Pasta Tools How-To: Working With Your Chitarra

There’s something special about making pasta with a chitarra — a traditional wooden tool strung like a guitar (hence the name) that’s been used in Abruzzo for generations. It turns sheets of dough into square-edged spaghetti that offers a delicious bite. If you’ve never used one before, don’t worry — it’s simple to use and also happens to be quite a lot of fun!

Ingredients

• Egg pasta dough (semolina pasta dough will also work)

• Extra semolina flour for dusting

  
  

Tools

• Pasta machine

• Chitarra

• Rolling pin

• Straight-edged brass pasta roller

Prep your dough

Roll out your pasta dough into thin sheets — aim for 2 mm thickness. You want it to have roughly the same thickness as the chitarra strings are spaced apart for a square profile. Cut your sheets into the same length and width as your chitarra, using the brass pasta roller.

Dust the chitarra

Lightly sprinkle the strings with semolina flour to help prevent sticking. Trust us — this little step makes everything smoother.

Place and press

Lay a sheet of dough across the top of the chitarra, centered over the strings. Sprinkle some extra semolina on top. Using your rolling pin, begin to gently roll back and forth, applying even pressure. As you go, the dough will start to fall through the strings, slicing itself into beautiful square strands. If there are any small parts of the sheet that don't separate easily, gently slide your fingers across with some additional pressure, until all pasta strands have fallen down.

Catch the pasta

Underneath the chitarra is a wooden box designed to catch the pasta as it falls. Gently lift the strands out, dust with a little more semolina, and set aside onto a kitchen towel in loose nests while you finish the batch.