Pasta is incredibly popular and eaten all over the world. But how exactly is Italian pasta made? There are different ways to make pasta. In this blog we will tell you how pasta is made. From wheat grain to in the packaging…
How is pasta made?
All types of pasta are made from pasta dough. Pasta dough is made from flour and water. These two ingredients are combined and kneaded into a large ball of dough. The pasta dough is then pressed through a bronze mold in a machine. This creates a particular pasta shape. After the pasta is made, it is packaged and sold.
By and large, Italian pasta is made this way. Of course, there are other ways to make pasta. For example, consider the traditional way that dates back to the days when there were no machines. Namely, making pasta by hand.
But whether a machine is used, or pasta is made by hand, there are 6 steps in the production process that are always the same. And we’d like to tell you more about them.
Pasta is made from pasta dough
Pasta can be made in different ways, but no matter which way is used, pasta is always made from pasta dough. The term “pasta” is even derived from it. In fact, a ball of pasta dough is called “l’impasto” in Italy. This contains the word ‘pasto’ from which the word ‘pasta’ is derived.
Now that you know where the word pasta comes from, let me tell you more about pasta dough itself. Pasta dough is made from flour and water. Most pasta is made from only these two ingredients.
Of course, eggs can also be added to the pasta dough. But this only applies to a small portion of all pasta types. If eggs are added to the pasta dough, the pasta is often considered a luxury pasta. A product often eaten on special occasions. The average Italian’s everyday pasta is often pasta without eggs.
Once the flour and water are kneaded into a nice ball of dough, the next step is to process the dough into a pasta shape. There are more than 700 different pasta shapes in Italy. But don’t be alarmed, even in Italy the most commonly eaten pasta shape is the well-known spaghetti.
So every shape of pasta is made from pasta dough. Therefore, making pasta dough is also one of the most important steps in the production process.
Making the pasta shape
Another important step in making pasta is, of course, making the pasta itself. In other words, making one of 700 different shapes.
After the pasta dough is made and kneaded, it can be made into its final shape in two ways. By hand or by machine. By far most pasta today is made by machine. This is because it is not feasible to make all the pasta eaten worldwide by hand.
In Italian households, however, pasta is still regularly made by hand. Think of Sunday afternoons when the whole family gathers for dinner. That’s when people often go all out and pasta is still traditionally made by hand. Pasta made by hand is also just a little bit tastier!
But before we tell you how pasta gets its shape, we want to tell you about the 6 different steps of pasta making.
Pasta is made in 6 different steps
Almost every type of pasta in the world is made in 6 different steps. These steps are necessary to produce pasta. Without these steps, pasta would not be what it is today. A delicious product, which has an average shelf life of 24 months and is eaten all over the world.
So to really understand how pasta is made, it is important to know exactly what these 6 steps are. Therefore, we will tell you step by step how pasta is made. In a nutshell, pasta is made in the following 6 steps:
- Harvesting the wheat
- Processing the wheat into flour
- Making pasta dough (from flour and water)
- Making the pasta itself
- Drying the pasta
- Packaging and storing the pasta
You can assume that any pasta you’ve ever seen was made in the above steps. The only exception is fresh pasta. Fresh pasta is not dried and therefore fresh pasta is made in 5 steps.
Step #1: Harvesting the wheat
The first step involved in making pasta is harvesting the wheat. It may sound simple, but this step is at the base of the production process. This is why the better pasta brands are very critical of which type of wheat they use to make pasta.
Generally, pasta is made from durum wheat. This type of wheat is also called durum wheat. Durum wheat is used because it gives the pasta a firm structure and keeps it that way. Pasta with a firm structure does not fall apart during cooking and remains firm. This is why the better Italian pasta producers choose durum wheat.
Pasta is Italian. And Italian pasta should be made with Italian wheat. At least, this is the sentiment among Italian people. This is why many pasta producers today choose to work exclusively with Italian wheat.
There was a time when everything had to be cheaper, including the wheat from which pasta was made. Wheat was shipped to Italy from all over the world to be later made into pasta. The wheat then came mainly from Canada, China or Russia. Nothing wrong with that, but today the proud Italian wants only pasta made from homegrown wheat. That’s why the better pasta producers choose only Italian wheat.
Step #2: Processing wheat into flour
After the wheat is harvested, it is transported to a ‘molino’ to be processed. The literal translation of “molino” is “mill. In the molino, the wheat grains are ground until they are so fine that they become flour. Flour and water are at the base of any pasta.
There are many different types of flour. For example, there is “normal” flour made from durum wheat. But this durum wheat can also be made into whole wheat flour to make whole wheat pasta later. But flour can also be made from spelt wheat, senatore cappelli wheat, etcetera. In fact, there are numerous different types of wheat that can be made into pasta.
Once the wheat is processed into flour, it is packaged and transported to the pasta producer. The producer will process the flour and turn it into a beautiful pasta.
Some pasta producers want to have absolute control over the quality of their pasta. Therefore, they have their own molino where they process all the wheat into flour themselves. This way they can be sure that the quality is good and consistent.
Step #3: Making the pasta dough
Making pasta dough is a step where you get the feeling that pasta making is really about to begin. And that’s true because making the pasta dough is an important step in the pasta making process.
Pasta dough can be made in two different ways. It can be made by machine and by hand. At home, pasta dough is often made by hand and almost all prepackaged pasta is made by machine.
To clarify the difference between making pasta dough manually or making pasta dough mechanically, we will go into a little more detail here:
Making pasta dough manually:
From Italian tradition, making pasta dough is done by hand. You know it, those images on TV where grandma is kneading the pasta dough. This is exactly what is meant by the manual way of making pasta dough.
The flour and water are put together in a certain ratio and are kneaded into a nice ball of dough. So at home, the kneading is done by hand. That’s why we call this the manual way or the traditional way. The manual way of making pasta dough is very labor-intensive and cannot be done on a large scale.
Making pasta dough by machine:
Pasta dough making today is mostly done by machine. Making pasta dough manually is very labor intensive and production capacity is limited. Therefore, most pasta producers choose to make pasta dough by machine.
When the technological possibility arose to use pasta machines, most of the pasta producers started to use them immediately. It saves a lot of time, labor and the kneading can continue day and night. Therefore, almost all pasta that is pre-packaged is now made by machine.
Also in machine-made pasta dough, the flour and water are added together and then kneaded into a ball of pasta dough. So the big difference between the manual way is not in the ingredients, but in the way the dough is kneaded. Or rather, who does the kneading! The manchine or the hands….
Pasta dough is made manually or by machine from the same ingredients. Namely flour and water. This is the basis of most types of pasta and that’s all it takes to make a delicious pasta.
Step #4: making the pasta itself
After the pasta dough is made, it’s time to actually make the pasta. You already feel it coming, this too can be done in two ways. By hand and by machine. Since these are really two completely different ways of making pasta, we’ll tell you first how pasta is made manually.
Manual pasta making:
After the pasta dough is made with your hands, it’s time to make it into a mold as well. After all, a ball of pasta dough is inedible, so it must be made into a mold.
The first step in making the pasta by hand is to flatten the pasta dough. This can be done using, for example, a rolling pin or a small pasta machine. We think of using a pasta machine as making pasta manually because, simply put, the little machine is a tool to help flatten the pasta dough.
Once the dough is flattened, you can roll it up like a pancake. Then cut the pancake into small strands to create spaghetti strands. All familiar long pasta shapes are made manually in this way. Think of the fettuccine, tagliatelle and pappardelle.
You can also make short pasta shapes from pasta dough by hand. However, it takes a lot of experience to make short pasta shapes by hand. Therefore, I would advise you to start with the long pasta shapes first and try making some short shapes later.
Actually, there are no limits to the shapes you can make. The only limitation there is your own imagination and skill. Because in theory you could experiment endlessly, there are more than 700 different paste shapes worldwide. That’s quite a challenge to invent just one more. We challenge you!
Making pasta by machine:
Making pasta by machine works a little differently than making pasta at home. Professional pasta makers need to make large quantities of pasta, which is why they use machines.
The machines that are used to make pasta by machine are not the small machines that you could also use at home. These machines can sometimes be as long as 150 meters and you can rather call them a production line. The whole production process takes place in this machine. Starting from kneading the pasta dough, to making the pasta shape and drying the pasta. The whole process takes place in this machine.
But to clarify how the pasta gets its final shape inside such a big machine, we explain it to you in detail.
Once the pasta dough is made it must be pressed into a pasta shape. This happens inside the machine because a large screw presses the pasta dough into a large mold. This mold looks like a coin but a lot bigger. In the mold there are many small holes through which the dough is pressed.
This creates for example the well-known spaghetti strings. Each pasta shape has its own mold. To make another pasta shape, one simply has to change the mold. In this way, the producer is super flexible and with one machine, infinite different shapes can be made!
Step #5: drying the paste
After a particular pasta shape has been created, it has become time to actually dry the pasta. An important step in the pasta production process. Because drying the pasta makes it long lasting which of course is very practical. Perhaps also one of the reasons why pasta is so incredibly popular worldwide.
During pasta drying, the moisture left in the pasta is extracted. This can be done in a number of ways. It can be done naturally by simply letting it hang in the open air until all the moisture is extracted. The drying process can also be accelerated by hanging the pasta in a heated environment which causes the pasta to dry quickly.
By the way, drying pasta is also immediately the step that fresh pasta skips. Fresh pasta is packaged and refrigerated immediately after production. Because fresh pasta still contains moisture, it also has a much shorter shelf life. So the big difference between dried pasta and fresh pasta is whether or not it is dried after production.
But how exactly does this drying process work?
Drying pasta at home:
Once you have made pasta at home, you can hang your pasta to dry on a drying rack. You can actually do this with any long pasta shape. Hang the strands over the pasta drying rack and let it dry for several hours.
For short pasta shapes, you can choose to put it on a cutting board or on a plate. Just make sure there is enough space between the shapes so that enough air can flow long. It is precisely by properly ventilating the pasta that you ensure it dries faster.
Industrial pasta drying:
You naturally understand that professional pasta producers prefer to make as much pasta as possible in as short a time as possible. Therefore, they often choose to hang pasta, after production, in heated rooms. Because the temperature of these rooms is much higher than the outside temperature, the drying process takes much less time.
Some industrial producers used temperatures of about 80 degrees to dry pasta. They use these kinds of temperatures because this way they can shorten the whole drying process to just 4 hours. This is a big advantage for producers because they can dry a new batch of pasta every 4 hours.
In our opinion, drying at 80 degrees is way too high and it has some adverse effects on the quality of the pasta. We don’t want to get too technical but some of the adverse effects we want to give you anyway:
Wheat naturally contains proteins. Once these proteins come into contact with a temperature of 80 degrees during the drying process, the proteins start to “plasticize. Simply put, the pasta gets a shiny coating. What’s bad about that you will think. But the disadvantage of this plastic coating is that the pasta cooks worse, the pasta sauce does not adhere well to the pasta and you cannot digest it as easily. Still quite a few disadvantages if you ask us.
But fortunately there are also pasta producers who are more concerned with quality than just producing large quantities. The producers we are talking about choose to do this drying process at a temperature of about 30 degrees. Although the drying process takes 38 hours, the pasta remains high quality.
Step #6: packaging of pasta
After the pasta is made and dried, it’s time to package the pasta. Packing the pasta sounds like a step not worth mentioning. Yet we think it is. After all, packaging is an important part of the consumer’s experience and exudes a certain quality.
In addition, there are 700 different types of pasta, almost all of which have their own packaging. Many types of pasta can be packaged in a bag or box. Some pasta needs different packaging because the pasta needs to be preserved properly.
The most common packaging are:
- A plastic bag.
- A cardboard box.
- A paper package
Besides storing the pasta, the packaging is the only tool the pasta producer has to tell his story. That’s why there are so many different-looking packages. Some producers opt for a very colorful door or bag, while others opt for more minimalist styling.
In addition to the look and feel of the packaging, of course, the pasta must also be packed in the packaging. This too is largely done by machine. You can imagine a large producer making 1000kg of pasta per hour. It would be impossible to package this by hand.
Therefore, most pasta producers employ a packing machine that neatly packs, and seals all the pasta. Some producers even have machines to pack a number of bags of pasta into larger boxes. So most of the packaging process is done by machines.
How much pasta is made worldwide?
That’s a tough question to answer. In fact, an awful lot of pasta is produced each year. Besides the fact that there are many pasta producers, most of them are very secretive about the quantities of pasta they produce. This is not surprising since competition in the pasta industry is fierce. A little discretion can’t hurt.
Therefore, we can only give you a rough estimate of pasta produced annually. In 2013, about 13.5 million tons (1000kg) of pasta was produced, according to the International Pasta Organization. That’s a whole lot of pasta!
To be more specific, let’s name the top 5 European countries and the amount of pasta consumed there. The quantities are in kilograms and per capita.
Top 5 pasta consuming European countries:
Italy – 23.5 kg
Greece – 11,2 kg
Switzerland – 9,2 kg
Germany – 8 kg
France – 8 kg
All statistics are from statista.com.
That Italy is in first place probably won’t surprise you. However, it is nice to know that the Americans also eats quite a lot of pasta.
How long does it take to make pasta?
How long it takes to make pasta depends on whether you make pasta at home or a professional pasta producer makes the pasta. At home you can take as long or fast as you want of course. But count on the fact that if you are going to make pasta or spaghetti at home, it will take you about 2 hours from start to finish. And that doesn’t include drying the pasta. This is because the time the pasta takes to dry varies from one form to another.
For a professional pasta maker, making any pasta takes about 30 minutes. Those 30 minutes are used to knead the pasta dough and make the pasta shape. We also did not include the drying time here. Each pasta producer dries pasta in its own way so there is no easy way to attach a fixed time to this.
The big time gain for a professional pasta producer, compared to the amateur cook, is of course in kneading the pasta dough and making the pasta form. This is because a machine can do this much faster than you could ever do with your hands. Regardless of your experience, the machine is way too fast for you!
How to make your own pasta
Now that you know exactly how pasta is made, you’re bound to want to go out and experiment and make your own pasta. And why not do it!
You can of course skip step 1 (harvesting wheat) and step 2 (from wheat to flour) of the production process. In fact, you can just get the flour at the supermarket. After you get the flour you can start making your own pasta dough.
Making your own pasta dough is done in a few simple steps. We have a whole blog dedicated to making pasta dough. So take a look at our blog “Making pasta dough, this is how you do it” and read everything about making your own pasta dough.
Making pasta with a pasta machine
Now that you have taken step to start making your own pasta, it might be useful to make use of a pasta machine. The word machine sounds rather big, but a pasta machine meant for home use is not that big at all.
In fact, it’s a small machine but can be a whole lot of help in making your own pasta. Especially with getting your pasta dough flat. On such a machine there are different settings indicated so you can easily adjust how thick your pasta dough should become.
Would you like to make your own pasta more often? Then it is really worth investing in a pasta machine. It costs a few dollars but will save you a lot of work. Therefore we recommend you to buy a pasta machine because it makes making your own pasta a lot more fun. And easier!
Take a look here for affordable pasta machines and save yourself a lot of work!