No Boil Lasagna Sheets

[Italiancook]

I want to make 2 - 9-inch square pans of lasagna. One to serve; one to freeze. I've seen Barefoot Contessa use the No Boil Lasagna. She soaks it in warm water for, as I recall, 20 minutes before using. I've never used these sheets.

If I try them, do you think I'll run into problems with the frozen lasagna, either in the freezing process or when I bake it?

I can see this both ways and have no idea which is best, since I've never used No Boil Lasagna before.

I have a new Kitchenaid mixer pasta-making set sitting in the box in my kitchen. After I learn to use it, I'll probably make my own lasagna sheets. But for now, I'm debating whether it's best to freeze regular lasagna noodles or the no boil kind.

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[Mike Nolan]

I haven't used no-boil lasagna sheets in over 10 years. As I recall, they needed to soak for a few minutes to soften.

These days I make most of my own pasta.

When I make lasagna, I freeze it after baking.

If you've got the KitchenAid pasta set, the recipe for semolina egg pasta in it makes an excellent lasagna. It won't have the crinkles in it, of course. I do boil them for 30 seconds or so, to 'set' the pasta and make it easier to handle when assembling the lasagna. I let them dry a bit on cloth towels, that keeps the pasta from getting too watery.

I usually wind up adding more water than the recipe calls for. If you get it too wet, it doesn't roll out well, but if it is too dry all it does is crumble.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[cwcdesign]

Well, I use the Barilla no boil sheets frequently and you DO NOT soak them. Just follow the directions in the recipe or on the box and they are great. They have a nice texture, neither too tough or too soft. If I pre-cooked them I don't think the texture would be as good.

[Italiancook]

cwdesign, thanks for your learned advice on the no boil sheets.

Mike, I appreciate your insight into the Kitchenaid recipe. I haven't opened the box yet to find it. Someone is coming to my house in June to show me how to use this and how to mix the pasta dough in the stand mixer. I'm not mechanically-inclined, so I want someone to walk me through this first. I envision that I wouldn't be able to attach the rollers/cutters. Do you make your dough in the mixer or by hand?

I've made pasta many times, mixing it by hand and using the hand-crank pasta roller. The countertop I have now won't attach the hand-cranker. I decided while ill that if I survived, I'd plunk down the money for the Kitchenaid attachments.

Thanks for the info about how to process fresh lasagna sheets. I wouldn't have thought of any of that.

[Mike Nolan]

Yes, I make the dough in the KA mixer. I put in the dry ingredients, egg and oil, then dribble in water until it forms a dough.

I divide the dough into balls no more then about 4-5 ounces each. That way I'm not trying to handle a sheet of pasta that is 10 feet long. Use the slowest setting on the mixer. Start on the widest setting (1), put the dough through the rollers a couple of times, folding it in between passes, then move on to the next ball, but without the folds. (I drape the rolled out dough on cookie sheets on the counter, hanging off the edge.)

Then move up to setting 2, and start over. The book says to go to setting 4 or 5, I find 4 is plenty thin and I've been known to stop at 3.

I've got really thick countertops (butcher block) and most clamps won't go that wide, but I've been known to use a bar clamp from the shop, the kind that you can squeeze tighter work nearly anywhere.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[RiversideLen]

I've used the Barilla no boil sheets too. I have never pre-soaked them. I would recommend that you use a little extra sauce though, the sheets are going to soak up some liquid.

[Italiancook]

RiversideLen, I appreciate the tip about using extra sauce. I'm sure I'll try the no boil sheets just to be able to say I have.

Mike, your posts inspired me to read the pasta attachments' instruction book last night. I guess I'll have to order semolina from KAF as there's no store around me that carries it. This morning, I managed to put the pasta roller on the Kitchenaid. I guess I can use these attachments without one-on-one instruction.

Your experience shared here will guide me. Thanks!

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, I just bought some Bob's Red Mill semolina at my local health food store. I'm gearing up to FINALLY try out the baking steel that a friend gave me last year. I've confirmed the proper temp to set my oven. I'm just trying to find the time when we can all be home for dinner

[Mike Nolan]

I've looked at the larger (14x18) baking steel griddle several times, when I'm not using it for baking I think it'd be on the countertop as a platform for doing things like cutting meat and chicken. (I wish we had put in a stainless steel countertop next to a sink for easy sanitation.)

[Italiancook]

Mike, why do you bake your lasagna before you freeze it? Does it have to do with using fresh pasta sheets? Don't you have to re-bake it in order to heat it up for serving?

When I make Manicotti, I freeze it after prep, without cooking it. I put it in the fridge the day before serving. The day of, I fully bake it. I do this whether I used store-bought Manicotti shells or made crepes to wrap the filling in.

I've never made lasagna for the freezer.

[Mike Nolan]

I find it is easier to bake it, cut it into portions for freezing and reheat those portions as needed.

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