Dried pasta is made in seven steps: weigh the semolina and water, mix to a crumbly dough, extrude it through a die, cut it to length, dry it slowly to a target moisture, cool it, then bag, label and code. Fresh pasta stops after cutting and goes to the cooler instead. Drying is the step that decides whether dried pasta keeps: dried too fast it cracks, too slowly or not enough and it can mold in the bag, so a small maker dries to a set time and temperature, then checks the weight loss or moisture before bagging. Extruding through bronze dies gives the rough surface sauce clings to, and the die is also the speed limit of a small line. Semolina is wheat, and egg pasta adds egg, so the label's allergen line comes straight from the recipe. In the example below, a Kansas pasta maker runs a day of dried rigatoni.
The short version
- Seven steps for dried pasta: weigh, mix, extrude, cut, dry, cool, bag and code.
- Fresh pasta: mix, extrude or roll, cut, then refrigerate.
- Dry slowly to a set time and temperature; check weight loss before bagging.
- Bagged too moist, pasta can mold; dried too fast, it cracks.
- Bronze dies give a rough surface and set the line's pace.
- Allergens from the recipe: wheat, and egg in egg pasta.
- TaroStack records each batch's yield, lot and flour lot. More below.
The steps
| Step | What happens | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Weigh | Semolina and water by the recipe | Weights, flour lot |
| 2. Mix | To a crumbly dough | Mix time |
| 3. Extrude | Through the die | Die, rate |
| 4. Cut | To length | |
| 5. Dry | Racks or a dryer, to a set time and temperature | Time, temperature, weight loss |
| 6. Cool | To room temperature | |
| 7. Bag and code | Bagged by weight, lot and best-by | Bags, lot, best-by |
The pasta business's numbers are in pasta business plan, and the co-packer option in pasta co-packer.
An example: a day of dried rigatoni
Prairie Mill Pasta, a made-up pasta maker in Lawrence, Kansas, sells fresh fettuccine at markets and dried rigatoni in 1 lb bags to grocers. One dried rigatoni day:
| Step | What happened |
|---|---|
| Weigh | 100 lb semolina, lot SM-1004, 28 lb water |
| Mix | 12 minutes |
| Extrude | Bronze rigatoni die, about 30 lb an hour |
| Cut | To 2 inches |
| Dry | 18 hours on racks in the drying room, 95°F with a fan |
| Check | Rack samples lost 11% of their weight, the target from the owner's tests |
| Bag and code | 112 bags of 1 lb, lot RG-1016, best by Oct 2027; 2 lb of broken pieces |
The 128 lb of dough lost about 11% drying, about 14 lb, leaving about 114 lb: 112 bags and 2 lb of broken pieces, which go into a "pasta ends" bag at the market. The extruder ran a little over four hours, so the semolina for the next day can be mixed while this batch dries. Fresh fettuccine for Saturday is made Friday and goes straight to the cooler, dated three days out. How the extruder sets the day's pace is in throughput formula.
Get the run sheet
Download the pasta production run sheet. Two sheets: a blank run sheet to print for each batch, with the steps, the check at each and its target, and spaces for the actual reading, the time and initials; and the same run filled in from the example. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A run spans two days: extruded one day, bagged the next. With fresh and dried pasta from the same semolina and grocers on standing orders, the yields and lots need to be on record, not on the drying rack's tag.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack records each batch with its yield, its lot and its flour lot.
Batches with yield. A rigatoni run is a batch from its recipe, taking semolina and bags off stock, and records the bags it made against what the recipe expected, so the drying loss shows up.
Your own fields. Fields of your own on the batch record hold the drying time, temperature and weight loss.
Lots and where they went. Each grocer's order records the lots it got, so one recall report runs from the semolina lot to every store.
| The job | Drying rack tag | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Drying time and weight loss | Chalk on the rack | Fields on the batch record |
| Bags made against expected | Counted at the end | Yield on the batch |
| Which semolina went into a run | Written, maybe | Lots on the batch |
| Which grocers got a lot | Invoices | One recall report |
Recipes, batches, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.