How to Freeze Pasta and Avoid Sticking

My pasta stuck together .

This is the number one complaint I hear in the comments of my pasta video and today we are going to address it .

How often do you cut the noodles and drop them straight into the pot ?

Almost never .

Especially if you're having guests .

Is there a way to prevent all those delicate noodles from sticking together ?

Yes , there is .

Over the past few months , I have figured out the storage solution that works perfectly .

Whether you're keeping your pasta for 30 minutes or 30 days , it gives you complete flexibility and it will taste every bit as good as if you dropped the pasta straight into the pot of cutting it .

The key here is to use serious the fires .

I don't know if that's a real word , but it should be my two favorite ones are the rice flour and the corn starch .

They are cheap .

They last forever and if you plan to make pasta , they're definitely worth buying , unlike wheat flour , they don't get absorbed into the pasta nearly as much .

And this lets them provide a much better moisture barrier .

I prefer to use both of them , but you can certainly try one or the other .

Since I made my pasta video a few years ago , I also found a better way to handle the pasta ribbons before cutting , cutting the pasta .

As soon as you finish rolling it out is asking for trouble .

All those ribbons can easily stick together .

Your pasta needs to dry a little not to the brittle stitch , but to the slightly leathery stitch .

Basically , it should feel like your skin .

You can certainly do it by laying it out on the counter .

But a faster and easier way is to hang it on the clothes rack or some similar household object .

This exposes the ribbons to the air on both sides which helps them drive very quickly and it saves you a lot of counter space .

My batch of dough makes four ribbons and by the time I'm done rolling out the fourth one , the first one is ready to cut , Sprinkle your board generously with the rice flour place the pasta ribbon on top and cut it in half .

Leave the first half on the board and move the second half , Sprinkle it very generously with the rice flour and spread it with your hands to make sure you have good coverage .

Then add a bit of corn starch and spread it out .

Don't be afraid to go to town with these flowers .

After the pasta cooks , you can't taste them at all .

Roll up the pasta from both sides .

My two , the stick of fires will not only help us with storage , they'll also help our pasta unroll very easily .

When we cut it , cut the pasta into ribbons , using a chef's knife , stick the spine of the knife into the crease and lift up , take the ribbons of the knife , but don't roll them up into the nests , lay them on a parchment covered to pour a baking sheet that can fit into your freezer .

It's ok to pile the noodles on top of each other , but try to keep these piles not too thick to help the pasta freeze quickly and make sure each pile is small enough to fit into the freezer bag .

That's why I have the separation between them , place them into the freezer just until hard , about 1 to 2 hours and immediately move them into a freezer bag .

Now you can cook these noodles whenever you want .

Don't defrost , dump them straight into the pot .

They are so thin .

You'll barely notice a difference in cooking time between the frozen ones and the fresh ones .

It is very important not to forget your pasta in the freezer .

When it's in the uncovered state .

A freezer is a very dry environment .

A little bit of time spent in this environment is actually good for long term storage because it will prevent any condensation in the freezer bag .

But longer than a few hours will make your pasta dry and brittle .

I hope this video will get you out of sticky situations and prevent any future pasta disaster .

My full egg pasta tutorial is right here and if you are ever in the Boston area , maybe I'll see you in one of my classes .