Dough – How to best dry homemade extruded pasta

Though I've never dried extruded pasta. I regularly make and dry out cut pastas like fettuccine. I prefer egg based pastas, as they're richer. I dry mine at room temperature in nests. Even with the egg I've never gotten ill. This is how my great grandparents had done it. So I'm fairly certain its very uncommon to become ill from the conditions you dry the pasta in. Especially since you aren't using eggs, I doubt you'll have a problem when it comes to food safety. Most drying methods are done at room temperature. I'm assuming extruded pastas take a bit longer to dry, but I don't think this is going to be an issue.

The only time I have trouble with pasta is when I put it in a ziplock without properly drying it. This pasta will mold, and its pretty easy to spot. I'll leave pasta to dry for more than 24 hours before I put it in a plastic bag. Even then I keep the bag only half sealed for the first couple days just to be sure. Really the drying period is what would worry me. I'd be worried about it being dry enough before storing, than I would be worried about it molding or spoiling while drying. Which you don't really need to do. Small insects tend to enjoy flour, so storing in a tuperware container with some cheese cloth over the top might be a better approach, as it allows moisture to escape.

I wouldn't be so much overly worried about bacteria, as these will be killed in the cooking process. However, mold, even when killed, is still dangerous. Throw out any moldy pasta. It won't go moldy unless you store it airtight while its still damp.

Simply put, dry it thoroughly, and you don't need to worry about spoilage. The dried pasta will easily last for months. If you're going to cook it the next day, you can even just refrigerate it without drying. As drying thoroughly might take longer than the period of time between prepping and cooking. If you're prepping a few days or more ahead, drying would make sense.

It's very common to dry pastas at room temperature, and there isn't any safety regulation against doing so even if your pasta has egg in it. Doing so in a cooled environment is just an added precaution. However, I've made and dried pasta for years without any ill effects of doing so at room temperature.

So some simple rules:

1. Dry it thoroughly, it should be bone dry. At least 15 hours(it's humid here, so I do at least 24hrs in summer). Use your best judgement. It takes a long time to dry, so making in larger quantities less often is often prefered if you're prepping for short order.
2. Don't store it in an airtight container, but something that can breath but doesn't allow insects/debris to come in contact.
3. Store in a cool, dark place.
4. Remove any excess flour that could trap moisture.