Pasta school 14: Make your own maltagliati

Make your own maltagliati

Maltagliati are one of the simplest shapes you can make yourself. They are made from the leftovers from the preparation of tagliatelle. However, if you are making them for yourself, you usually use the durum wheat semolina dough for this shape from Emilia-Romagna and not the egg-based dough required for tagliatelle.
You will also need a rolling pin, which you can replace with an empty wine bottle if necessary, and a pastry wheel for a wavy or serrated cut.

Make your own maltagliati – step by step

Pasta dough for maltagliati

For the pasta dough for 4 people, you will need 400 g durum wheat flour and approx. 200 ml water. First mix the flour and water in a bowl and then knead into a smooth dough. In our example, we have replaced the water for one of the doughs with red cabbage juice mixed with baking soda, which has given the dough its petrol color. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it airtight in cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for approx. 1 hour. (The fact that the pasta dough looks rather purple in the cutting pictures is due to the lack of oxidation in the fridge. The maltagliati became petrol-colored again when they dried).

Cutting Maltagliati

Then take the dough out of the fridge, knead it again so that it regains its elasticity and roll it out on a floured work surface to a thickness of 1 – 2 mm. Then take the pastry wheel and cut the dough into 2 – 3 cm wide strips. Then cut the strips into 5 cm long sections at approximately a right angle to the first cuts. It should not be even, then Maltagliati means “the badly cut ones”.
Place the finished Maltagliati on a clean cotton or linen cloth to dry. It’s that simple.

Maltagliati tricolori