Black pasta is delicious. But making your own black pasta in even tastier! That’s why we like to help you get started making black pasta yourself. We’ll tell you exactly how to do this easily yourself and give you our favorite black pasta dough recipe.
How to make your own black pasta
You make your own black pasta by first making pasta dough. Then you can add squid ink and knead it into a ball of black pasta dough. From this ball of pasta dough you then make a certain type of pasta such as black spaghetti or black tagliatelle. So to make pasta, all you need is flour, water and squid ink.
But you can make black pasta in different ways. By hand, with a machine and what about all these different shapes of black pasta? In this blog, we will look at all of these in depth.
What is black pasta?
To make black pasta yourself, it is useful to know exactly what black pasta is. And what it is made of, of course!
Black pasta is actually nothing more than a slightly salty pasta that has been given a black color. Almost all types of pasta that are black are colored black with the ink of a squid.
This squid ink is found in small silver bags under the squid’s mantle. After the squid is caught and died, these pouch are kept for later use in multiple applications. And pasta is one of them.
If you really want to know everything about black pasta, the best thing to do is to read through our blog “What is black pasta and what can you do with it. In this blog we will tell you everything there is to know about black pasta.
Types of black pasta you can make
As mentioned earlier, black pasta comes in many different varieties. We also have a number of black pastas available in our pasta shop.
But really, you can make any kind of pasta you want. In fact, every kind of black pasta is made from pasta dough. A black ball of pasta dough but this makes no difference.
So simply put, it does not matter whether you make black spaghetti, black linguine, black tonnarelli or a filled black pasta. Just be creative and make the kind of pasta you like the most. After all, there are no rules for making black pasta, so don’t let that stop you!
What you need to make black pasta
To make your own black pasta, you don’t need much. A few simple kitchen tools will get you a long way. But as simple as making black pasta is, you still need some kitchen tools to get it done.
We will tell you exactly what you need:
A pasta machine
A pasta machine is not a must-have but it will make your life a little easier if you are going to make your own black pasta. Not only is it easier to turn the dough into a pasta shape like spaghetti, for example, it’s also a lot faster than doing everything by hand.
That’s why we recommend that you purchase a good pasta machine. It might be a small investment, but it’s really worth it.
A rolling pin
Should you want to make black pasta the traditional way, all you really need is a good rolling pin. Once you have a rolling pin, you can actually make pasta the easy way. So also black pasta.
It is important that it is a large rolling pin. Preferably from 40 cm or longer. This makes it easier to roll the pasta dough flat. Take a look here for our favorite rolling pin for making pasta.
Optional:
Once you have one of these two options in your home, you can actually get started. However, there are still some handy kitchen tools you could use.
A ravioli set
A ravioli set is very handy if you plan on making stuffed black pasta. The ravioli set helps you make each ravioli the same size and shape. Now these are those little things that make a pasta lover’s life a little easier. Check out the ravioli set we recommend here.
Pasta pan
A pasta pan is not actually an optional kitchen tool. It is actually more of a must have in our eyes! A pasta pan may not be a necessary tool for making black pasta, but it is for cooking the black pasta.
With a pasta pan you cook the pasta easier and especially the draining is a lot faster. And safer, for that matter!
Pasta drying rack
Another thing that comes in very handy after making black pasta yourself is a drying rack. A drying rack is what you use to dry the black pasta. It’s a bit like a drying rack where you hang your laundry. But a bit smaller. This is definitely not a must have but this kitchen tool is also very handy. Check out our favorite pasta drying rack here.
Pasta dough recipe for black pasta
Making black pasta is not difficult. Especially not if you have a good pasta dough recipe for black pasta. That’s why we like to help you get started with a good recipe that you can easily make at home.
The recipe actually consists of only 3 different ingredients. The base of the pasta dough recipe is of course flour (farina) from durum wheat. Also called durum wheat. Besides flour, water is the main ingredient. The third ingredient is the squid ink. You can get this at the better fish shop and it costs a few euros. You can also easily order them online these days.
For our black pasta dough recipe we assume a quantity of 4 people. Should you still have pasta for 2 people, just halve the quantities.
Our black pasta dough recipe:
- 400 grams of flour
- 200 ml lukewarm water
- 15 grams of squid ink
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- Optional 4 eggs
The eggs are optional because they are not needed to make your own black pasta. Should you want to make a tastier and richer black pasta, we recommend adding the eggs to the recipe.
Kneading pasta dough
To make the black dough with the ingredients mentioned above, it is convenient to have a large work surface. This can be a large cutting board but can also be the countertop.
Kneading pasta dough is done in a few simple steps.
Step #1
Place the flour on the cutting board and make a nice pile of it. Take a spoon and turn the pile of flour into a volcano-like mountain so that there is enough room in the middle for the water and squid ink.
Step #2
Add the squid ink to the lukewarm water and make sure it mixes well.
Step #3
Carefully add the water to the flour. Do this especially gently because it is not helpful if the water flows away. You can also do it in several batches if necessary.
Step #4
Take a fork and mix the flour and water together until it begins to resemble a sticky mass.
Step #5
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and knead! Tip: put on gloves before you start kneading. This is because your hands will also turn black from the squid ink and, of course, this is not really convenient. Knead the flour and water into a nice ball of black pasta dough. Take your time because the better this is done, the better the structure of the black paste will be.
Remember that kneading can easily take 20 minutes. Notice that the pasta dough does not stick together but keeps falling apart? Then feel free to add a little water at this point. Keep kneading until it has become a nice ball of dough
Step #6
Once the pasta dough has become a nice and even ball, it is important to let the pasta dough rest for 30 minutes. Wrap the ball of pasta dough in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator. The plastic wrap will keep the ball of pasta dough from drying out while resting.
Making your own black pasta with a pasta machine
Now that you know how to make the black pasta dough, it’s time to start making pasta. Perhaps the very best thing about making black pasta yourself. And with a pasta machine, it’s the fastest way too.
After the black pasta dough has rested in the refrigerator for 30 min, it is best to divide it into three parts. This is best done with a sharp kitchen knife. You cannot turn the whole ball of pasta dough into pasta at once.
Next, take a rolling pin and roll a piece of pasta dough flat to about half a centimeter this. Once you’ve done this you can grab the pasta machine and let it do the heavy lifting. A pasta machine has multiple settings. By this, of course, is meant the setting of the distance between the two rollers. Set it to the farthest distance possible so that there is as much distance between the rollers as possible.
Next, take the pasta dough half an inch thick and spin it through the pasta machine. Repeat this process and after each time, make the distance between the rollers a little smaller. Keep doing this until you reach about 2/3 mm. Repeat this process with each piece of pasta dough.
Now that you have several “sheets” of flat rolled pasta dough, it is time to give the pasta dough a certain shape. Most pasta machines come with an attachment that you can use to make spaghetti or tagliatelle, for example.
Making black pasta by hand (the old-fashioned way)
Making black pasta by hand is almost the same as making pasta with a pasta machine. Only without a pasta machine, of course.
What is meant by this is that you roll the dough flat with a rolling pin instead of using a pasta machine. This is actually the way it has been done in Italy for centuries. And still today, by the way.
Since you can’t use a pasta machine, it is important that after kneading the dough, you start working with the rolling pin. Keep rolling the pieces of pasta dough flat until they are 2/3 millimeters thick.
My finding is that this is just as easy with a rolling pin as with a pasta machine. It’s just a little more labor intensive than with a pasta machine but the quality of your pasta is undoubtedly just as good.
After rolling the pasta dough flat, it’s time to turn the sheets of dough into a kind of pasta. Let’s take the well-known pasta shape tagliatelle as an example. Lay a sheet of flattened pasta dough take it sprinkle a little flour on it. This will prevent the dough from sticking together again. Then roll up the sheet of pasta dough as you would a pancake. Next, take a sharp knife and cut away the outer edges of the rolled up pasta dough. Then cut the ‘pancake’ of pasta dough into pieces of about a 4/5 millimeters.
Once you have cut the whole ‘pancake’ into pieces you can pull it apart so that all the strands become visible.
That’s it! Your homemade black pasta is ready to be used.
All you have to do is cook it and incorporate it into a delicious pasta sauce. If you want to know exactly how to cook pasta, it is useful to take a look at our blog ‘Pasta cooking, how to do it‘. Here we tell you exactly how to cook pasta Italian style.
Where to buy squid ink
An important ingredient to make black pasta is of course the squid ink. You can find squid ink in the better fish store or supermarket. You can also easily purchase squid ink online and have it delivered to your home.
Squid ink is fortunately quite affordable and for a few dollars you have enough squid ink to make your own black pasta.