the Romans did it, and you can too!

[bedlamsbard]

There is nothing that irritates me more, when it comes to recipes, than people asking if it's possible to make bread or pasta or something of the sort (cinnamon rolls, bagels, that sort of thing) if they don't have a KitchenAid, a food processor, or a bread machine. (That one shows up less often.)

How do you think we have been making bread for the thousands of years before the KitchenAid mixer was invented? YOU KNEAD IT. BY HAND. (Well, you start with a wooden spoon, and then, once all the ingredients are incorporated, you knead it by hand. I haven't made pasta from scratch, but I believe the process is similar.)

The ancient Romans did it and you can too! So did people in the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, and colonists in the Americas! If the pioneers could make bread on the Oregon Trail, then you, a modern independant human (presumably) can make bread in the comfort of your own kitchen! AND YES WITHOUT A STAND MIXER.

(And I actually prefer doing it by hand as opposed to a stand mixer (although I usually do the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day version because I don't have the space in my dorm kitchen), because you have more control over the dough and you develop a much better feel for it. Plus, communing with the ancestors and feeling very accomplished and so on, but that's just me.)

(Western-oriented because I'm not familiar with the food traditions in other countries, but I'm pretty sure the point stands whatever your tradition is.)

Erk. This is why I try not to read the comments on food blogs. (Although I end up doing so anyway, sometimes there are good tips in there.)

Comments

[lady_songsmith]

Pasta is EVEN EASIER because the dough isn't as heavy, initially, but it's very, very, elastic, so it IS tough to get good noodles/what have you without a machine -- the kind you clamp to the table and turn with a hand-crank. *cough* And it's REALLY COOL because you start with this crater of flour and crack an egg into it right there on the board.

I made cookies from scratch for a party once. The friend I was going with stood on the other side of the kitchen barrier (it was a tiny kitchen) saying things like, "Those granule-things really turn into COOKIES?" and "Why do you put salt in something sweet?" - the answer to that one gave her the answer to why her grandmother insisted she salt pasta water, which she'd been doing for years on granny's say-so without ever understanding.

We're definitely losing cooking skills at an alarming rate.

[bedlamsbard]

I had a really, really good cooking class in high school, which is actually what got me into Actual Cooking in the first place, and I just remembered we actually did do pasta from scratch in that class! Which is really, really awesome, now that I think about it. (I need to go and see if my high school has that teacher's forwarding information; she was only there for one year, but I really want to e-mail her and tell her that that class was probably the most useful class I ever had in high school.)

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to make pasta by hand this year; probably when I go home for the summer. Have you read The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken? Super-good memoir/food book about, well, ravioli! The recipes in there look amazing, totally on my list for the summer.

The other reason you put salt in pasta water is because it makes the water boil faster, as it...disrupts the molecules, or something? We talked about it in my geology class over the summer.

[lady_songsmith]

I have not read that, but I think I may be! *adds to booklist* Thanks!

Both my parents cook, though I like it rather more, I think. Dad's the one who taught me desserts and breads; when I was in HS and he was working weird shifts we had fresh bread at dinner every night. I don't actually make it myself often, since I usually can't finish a loaf before it goes stale, but I take it to parties and potlucks.

[bedlamsbard]

My parents cook too -- mostly my mother, though my dad knows how. I didn't grow up doing any of the cooking, though. *muses*

[snacky]

Hah! I'm blinking at this since I only ever make cookies from scratch. I mean, I grasp the slice and bake concept, but I've never done it!

[lady_songsmith]

I've only done slice-n-bake when I was really pressed for time or when the cookies were not actually the point of the exercise (ice cream sandwiches!! cookie-crumb crusts!!). My cookie recipes don't actually have instuctions anymore, just proportions and bake temps. It seemed a waste of paper to repeat the same steps over and over. :P

[sporky_rat]

I do slice and bake with homemade dough. Sometimes it's just easier to make up a really big batch of dough, roll it up and freeze it. Then if I only want three or five cookies in the summer, hey presto! Toaster oven cookies!