I've made fresh egg-based pasta quite a few times already. Usually used Marcella Hazan's recipe.
Now I've wanted to make orecchiette, which is made without egg (i.e. just flour+water(+salt)).
I thought the dough I've made turned out alright. Kneaded for >5 minutes. When I "rolled it out" to those thin sausages you need to make orecchiette, the dough always retraced/stretched back a lot. Trying to form orecchiette was unsuccessful.
I tried to remedy it by adding more flour and kneading more. The dough retracted less, but forming the orecchiette (knife + thumb) wasn't successful either, the dough always seemed too soft and didn't hold its shape.
Maybe it didn't work out because the dough was a bit too wet in the beginning and I started to adjust too late after too much kneading.
Before I give it another try, I'd just like to know whether any of you have made it, whether you've had similar problems, and whether it's easily doable. Some of the vids on youtube from Italian nonnas make it look way too easy.
PS: I was using regular 00 flour.
Best Answer
Orecchiette is frequently made with two parts semolina flour to one part AP flour, and one part water. You can find multiple recipes online. So, I would begin your troubleshooting with a recipe that uses semolina. Then, be sure to allow your dough to rest after kneading, at least 30 minutes. This allows the flour to hydrate fully and the dough to relax. I find resting more important than kneading. It really doesn't take more than a few minutes of kneading...but you probably can't over knead. From there, as long as you have the proper hydration, shaping should not be difficult.