Making Some Dough

My camera is covered in flour. The downside doesn't need an explanation. But the upside to this dusty camera is the stash of photos I took recently, while there were great wafts of flour floating about, and I was making plenty of dough.

I've been making quite a bit of dough recently. Pasta dough, dumpling dough, and money dough. While I've been weighing, kneading, rolling, and shaping, I've been thinking, as I do, about words; how flour + water sometimes = money in the English language. We've all heard phrases like "making a crust," "can you lend me some dough?" and "show me the bread." I guess at some point in life, money means having the basics to eat.

At this point in my life, I'm coming up to a year since I left my salaried (I think that word has something to do with salt and taxes) job and started freelance writing and editing--making dough from dealing in words. I was a bit nervous when I started out, but over the year I've learned to enjoy the busy times as well as the quiet bits, and trust that in the scheme of things I'm better off being my own boss and making my own dough. I'm not surprised that what's happening in the office is spilling over into the kitchen. My hesitation about making my own dough is wearing off, and I'm happily making my own pasta and dumplings.

Take the wide pasta sheets and run a knife through them for tagliatelle.

PASTA DOUGH
I'm a fairly recent home-made pasta convert. I honestly didn't believe the hype about home made. All that wafting flour, kneading and resting compared to opening a box? But now I've started making it, I'm only going dried for Fusilli, that crazy bastard, and nights when we need to Eat Right Now.

You don't need a machine to make pasta. It helps, it's great fun and a beautiful accessory, but a rolling pin and a knife will do the trick.

I have learned to make pasta from the various Jamie Oliver books that grace my cookbook shelf, and here is the code:

100gm flour + 1 egg = 1 decent serving of fresh pasta.

All the details are here on the pasta fresca post. 

It's not set in stone though. I just talked to my sister Julie, and her fabulous home-made pasta is regular flour, water and oil in the food processor. If I had a food processor, that's what I'd be doing for sure. 

DUMPLINGS
I've been thrilled to meet Vicky Ha, the Dumpling Queen recently. She wants New Zealand to "just stop eating pies!" So do I. I've only made dumplings in Vicky's classes, but wow.

These are the savoury dumplings, some stuffed with paua, and some with pork. I have not made this dough at home yet. Regular flour and boiling water, apparently. Rest for half an hour and roll out in the pasta roller, then fill, frill, and steam. There must be more to it than that, which I will certainly find out when I make these at home.

And these are the sweet dumplings. Rice flour + glutenous rice flour + rosewater with a filling of sweet ground almonds. They are poached in a tea-like liquid infused with ginger, cinnamon, star anise and whatever you like to spice up your dessert dumplings. Amazing.

Dumpling making with the Queen. I guess I'm not the only blogger out here with a floury camera.