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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.
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.
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.
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