SC - Cressee webbed

[Philip & Susan Troy]

david friedman wrote:
> 
> The instructions say to roll out the pasta dough to the thickness of
> a finger, which I take to be about 3/8".  I'm not assuming that this
> is the same "finger" unit as in the Cuskynoles, which would be
> somewhat more. But even at 3/8, it is pretty thick. It works
> reasonably well that way, but it occurred to me that one interesting
> variant to try would be to roll the whole thing thin after it was
> assembled but before it was boiled.

This was the point of my question regarding the workability of the
recipe. 3/8" seems rather thick, but we don't know for sure how tough or
glutenous this dough is, since that would depend largely on the flour
used and how long it's kneaded. Also, if it _is_ that thick, can it be
compensated for by a longer boiling? It occurs to me that thicker pastas
seem to tend to be dropped into boiling water, and then simmered, rather
than cooked at a full rolling boil, for a longer time. This also adds a
bit of credibility to the 17th century English vermicelli recipes that
speak of boiling them for an hour. 

An added issue is the question of whether a good amount of sugar has any
significant effect on the texture: it is considered by bakers to be a
dough tenderizer.

Regarding your variant, in which you roll the woven strips again, did
you roll them to finger thickness after weaving, or thinner? Oh, I've
just gone back and reread. Sorry. Now, another possibility, which the
recipe itself seems to suggest, is that the woven structure is grasped
by the ends (which would also help pinch the ends together) and
stretched to some unspecified additional length, which would also tend
to put some strengthening tension (I think) on the entire thing, while
thining it at the same time. 
> 
> One problem with the recipe is getting enough contrast in color
> between the plain and the yellow strips. One way is by using a lot of
> saffron--but the result looks better than it tastes, unless you
> really like saffron. Another possibility that Elizabeth suggested but
> that I have not yet tried is to use the egg yolks in what will be the
> yellow dough and the whites in what will be the plain dough.

Maybe. I had gotten the impression, from sources like Scully, that a
number of recipes calling for eggs may be calling for the yolks only, in
any case. On the other hand, a lot of pasta is made from a relatively
yellowish durum flour in any case, sometimes artificially colored. On
occasions when I've made pasta with AP or "plain" flour, it often seems
to cook to a fairly pale color, and if I add saffron to the dough,
especially if in the form of whole threads, I'd think the change in
appearance would be reasonably noticable. I wonder if it's possible that
the flavor of saffron that is less than fresh is lost before its
capabilities as a colorant. Or maybe these people just like it.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com