Semolina Pasta Dough Recipe

This Semolina pasta dough recipe is so simple...even I can do it! Semolina flour and water is all you need to start making homemade pasta.

Homemade pasta all starts with the dough. And while you can always buy the dough premade, this semolina pasta dough recipe is so easy to make it's worth the experience doing it yourself! I was definitely intimidated at first, but I quickly realized just how simple it is using just a few ingredients.

There are two ways to make pasta dough...with or without egg. Semolina flour will give you a more elastic pasta dough. A bit stronger and firmer than dough with eggs. A general rule of thumb would be to use Semolina for any type of dragged pasta, like Orecchiette or Cencioni, other hand-made pastas like Cavatelli, Malloreddus, Lorighittas, or Capunti. While you'd use egg pasta dough for filled pastas like Ravioli or Tortellini and longer stands such as Fettuccine or Tagliatelle. Farfalle is also a great one to do with egg pasta dough.

Get my homemade Cavatelli recipe here. And my homemade Farfalle recipe here.

The semolina flour can be tough to track down, so if you need some you can grab it for a good price here through Amazon.

How do you make semolina pasta dough?

First, start with a clean surface (this can be a pastry or dough board or your countertop) and pour the semolina flour out.

Next, put your hand in the middle of the flour, and using a circular motion, start making a "well". Gradually make it larger and larger, but make sure to keep the walls intact.

Now, let's slowly pour the warm water into the well a little at a time. The key word in this last sentence is warm, because you can't use cold water here. The warm water helps the dough stick together and get the correct consistency.

Start to mix the flour with the water until the dough begins to form. Keep adding water as needed to fully form the dough. If it's too sticky, just add some flour little by little.

Some flour may not stick to the large dough. If this happens, round it all up and just like we did with the original flour, make a well and slowly pour in some warm water. Add it to the larger dough.

Once you have the right consistency, starting kneading. We'll knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it becomes homogeneous where it's soft and you don't feel the flour on the dough.

You should really do this on a large wooden board. The wood is porous, so it will help grab any excess moisture in the dough. We did it right on the countertop so my girls didn't have to get up any higher on the table than they already did 🙂

Once the dough is finished, roll it into a ball and cover it with a bowl or some plastic wrap. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes before beginning to make your homemade cavatelli.

That's it...you're ready to make some homemade pasta!

Buon appetito!

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Tools I used in this recipe:

• Molino Grassi Organic Semolina Flour
• OXO Stainless Steel Chopper/Scrapper
• Pyrex Measuring Cups

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Recipe