When I lived in the states I used plain old all purpose flour to make pasta. Now here I am in Italy and as I've written before, the flour here is very confusing for me. Both "0" and "00" flour are 'softer' than AP flour, so I've finally discovered, thanks to Diva, to use Manitoba flour when making cookies! I guess the "0" or "00" would be fine for biscuits, but still, it's confusing!

One of the choices here for making pasta is semola. The Italians don't even call it flour, it's sort of a category all it's own. It's a little coarser than regular flour, but not as coarse as cornmeal/polenta.

Anyway, this is what I've been told to use to make lasagna, and I'm wondering if there's ever an instance to use 'regular' flour. Do different types of pasta get made with different types of flour? Or is this more a regional thing? Any help greatly appreciated! Maybe by the time we leave Italy I'll have a better understanding of the flour!

Your photo shows a brand of semolina flour (in English). Semolina is what my mother always used for pasta "fatta in casa". She bought it from the Toscano who ran a grocery store in our small town.

This is actually the same kind of semola that I use, alterntively to the COOP organic semola.

100gr of semola, one egg per person.
5 people is 500gr, 5 eggs, possibly one tablespoon of EVOO.

Truly pasta comes out well with any flour you use, I used normal 0 fflour for years, then I mixed it -half and half- and now it is only semola.

Mixing is indicated for filled pastas as ravioli or tortelli or anolini, semola is best for long pastas, it holds the cooking better..

I now use semola for both, I like my pasta al dente.

the science of pasta.
Each flour absorbs a different amout of moisture.

Lower gluten flour, less liquid.

Eggs are different sizes.

the gluten in the flour, ( hard wheat higher gluten) gives the pasta it's BITE.

I have made pasta from 00, which i would say are more like "noodles" softer pasta.

The other day in class we made orecchiette, using the semola, the hard wheat flour, which is used in making the bread in Puglia.

One problem I find in shopping, is tht semolina is actually cream of wheat, and semola is the flour.
My Italian American friend came here , rented an apartment, made ragu and his grandmothers handmade pasta, made with "semolina"
it was inedible!
he was using cream of wheat!

In Rome they make a flat "gnocchi" form semolina.

Some people add a tbs of olive oil to the dough, some no eggs and just hot water for trofie, pici and orecchiette.

So sorry Barb, there is no RIGHT flour, just the right doses for each flour!

Diva is right,

but being me the optimistic I am, I would say that there is no wrong flour for pasta.

the fact that some pastas are made with water only and some with eggs is not up to people's whishes, is that different kinds of pastas are made in different way.

Egg's pasta, is with eggs.

Pasta bianca, as for pici, orecchiette, trofie, troccoli and maccheroni al filo is made with just flour and water.

Gnocchi is made with a mix of pasta and potatoes.

Semolino is made with semolino.

However, Barb, I like very much the flour you use.

Thank you both for the information. I was just trying to figure out the finer points of making pasta, especially since in the states I always used regular all-purpose flour. I do like semola much better, and now use it for all the pasta I make.

As Ale noted, 100 grams of semola (or flour!) and one egg per person, and that's it! Sometimes when making lasagna I can make a huge pan using just 200 grams of semola and 2 eggs...it all depends on how thin I roll the pasta. And of course the size of the eggs and the humidity in the air makes a big difference. I usually measure out 200 grams of semola, then scoop out about 1/4 cup until I know how much moisture the eggs will provide.

I've never made pasta with just water....somehow it sounds a little more daunting!

Now all I Need to find out is: do they have semola in the states? I'm afraid Louisville's doesn't have much of an Italian community. Maybe at Whole Foods, or locally owned Losta Pasta. Guess I'll have to check these places out when we're there in May.

Thanks again!

Barb
you got the flour!
take 1 cup of the flour and add about 1/4 cup of hot water with some salt dissolved in it.

I do this in a bowl for the first time it is easier.
mix with a spoon, then knead, adding more water if you need too until it forms a dough.
Like makig playdough.

FOr orecchiete roll out log, the using a sharp knife cut" pennies".

Take a butter knife and starting at the far side,push down and away. forming a lip on the pasta and stretching it.

then you flip it back over your index finger to shape the little ear!
They are soooooo good!
they boil in just a couple of minutes!

Diva,

How odd... I was trying to find out how to make Orrechiette and here you describe it perfectly.. Grazie!!

However, here in the US, is semolina flour the same? Also, what kind of regular flour to use as we don't have "0" or "00" ratings on ours?

I like to 'play' with it and, being my family hails from Puglia, I would like to make Orrechiette by hand to go with my rape` and sausage!!

My experience in the US was that semolina flour was both hard wheat and course ground (ergo semi as in seeds), and the grind is what it means in Italy. Hard wheat is marked "Manitoba" on the package here.

0 and 00 are very fine and fine grinds, respectively. It only describes the milling. I once saw Manitoba sold as 0 and 00, but day to day I feel lucky to just find it undescribed.