What Italian dishes do you know? If someone asks you this question, then you will surely list pizza, pasta, ravioli, chiambella and, of course, lasagna.
Lasagna is just that dish that has long won the hearts of true gourmets and just lovers of Italian cuisine. At first glance, cooking lasagna is a very simple process that takes relatively little free time, however, in fact it is not at all. As practice shows, for most novice cooks, cooking delicious lasagna is akin to something impossible, because, as it turns out, properly prepared lasagna is a real work of art, the creation of which is subject only to experienced chefs.
Lasagna can be prepared in various ways, which offer us certain recipes. An interesting fact is that even with a minimal change in the filling of this dish, its taste completely changes and already depends on fortune: for better or for worse. Therefore, there is a lot of tricks and nuances that you need to know and consider when preparing lasagna.
Today, lasagna is a puff pastry of six layers of dough, which alternate with the filling. The filling can be meat, mushroom, and also very often use vegetable. It's no secret that the taste of the finished dish will depend on the choice of filling as a whole.
However, despite the important role of the filling, the second component of lasagna - dough - plays an equally important role, and the final taste also depends on its quality. Therefore, I would like to pay more attention to the preparation of lasagna dough.
Today, due to the popularity of this Italian work of culinary art, many shops can offer ready-made semi-finished products for its preparation. Therefore, today more than ever when going to the store we are given the opportunity to purchase ready-made dough for lasagna, but it is immediately worth noting that it does not give such a taste to the finished dish as dough made by hand and at home. Therefore, if you want to taste really delicious lasagna - prepare the dough for it yourself.
Now is the time to move on to the Italian recipe for making lasagna dough.
Lasagna dough
For cooking you will need:
Preparation of lasagna dough should begin with the process of sifting flour. This action is necessary, since it provides not only its purification from all possible impurities, but also is necessary in order to saturate it with oxygen.
The next step in the preparation of the dough is to combine the flour with chicken eggs and salt. To do this, follow the Italian tradition: pour the flour onto the table with a slide (you can sift it directly on the table), and then, after making a small depression, pour eggs into it and add salt. Thanks to this deepening, the eggs do not flow down the hill of flour and remain inside it. All added components need to be mixed and knead a thick dough. If necessary (and it will arise), you can add water in the amount that is needed - it all depends on the quality of the flour you have chosen.
A very important point is the dough curing process . The lasagna dough is kneading in only one direction, however, if necessary, it can be rotated 45 degrees. Remember that the dough should be very elastic, so you can mix flour to achieve this effect. It is very easy to check the elasticity of the dough - you just have to put a little finger on it and watch the resulting trace: if it remains, it means that you need to continue working, and if it disappears, then the dough is ready for further use. In this case, cover it with a napkin and leave to brew.
After the dough has stood for some time, you can return to work with it again. Divide it into three equal parts and roll them. Each of these parts when rolling should become 2-3 times larger. Consider the fact that, as a rule, the middle of such cakes roll out much faster than the edges, so pay special attention to the uniformity of rolling. Each layer should eventually become about 1-1.5 cm in thickness.
After you process all the pieces of dough, you need to give them the desired shape. Typically, lasagna dough is cut into 10x10 cm squares.
After slicing the dough, you need to dry it a bit (but not to dry it!) And only after that you can start cooking directly the lasagna itself.