So how does a producer go about making a better grade of pasta?

The Grain

All the best Italian dried pastas start with semola di grano duro (durum semolina), the coarsest grade of milled endosperm from hard wheat (Triticum durum). In fact, since 1967 Italian law has actually required it. (Up until recently, you couldn't sell soft wheat pasta in Italy, but European Union codes have forced the Italians to open their market to imports from other EU countries.) Unlike flour that is very finely milled to a powder, semolina is granular, almost like sugar or finely ground cornmeal. Durum semolina makes superior pasta primarily because of its high gluten content—when properly developed in the dough by the maker, these glutens trap the starch inside the pasta and keep it from flowing out into the cooking water. Additionally, the glutens help to ensure the firmness that is such an essential element in great pasta. Because of its harder nature, durum semolina requires longer kneading, adding time and cost but contributing mightily to the flavor and texture of the finished pasta. It also gives the glowing golden appearance that is typical of Italian pasta, as opposed to the whiter look of a low-end product. Unfortunately, only Italy imposes such a requirement for the use of semolina. In other countries it's perfectly permissible for a pasta maker to start with soft wheat (Triticum vulgarum), which is far less costly but produces an inferior product. You can usually spot soft wheat pastas as soon as you drop them into boiling water; the pasta breaks down and clouds the cooking liquid. Buying the best pasta isn't just a function of finding a label that lists 'semolina' among its ingredients. Just as coffee roasters work with an array of green beans, the best pasta makers are masters at buying and blending durum semolina from various sources. Each producer has his own suppliers, his own mix; long before the grain ever gets into the pasta machines, the pasta maker adjusts his recipe annually to take into account alterations in crop yields and flavor. The variety of the wheat is important; as with other agricultural products, older varieties of wheat are often the most flavorful, but they also have lower yields and higher risk of disease, which keep more cost-conscious producers at arm's length. Some pasta makers prefer wheat from the various regions of Italy; others won't buy anything but Canadian durum. The point is merely that the best dried pasta should taste of the grain; if you already know a noodle with flavor and character, it's likely that the maker has managed to buy grain from better sources.

The Water

Although few people think about it, the flavor of the water with which the grain is mixed is a matter of great concern to quality-oriented pasta makers. Since the water in any given area has its own chemical and mineral makeup, it will alter the flavor of any item it's blended with, as it would in brewing coffee or tea. The same grain mixed in California instead o Campania is likely to yield a different flavor in the finished pasta.

The Mixing

As with bread dough, excessive heat during mixing is the enemy of the quality-conscious producer. Slow, gentle, low-temperature mixing helps to preserve the natural character and flavor of the wheat. Gentler kneading also allows the pasta maker to mix for a longer period of time, enhancing the glutens that are so essential to creating a vital, vibrant texture. Finally, the traditional pasta maker must be ready and able to adjust his mixing to changes in weather and humidity, just as the artisan baker would do with bread.

The Extrusion

Once the dough has been mixed, it's then extruded through variously shaped dies. The early versions were developed at the end of the nineteenth century, allowing pasta makers to expand their offerings significantly. (Before that, noodles had to be hand-cut.) The dies are not unlike the cover plate on an old- fashioned meat grinder, but with a differently shaped die for each of the dozens of types of pasta being produced. Strands of spaghetti or other long pastas are pushed through small holes, then cut at the appropriate length by rotating blades. Short tubular pastas like penne start out by winding their way around a rod suspended from the top of the die, then exit through a smaller hole at the bottom. This narrowing forces the dough to come back to form the hollow tubes and twists we're all accustomed to. Notches in the holes can force the exiting dough to curve or curl, conjuring shapes like 'elbow' macaroni. Most modern commercial operations now extrude pasta dough through smooth Teflon-coated dies. The Teflon lasts a long time and allows for more rapid (and hence cost-reducing) extrusion, but it yields a pasta so slick that it seems to shine. When you dress it, your sauce is certain to run right off, leaving a bunch of nearly naked noodles lying atop an unappealing pool of liquid. The best dried pastas are those that are extruded through old- style dies made of bronze, what Italians refer to as trafile di bronze. An essential component of artisan pasta making, the bronze dies are themselves an artisan product. Although the first phases of their production are now done by machine, the dies must be checked, adjusted, and finished by hand in order to produce near-perfect pasta. Bronze is a soft metal, meaning the life of the dies is shorter, the extrusion is slower, and replacement costs are higher compared with commercial equipment. But the beauty of these old-fashioned forms is that they produce pasta with a coarser, more porous surface —the seemingly sea-washed roughness you feel when you hold it in your hand. Yet aesthetics is not the only issue. The little pits in the pasta embrace the sauce with open arms. Take note, too, that the speed of extrusion can also affect quality. In pasta making, as on the highway, speed kills; in this case, it can cause unwanted heat, and hence damage to both texture and flavor. Those who take the extrusion process at a more leisurely pace protect the natural glutens in the dough, which in turn ensures that the pasta's all-important texture is preserved during cooking.

The Drying

The drying takes the moistur of the fresh dough down to less than half of its original 25 percent, giving packaged pasta its long shelf life and arguably making it one of mankind's ultimate convenience foods. Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, all Italian pasta was dried in the sun, often for up to a week, to reach the desired level of desiccation. Pasta makers, it was said, had to be as good at reading the weather as are fishermen or farmers. Sadly, in these days of air pollution and depleted ozone layers, sun- drying noodles is no longer an option, but fortunately for food lovers, pasta- drying machines were invented around 1900. Faster-moving, more cost-conscious factories use high heat to dry the pasta in a mere matter of hours. The problem with this speed-dried stuff is that the excessive heat essentially bakes the pasta; the finished noodles are often brittle and easily broken, and many of the subtleties of the grain may be lost. Smaller, artisan pastaii work at much lower temperatures than their industrial counterparts, taking as long as twenty-four, thirty-six, forty- eight, even fifty-plus hours to dry their pasta. This type of drying takes place in very warm (but never hot), humid environments in which moisture can be reduced slowly, without damaging the texture of the finished product. This slow, gentle drying preserves the noodle's natural moisture, wrapping it inside its rough exterior surface. While the production of artisan dried pasta may seem straightforward in theory, it is difficult to do well. Machines may do the actual extrusion, but the human element remains essential. Each pasta maker has for drying, and each seems certain that his technique is the best. Watching the pasta production at Martelli, an artisan pasta producer in Tuscany, I noticed that every so often Dino Martelli would grab a piece and pop it—raw—into his mouth. 'Are you checking the pasta?' I inquired uncertainly. 'Absolutely!' he answered adamantly, as if I should have known that. 'We check the pasta by taste and by feel all the time.' Like cheese- making or bread baking, traditional pasta production remains a craft, not a science.

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