The Sfoglia

I make pasta the traditional way, entirely by hand, using my trusty mattarello – a 110cm long rolling pin made in Bologna from beech – on a board made in Stratford-upon-Avon from poplar.

The result is a sfoglia – a sheet of pasta – that can be turned into hundreds of different simple and filled shapes.

Airy dough

picture of fresh pasta sfoglia with air bubbles

The gentler rolling method of the mattarello helps maintain more of the air bubbles that are created in the dough during kneading, resulting in a lighter pasta

Thinness

text of a book visible through a sheet / sfoglia of pasta to show its thinness

Rolling by hand allows for fuller control over the thickness, depending on the needs of the shape. 

For tagliatelle, the saying in Bologna is that it should be so thin that you can see the Sanctuary of San Luca through it (or failing that, be able to read a newspaper)

Texture

Using wooden equipment to roll the pasta, versus the metal of a machine, helps give it a more textured surface which allows sauces to cling better

Experience

Rolling pasta is a meditative, sensory experience helping me connect more closely with what I’m creating