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I'm curious how to make pasta (and in this case I'm talking about say, spaghetti, angel hair, shells or lasagna noodles, no filling) and store it dry like I would find in a box at a store. I would try to take a day where I have not much to do and make ~25 pounds of pasta for the year (or every six months, happy to keep food fresh) Should there be adaptations of a recipe? Or would any do?

How would I go about storing pasta (without filling) without a freezer for long periods of time?

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    I'm not sure what the best way is to dry that much pasta ... but a tip I was given on drying peppers -- if you store them in glass jars, you can check the next day for condensation inside ... which would be a sign that you hadn't dried them enough, and need to return them to drying.
    – Joe
    Dec 2, 2014 at 20:33

4 Answers 4

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Any standard pasta recipe (basically flour, salt, water or egg) should do.
Unless stated otherwise, fresh pasta can be cooked right away or dried and stored for months. Cooking time will vary, of course, with fresh pasta done in a few minutes, dried in roughly the same range as store bought.

When drying pasta, use the same aproach as for laundry: Separation, dry conditions, slight air flow if possible. For long pasta, it's usually hung to dry, e.g. on (clean) broomsticks or poles, smaller shapes can be put in a thin layer on dish towels or table cloths, pro's use wodden frames with thin mesh, like one would for drying fruit. Tagliatelle are sometimes gathered into little nests (= 1 serving), then dried.
For pictures, search for "pasta drying rack". Usually you'll need about 2-3 days for pasta to dry thoroughly.

Your estimated storage time of six months should be fine, even up to a year, but only for basic recipes with white flour. If you like to try whole grain, other grains (buckwheat, spelt) or more exotic flavours/colours (tomato, beets, spinach, curry...), I'd aim for three months just to be sure nothing goes rancid or looses colour. Paper bags (food grade) are ok, as is cellophane or plastic, but make sure the pasta is really, really dry, when packing in plastic. Store in a cool, dry , possibly dark (for coloured pasta) place.

side note:
Have fun and remember to take pictures once you've flooded your house with drying pasta ;-)

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    It takes a fair bit of space to dry pasta. I've cheated and done things like place dinner knives at the edge of my upper cabinets with the handle sticking out past the cabinet, with a can of something on the blade to weight it down. I was just making it for that week's usage, not long-term storage, though. Also, I suspect that egg-free dough would have a longer shelf life.
    – Joe
    Dec 2, 2014 at 20:32
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As previously mentioned, any pasta recipe can be dried out. Semolina only pasta will dry harder and faster than one with eggs. If you use spinach or other colorful ingredients, they can fade with time or sunlight.

Lets talk equipment. Even a single pound of pasta takes a surprising amount of room to dry. Cleaned, upturned barstools, oven racks, broomsticks, coat hangers, etc, have all been improvised pasta drying racks in my house. If you really enjoy this, and do it regularly, I'd invest in something like this pasta drying rack:

kitchenaid pasta rack

And if you want to do shaped pasta, a pasta drying tray:

pasta drying tray

Of course, you could make something similar with a cheese cloth stretched across a frame, or new, clean, plastic screen from the hardware store and some artist's canvas stretchers.

A dry day, and a low box or ceiling fan is a good idea too. Good luck if you have a dog.

I, once upon a time, also had ambitions to dry lots of homemade pasta. I found it was much easier to make the dough in advance and roll it just before cooking instead. The appeal of doing it all at once, was to have someone else help me work the machine. But a pasta-machine motor makes it easy to do this with one person.

pasta machine with motor

I do understand that dried egg pasta is a traditional way for farmers to preserve eggs. (and why Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish egg noodles are a thing) and if a bounty of fresh eggs ever fell into my lap, I might just try this again.

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I just made egg noodles last night & if wrapped loosely in parchment paper & generously dusted w/ flour they didn’t stick together. I’m assuming that if left in parchment they would dry & then could be stored in bags, plastic, paper or sealed in the parchment. I took them to a friends house, and cooked them 4 hours later & stores in the parchment w/ lots of flour none of them stuck together. Just make sure to flour generously & shake it off before cooking. I agree about storing or freezing the dough & making fresh. I’m pretty certain you’ll have a better tasting product. enter image description here

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    The question is about long-time storage, not 4 hours.
    – user34961
    Dec 8, 2017 at 8:30
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The Italians made theirs, all in one day, laid on cloth covered tables and dried in the sun, then stored in cardboard boxes.

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