpose flour, but always bemoaned how finnicky the stuff was, always tearing and the like. Then I read in a cookbook (can't remember which one) to mix in semolina flour (I use 3 parts semolina to 7 parts flour), and it makes it so much easier! It is stiffer to work with at first, but this makes it a lot more forgiving while you're working it, and I don't have any problems with overworking the dough anymore (it also seems to cook up much nicer).

[trish_ks]

Well, I just went with the Ap flour, and I think it turned out fine (not actually cooking and eating till tonight). The first batch of dough I made was too dry (I followed a Mario Batali recipe) and just shredded instead of forming sheets. I scrapped that after fussing with it way longer than I would have liked and altered the recipe to have 1/2 cup less flour and tried again. No problems at all with that batch. Hopefully my ravioli taste good!