The semolina, certified by the supply mill, travels on vehicles designed to provide perfect conditions for preservation and arrives at the pasta factory. The load is immediately examined in the quality control laboratory to check that it corresponds with the standards requested of the supply mill and, if accepted, is stored in dedicated silos. The semolina is then sieved to eliminate any impurities and then sent to the kneading systems via dedicated piping.
The silos may contain several types of semolina, based on the type of pasta to be produced. Barilla processes 3,600 tons of semolina every day, and produces 700,000 tons of pasta every year.
The ingredients used to make semolina pasta are semolina and water exclusively. Rigorous dosing is an indispensable requirement for good quality pasta. The quantity of semolina and water that the automatic doser allows into the kneading machine must be constant in order to prevent imbalances and irregularities that might reflect on the quality of the end product.
Since semolina is particularly sensitive to seasonal and climatic variations, the temperature of the water must be regulated to obtain dough with an optimum mixing temperature.
Before the kneading cycle begins, the semolina and water are placed in a kneading centrifuge for pre-mixing, which uniformly distributes the water over the semolina granules. The kneading process then perfects the homogenization of the mixture of semolina and water.
The mechanical apparatus that creates the dough is known as double kneading machine, and is comprised of a W-shaped tank in which two shafts with lanced paddles turn; these are especially designed to facilitate kneading as well as to move the dough through the tank. The last kneading tank operates under a vacuum and removes the air from the dough to improve the colour and appearance of the drawn pasta.
The dough, still floury and shapeless, leaves the vacuum kneading machine and passes into a compression area where it is compressed into the moulds for the various pasta shapes.