• I didn’t try the soaking method, but I did try the turning it off halfway method. The texture of the pasta is slightly different, but barely noticeable, unless you’re using really high-quality pasta from higher-protein durum wheat (the one used the most in Italy). In that case it does turn a bit gummy.

    If you’re using regular-ass pasta made from red or winter wheat, which is the pasta you get in 99% of the world (unless you’re importing or getting it from a high-quality brand), there’s virtually no difference, in my very limited experimentation.

    • HexBroke [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      unless you’re using really high-quality pasta from higher-protein durum wheat

      I’ve never seen any pasta not claiming to be made from durum wheat? Is this really common in other countries?

    • AernaLingus [any]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      I just tried the turning off method and it worked great on my electric smoothtop! Brought the water to a boil, put in my pasta, left in on for three minutes, and then covered for the remaining seven minutes. It did boil over a bit after covering, but that’s on me for setting too high a temperature after adding the pasta. Still came out perfectly al dente! Now, this was with Mueller’s, which is an American brand that I find significantly better than the standard US-produced Barilla even though it’s a bit cheaper (highly recommend giving it a shot!), but I wouldn’t call it fancy–will be interesting to try it with De Cecco and see if I encounter the gumminess you mentioned.