Semolina Puns

When I Google stuff about making fresh pasta, most of the results I get are about making egg-based pasta with 00 flour, but I'm also interested in making pastas like spaghetti that are traditionally made with semolina and water and I have some questions about the process.

1. What's a good water to semolina ratio? I've seen anywhere between 50 gr water to 100 gr semolina to 60 gr water to 100 gr semolina.

2. When kneading the dough, are you still going for a smooth dough that bounces backs slowly when you poke it?

3. Do you still need to wrap the kneaded dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for about half an hour?

4. I read that this type of dough should be put through an extruder to make spaghetti; I don't have an extruder but I do have the spaghetti attachment for the Marcato. Will that work fine?

5. What's the whole deal with blanching? Why do I need to do it and is it basically just cooking that fresh pasta to al dente, shocking in an ice bath, and then hanging to dry for a couple of hours? And once I actually want to cook the blanched pasta, what kind of cook times can I expect (for spaghetti, closer to the ~1 minute of fresh pasta or closer to the ~10 minutes of boxed pasta?)? And do I salt the water both times I boil or just one of the times?

Thanks and sorry if any of the questions are stupid/nonsensical!

Hello, I’m very new to making fresh pasta, yesterday I made an onion butter tomato sauce with spaghetti noodles made with egg, AP flour, and olive oil. They kind of curled up on me, and they also puffed up when I cooked them. They were good, just not super crazy about them. After some additional research I see I should have probably weighed the eggs and possibly added some water. Anyhow, today I made some 60% hydration dough with just water and semolina flour, and made fettuccine alfredo. It was hands down the pest pasta I’ve had. So I have two questions, is the puffing up typical of egg noodles, and also which type of pasta is best for filled pasta? I have plenty of time to experiment this week, just looking for some direction. Thanks in advance!

Hi! I am allergic to wheat and have been trying to make wheat-free versions of my favorite Arab sweets and it continues to be a disaster. I’ve tried cornmeal in date ma’amoul (horrible, tasted like orange blossom and date cornbread) and almond flour in hareesa/basbousa (horrible, doesn’t hold structure when soaked in the sugar syrup after baking).

Can anyone help?

How much does semolina or durum flour matter when making pasta? Also, my grocery store doesn't sell it, where is a good source for it?

What brands of semolina flour available in the US would you recommend (for pasta)? Bonus points if you know a store in the SF Bay Area that sells great semolina flour! Thanks!