Introduction: Hand Cut & Shape Pasta

About: Made in Canada, I grew up crafting, making, and baking. Out of this love for designing and creating, I pursued a degree in product design from Parsons School of Design in NYC. Since then I've done work for Mar…

Either of the doughs we've made so far can be used for this lesson. In the above video, I use the semolina dough to create 4 different shapes, with the help of a few hand tools. Plain noodles on their own taste delicious, but there's something about turning food into fun shapes that makes it EVEN MORE delicious! Let me know if you agree after eating some of these shapes!

Step 1: What You'll Learn in This Video Lesson:

  • How to hand form 4 different pasta shapes: farfalle, garganelli, tagliatelle, and pappardelle.
  • How to make a homemade garganelli stripper and paddle for making a decorative penne style pasta.

Step 2: Shape Reference

Farfalle (färˈfalē)
- small pieces of pasta shaped like bows or butterflies' wings.

Garganelli (ɡarɡaˈnɛlli)
- are a type of pasta formed by rolling a flat, square noodle into a tubular shape.

Tagliatelle (tälyəˈtelē)
- noodles cut in long, flat pieces.

Pappardelle (papärˈdelā)
- pasta in the form of broad flat ribbons.

Step 3: Key Points to Remember:

  • Let your pasta sheets air dry until they become leather hard before shaping pasta.
  • Egg dough is most commonly used for shapes, but semolina works great too.
  • You can use the ravioli cutter to add a decorative edge to any of the shapes.
  • Don't be afraid to freestyle and make up your own shapes!
  • Refer back to Lesson 7 for cooking, saucing, and serving instructions.

Step 4: 1 + Fun = Delicious

Now that you have made a delicious tomato sauce AND super fun pasta shapes, I recommend combining the two for another scrumptious meal. For a reminder of how to cook, sauce, and serve fresh pasta, re-visit Lesson 7.

Step 5: Quiz Time!

Once you've watched the video lesson, put your knowledge to the test! Take the quizzes below and see how you do.

{
    "id": "quiz-1",
    "question": "Can you use flavored dough to make these shapes?",
    "answers": [
        {
            "title": "Yes",
            "correct": true
        },
        {
            "title": "No",
            "correct": false
        }
    ],
    "correctNotice": "You sure can!",
    "incorrectNotice": "That's a good guess, but incorrect."
}
{
    "id": "quiz-2",
    "question": "What tool can be used to make a decorative edged noodle?",
    "answers": [
        {
            "title": "Pasta Machine",
            "correct": false
        },
        {
            "title": "Ravioli Cutter",
            "correct": true
        }
    ],
    "correctNotice": "That's correct! You can buy machine attachments that will give you a fancy edge, but they are not generally included with the basic machine models.",
    "incorrectNotice": "The basic pasta machine noodles will always make straight edged noodles. You can buy attachments that will give you a fancy edge, but they are not generally included."
}
{
    "id": "quiz-3",
    "question": "What common kitchen item do I use to make a DIY garganelli tool?",
    "answers": [
        {
            "title": "Ice Cube Tray",
            "correct": false
        },
        {
            "title": "Fork",
            "correct": false
        },
   	{
            "title": "Bamboo Skewer",
            "correct": true
        }
    ],
    "correctNotice": "That's correct! I lay 22 flat and tape them to the table. MacGyver would be proud.",
    "incorrectNotice": "Good guess, but nope!"
}