In Bologna, with few exceptions, sfoglini are either professional pasta makers or they are nonne who make pasta for their families. Both are dedicated to preserving the city’s pasta traditions, and while their output may vary—you make a lot more pasta as a sfoglino for a pasta shop or restaurant than you ever would for even the largest bolognese family—their tools are the same.
To roll sfoglia by hand, you need the same special tools sfoglini bolognesi depend on. Following is a list of essentials to help you bring the spirit of the city’s cooking into your home. (The tools are grouped by process and in the order they will be used.)
The thousands of nonne in Bologna who keep the fresh pasta tradition alive never measure—much less weigh—their ingredients. But their pasta expertise is the product of decades of trial and error. They’ve developed a finely honed touch memory and can intuitively adjust pasta dough on the fly. Until you get to that point, throw down $10 for a digital scale that weighs ingredients in grams. It’s the quickest and most accurate way to make the best dough possible. Also, stock plastic wrap for wrapping dough balls.
In Bologna, sfoglini use a mattarello (a narrow, long wooden rolling pin) to roll out sfoglie on a tagliere (a large wooden board). These are available at different price points online, and are worth getting if you make pasta regularly. But if you don’t want to purchase these specific tools, you can certainly use whatever you have (a smooth countertop or table and a regular rolling pin—or even a wine bottle). You can also fashion your own tools (see page 29).
Have plastic trash can liners on hand for covering your sfoglia to cure the pasta (see page 35) and to keep it from drying out as you work. I use 3 gal [11 L] black trash can liners, but any unscented plastic covering works. You’ll need a very sharp chef’s knife to cut tagliatelle, pappardelle, and maltagliati. Use an accordion pastry cutter set to the desired width to cut dough into the required quadrilateral shape for filled pastas. To achieve a crimped edge for strichetti and caramelle, use a fluted pastry wheel.
A large pastry brush, or even a new paintbrush, is ideal for dusting off your work surface. Garganelli call for a pettina (pasta comb) for leaving impressions on the dough. It is available online or you can use a sushi mat and a SharpieTM with the pocket clip broken off to get the same scored result. A clean spray bottle filled with water and set to the fine mist setting is ideal for spritzing dough if it feels dry while shaping.
COOKING AND TRANSFERRING PASTA
You will need small, medium, and large pots for preparing these recipes, including a large heavy-bottomed pot for meat-based sauces. You will also need medium and large skillets and high-sided sauté pans.
I recommend using tongs or forceps for handling long pastas and a spider, spork, or slotted spoon for removing filled pastas from boiling water.
For boiling pasta, I love my 8 qt [7.5 L] All-Clad stainless steel pot, but you can use any large pot. In Bologna, I cooked pasta in the thinnest, most warped aluminum pots you’ve probably ever seen and it was delicious all the same. Just be sure there’s plenty of water with respect to the quantity of pasta you are cooking.
Pass meats and vegetables for ragùs through a meat grinder (or meat grinder attachment) fitted with a medium or large die (as the recipe instructs). If you don’t have one, ask your butcher to grind the meat or chop it with a knife into small pieces. Pulse the vegetables in a food processor until finely chopped.
A MicroplaneTM or box grater with very small holes is key for grating Parmigiano-Reggiano and other hard cheeses into a fine, powdery consistency. In that form, it melts faster and more evenly and is less likely to clump.
A bench scraper is used for Master Dough recipes and is also handy for cleaning your work surface.
