Pasta Tagliata a Mano
(Unedited)
Tagliata a mano means cut by hand. If your machine or your chitarra doesn’t give you the width you want, you can always use a sharp knife to cut them to whatever width you want. For example, you might be making pappardelle, which are quite wide.
Here are the widths of various types of pasta:
Tagliolini: 2-3mm, and thinner than these others
Linguine: 2.7-3.2mm
Fettuccine: 3-5mm
Tagliatelle: 4-10mm - the Bolognese experts use 7mm
Pappardelle: 10-20mm
Method #1: Using a Long Rolling Pin (Mattarello)
1. I will add photos the next time I do this.
2. Follow the steps for rolling out the pasta at Pasta al Mattarello until it tells you to come back here. The final thickness is up to you.
3. We want to dry the pasta sheet a little before folding it up. Let the pasta sheet sit on your work surface for 15 minutes, then flip it over (roll it up onto the roller as usual) and let it rest for another 15 minutes. The pasta masters in Bologna had a special wooden frame with a wire screen that allowed them to dry both sides at the same time. I have not built up one of these yet.
4. Arrange the sheet so the longest part is going up and down, away from and toward you.
5. Fold the near point to the middle of the sheet. Fold the far point toward you to the middle of the sheet, meeting up but not overlapping with the previous point in the middle. Make adjustments so that the two folded upper and lower halves have about the same width.
6. Next we are going to fold up (roll up) the pasta twice from near to far upon itself. We want to do this loosely so it doesn't stick together. Definitely do not press down. The first fold should reach 2/3 up the sheet. Then the second fold should reach all the way up to the far edge of the sheet. So you'll end up with three layers rolled up.
7. At this point, you should actually have 6 loose layers if pasta to cut through (one fold yielding two-thick times three-thirds from the previous step).
8. Next, take a long enough knife and begin making your cuts. A big rectangular butcher-style or vegetable knife will work best because the cutting edge doesn't have a curve. The widths of the pasta are noted above in the introduction. I do not measure. I just eyeball it and then try to get them to all have about the same width. Be sure to press firmly to ensure that you cut all the way through. Take your time.
9. After you have made several cuts (6-10), unwind the cut pasta strands and: 1) put them on a pasta dryihng rack, or 2) lay them out straight on the counter or on parchment paper in a tray, or 3) just loosely throw them on the counter but be sure not to stack much at all (and come around once in a while and loosen them up to be sure they are not sticking to each other).
Method #2: Using a Pasta Machine (Macchina per Pasta)
10. Follow the steps for rolling out the pasta at Pasta a Macchina until it tells you to come back here. The final thickness is up to you.
11. Cut the piece of rolled-out dough to the desired length.
12. Put a thin layer of base flour on the dough so that it won’t stick when you roll it up. You can also dry the pasta for, say, 15 minutes.
13. You can roll it up either by:
a. folding it over loosely so that it comes out about 4” wide
b. folding it up more like an accordion (S-shaped folds, again loosely) also about 4” wide
c. ideally, you fold up two sides toward the center, but the entire width needs to be less than the length of your knife; after you cut the pasta, you'll be able to slip a long, thin knife under the noodles and lift them up and let them unfold.
14. Cut the pasta using a sharp knife. See the guidelines above for what to call it based on width.
15. Grab the strands of pasta and unfold them.
16. Place the unfolded strands ideally on a pasta rack. Alternatively, you can fold them up into little nests or lay them out straight. An even simpler thing is to just throw them into a messy, loose pile if you are gonna cook them right after.
17. Another technique I've used is to not roll up the pasta at all. Instead, use a pasta cutter-roller's straight edge. The width won't be uniform, but it probably doesn't matter and it might be a little faster this way for the wider pastas like pappardelle.