Buona Pasta: Fresh Pasta Made Easy With or Without a Machine, written by Katie Brooks, features an exciting collection of homemade pasta shapes alongside easy pairings, step-by-step instructions, and detailed tips for every part from forming the dough to storage. A few highlights include Trofie al Pesto, Quattro Formaggi Cappelletti in an Herb Butter Sauce, Pappardelle in a Creamy Lemon Mascarpone Sauce, Tot’s Spaghetti & Meatballs, and Baked Roasted Veggie Rigatoni. I will also be sharing her recipe for homemade Bucatini following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from Page Street Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own.
Katie Brooks
Katie Brooks is a recipe developer and the creator behind Buona Pasta Club. She formed this business and online community to share her love of homemade pasta with favorite recipes, tutorials, and pasta-making classes.
She is currently based in San Diego with her family. This is Katie’s debut cookbook.
Buona Pasta
Katie begins Buona Pasta with a short introduction before jumping into a few tutorials and basics covering different types of dough, favorite tools, notable ingredients, and pasta/sauce pairings. There are even guides for forming and shaping the dough either by hand or by machine depending on equipment availability and personal preferences.
She finishes with additional notes on short-term and long-term storage, plus frequently asked questions to bring everything together.
Chapters are divided according to the following: It’s All in the Dough, Let’s Get Saucy, Light & Fresh, Better with Butter, Smooth as Silk, Thick & Hearty, and Baked to Perfection. The contents page has a list of the included instructions and recipes with page number for easy reference.
The photography is provided by Arlene Ibarra. Every single recipe is paired with at least one full-page photo of the finished dish. There are also multiple step-by-step photos demonstrating how to form the dough and assemble specific shapes.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Titles are written in English and/or Italian. Each recipe has a headnote with background information, personal memories, yield, helpful tips, and history.
Bucatini
Of all the different pasta shapes I made during this review, my kids especially loved the Homemade Bucatini.
Originally from the Lazio region, the name of this pasta comes from the word Buca which translates to little hole. This hollow center through the entire strand of the long pasta is perfect for soaking up a variety of sauces.
Katie goes into incredible detail on how to form the low-moisture semolina dough best for passing through an extruder and transforming into the Bucatini. Today, I am sharing the specific steps I used within the guide from bringing together the dough by hand to briefly resting and finally shaping. More tips and tricks are available in Buona Pasta.
The Low-Moisture Semolina Dough comes together with simply semola rimacinata Flour and warm water. Semola Rimacinata is a double milled durum wheat semolina sturdy enough to hold the shape of bucatini and other extruded pasta shapes without the use of eggs. It can be found in the flour section of some larger grocery stores and markets with Italian ingredients.
When bringing together the dough, keep kneading until smooth and pliable. Try to avoid adding any more water unless absolutely necessary. Too much moisture and the dough will stick inside the machine or even fall apart.
Cut the pasta into strands about 10-12 inches (25-30 centimeters) long. Once cut, gently arrange the bucatini in a single layer on a floured cutting board to keep it from sticking and losing the hollow center.
If storing the bucatini long term, freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet before transferring to a freezer safe bag. Take care with the storage to not break into smaller pieces. It will be fragile.
Do not thaw. Simply boil the Bucatini straight from the freezer. You may need to add a minute to the cooking time.
This recipe makes about 2 servings of Bucatini. It can easily be doubled or tripled. Depending on the strength of the extruder, you may need to give the machine a rest between batches if making more servings of pasta.
Bucatini Extruder
Unfortunately, Bucatini does require a specific extruder to get that notable shape. It cannot be made by hand due to the thin hollow center within the long strand of pasta.
I got an extruder set for my KitchenAid mixer a few years ago. Along with the bucatini disc, the set also came with large macaroni, fusilli, small macaroni, spaghetti, and rigatoni. This low-moisture pasta dough recipe works for all of them.
There are multiple extruder brand options available, either online or in stores with specialty pasta tools.
Bucatini Serving Ideas
The sturdy texture and hollow center of Bucatini makes it especially perfect for soaking up both silky and more hearty sauces. In the book, Katie has paired the pasta with a Creamy Caramelized Onion & Crispy Prosciutto coating.
A fantastic blend of sweet and salty, this sauce is packed with crispy prosciutto pieces and golden caramelized onions all held together with a light, yet buttery cream base.
Other favorite pairings for Bucatini include Carbonara, Amatriciana, and Cacio e Pepe.
More Pasta
I also made Fazzoletti in a Wild Mushroom Sauce with Ricotta; Sorpresine with Brown Butter, Crispy Basil & Burrata; Quattro Formaggi Cavatelli; and Tagliatelle Bolognese.
The Fazzoletti in a Wild Mushroom Sauce with Ricotta is a wonderful option for beginners. Translating to handkerchief, this egg pasta dough is simply cut into 3 inch (7.5 centimeter) squares. Katie paired the pasta with a comforting blend of sautéed mushrooms and dollops of ricotta (which I forgot to photograph) to finish.
I first made Sorpresine back in 2020 as a pivot during grocery store meat shortages and was so excited to see the shape featured in Buona Pasta! Translating to little surprises, this pasta resembles a filled tortellini, but actually has a hollow center perfect for holding little pools of brown butter. I also loved the addition of crispy basil and burrata for a bit of contrast in texture.
For a little more decadence, the Quattro Formaggi Cavatelli pairs a thicker, semolina-based pasta with mascarpone, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gorgonzola, AND Fontina. I made the Cavatelli using a machine, but Katie has also included instructions for making it by hand.
The Tagliatelle Bolognese was my son’s favorite and I actually ended up making it twice. Homemade tagliatelle strands are coated in a quicker version of a Bolognese-style ragù that comes together in about 30 minutes. So if you have your pasta already prepped and in the freezer, this is a great weeknight meal packed with meat and vegetables.
Buona Pasta is a fantastic pick for those interested in making pasta in an assortment of styles at home. There are so many fun options from hand-rolled dough using minimal supplies to extruded shapes requiring specific equipment. Pairings range from light vegetarian coatings to more hearty baked meals.
Most of the ingredients are readily available in larger American supermarkets. A few items may require further searching such as burrata, broccolini, pancetta, Calabrese peperoncino, and broccoli rabe.
Bucatini Recipe
Excerpt from Buona Pasta
Bucatini
Ingredients
- 1 cup (180 grams) semola rimacinata flour
- 75 milliliters warm water about 1/3 cup
Instructions
To Make the Low-Moisture Semolina Dough:
- On a clean, flat surface or in a large bowl, make a well in your flour.
- Add the water to the well. Using a fork, pull flour into your well and slowly mix it until it resembles a batter.
- Once your moisture becomes thick enough that there isn't a risk of overflowing, you can start bringing more of the flour into your well. Soon, your moisture will be fully incorporated into your flour and will start to look flaky.
- Use your hands, adding some pressure to your dough, and bring those flakes together so they start to become one solid piece.
- Start hand kneading it on your flat surface. The kneading motion is simply applying pressure to your dough, to not only mix your ingredients together but also to activate and strengthen the gluten in your dough, which helps produce a bouncy and pliable pasta (the process should take 5-10 minutes).
- Always cover your dough (with a bowl, towel, or plastic wrap) after kneading, to keep the moisture in and to keep your beautiful dough from developing a skin. And just as importantly, your dough needs to rest to help it relax. Ideally, you want to let it rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, to keep your dough relaxed and pliable.
- If you are going hours between kneading and rolling out your dough, you can refrigerate it, covered. Just be sure to remove your dough from the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to rolling out, to allow it to come to room temperature.
- Cut your dough into 1 1/2- inch (4-centimeter) pieces, roll them into balls, and flour them well.
- Choose the bucatini disk and assemble it into your extruder attachment to get ready to extrude your pasta.
To make Bucatini with an Extruder:
- While your extruder is running, drop your floured dough ball into the opening of the extruder.
- Once the dough catches, drop in your next dough ball, to keep the pasta flowing, especially since you're making a long pasta that needs more pasta extruded before you cut each piece.
- Once your pasta is pushed through the extruder and at your ideal length- bucatini is usually 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) long- cut the pasta, using the cutter attached to the machine.
- I (Katie) like to lay out my bucatini on a floured, flat surface between each cut, to help it keep its hollow shape- you'll have plenty of time to do this, since it's such a long pasta. You want to make sure the hollow center of the bucatini remains hollow, so be gently when handling your pasta!
- Continue to add your dough balls to the top of your machine, until you've extruded all your pasta dough.
- If you're not cooking your pasta within the hour, place it on a cutting board and stick into the freezer until you're ready to cook it (within a day or once frozen, transfer to a freezer bag or vacuum-sealed bag for longer storage) to prevent your pasta from sticking.
- When it's time to cook your pasta, do not thaw it; instead, transfer the frozen pasta directly from the cutting board to your salted boiling water. It will take almost the same amount of time to cook, maybe a minute more depending on how long it's been frozen.
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