Pici

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 400 g plain flour (or a mix of plain flour and a small proportion of semolina)
• 180 ml water, lukewarm
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• For the board and resting
• as needed fine semolina, for dusting heavily to prevent sticking
• For the aglione sauce (canonical pairing)
• 6 cloves Chiana Valley aglione garlic, or standard garlic if unavailable; sliced
• 400 g ripe tomatoes, crushed or passed
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• For cooking
• as needed coarse salt, for the pasta water

Method

1. 1
   Mound the flour on a wooden board, make a well, and pour in the lukewarm water and olive oil — lukewarm rather than cold so the dough comes together more willingly and rests into suppleness faster. Work from the centre outward, incorporating the flour gradually until a shaggy dough forms, then knead with the heel of the hand for 8–10 minutes until smooth, cohesive, and no longer sticky. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature; the dough is ready when it is supple and springs back slowly when pressed.
2. 2
   Tear off a piece of dough the size of a walnut and, using both palms, roll it back and forth on the board with light, even pressure, working from the centre outward until the strand reaches roughly 3–4 mm in diameter and up to 30 cm in length. This is where the dish lives or dies: the strands must remain thick and irregular — some sections thicker, some thinner — and must never be rolled thin, because it is precisely that unevenness that gives pici its characteristic chew and catches the sauce differently along each mouthful. Dust finished strands generously with semolina and lay them separately on a tray so they do not touch, then continue until all the dough is used.
3. 3
   For the aglione sauce, warm the olive oil in a wide pan over a low flame, add the sliced garlic, and cook slowly without colouring, so the cloves surrender their sharpness and turn soft and sweet rather than bitter and acrid. Add the crushed tomatoes, season with salt, and simmer until the sauce is dense and its raw acidity has gone — you will know by smell, which shifts from sharp to round and sweet. Keep the heat gentle throughout so the garlic never catches, even briefly, which would leave a hard edge no amount of simmering will soften.
4. 4
   Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it generously, so the pici are seasoned from within rather than merely on the surface. Add the pici and cook for 4–6 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent adherence. The pici are done when they are substantially chewy throughout — not soft, not raw at the centre — so taste a strand: it should resist the tooth with a wheaty, hydrated bite.
5. 5
   Lift the pici directly into the pan of aglione sauce with a slotted spoon or tongs, deliberately carrying some pasta water with them, since that starchy water loosens the sauce just enough for it to move and coat without pooling. Toss over a medium flame — do not ladle the sauce on top — so the strands are worked through the sauce rather than buried under it, and each one is evenly coated. The surface of the pici should be glossy and the sauce should not pool at the bottom of the pan.