Perforated Pasta Drying Tray 60 x 40 x 10cm White Stackable

This tray is perforated through the base and all four walls, so air reaches a full morning's production from every side and nothing sits damp underneath while the top of the pile dries out. It holds eighteen litres on a 60 x 40 cm footprint, and because the trays stack into each other, a whole morning's output takes up one tray's worth of bench instead of the entire surface. It is made in Italy from food-grade PE-HD rated from -40°C to +80°C, so it travels from bench to cold room to blast freezer without anything being decanted along the way. Too large for a domestic fridge, so if that is your constraint the 30 x 40 is the one to look at.

Why the Perforations Matter

Leave fresh tagliatelle in a container or seal it into a crate and it will sweat, bind together and turn claggy inside the hour, which is why Italian pasta makers rest their production in perforated trays rather than solid ones. Air has to reach the pasta from underneath as well as above, otherwise the bottom of the pile stays damp while the top dries, and that lower layer is the one you lose.

A 60 x 40 footprint takes a full batch of cut tagliatelle, pappardelle, garganelli or trofie in a loose layer with semolina and holds it while the surface firms up. Long shapes go in as nests and short shapes spread across the base, while gnocchi get the ventilation they need underneath, since they stick more readily than anything else. Twenty minutes of air is usually enough before service, an hour or two firms the surface for bagging or freezing, and fully dried shapes will hold in the tray for a day.

Built for a Commercial Kitchen

The practical gain in a working kitchen is bench space. Because the trays stack, a morning's production rests in a column occupying one 60 x 40 footprint instead of covering every surface in the room, and the same tray then goes into the cold room or the blast freezer without decanting, which removes a handling step along with the contamination risk that comes with it.

That stacking works because of the raised external base, which keeps each tray off the bench and gives the contents of the tray below more headroom. At 60 x 40 x 10 cm this is a large tray, so measure the shelving, trolleys or cold room racking you intend to use it with before ordering. If you are making pasta at home, or working in a small prep area where fridge shelf depth is the constraint, the 30 x 40 tray is the size to choose.

Beyond Pasta

The same ventilation suits anything that needs air passing through it at volume. Washed salad, herbs and blanched vegetables drain at service quantities without produce sitting in its own runoff, herbs, chillies and sliced mushrooms air-dry, cured and salted preparations rest while the moisture leaves, and baked goods cool without soft undersides. Anything that needs to breathe in a cold room can sit in a ventilated crate rather than a sealed one.

A Note on Pizza Dough

These do get sold as perforated dough boxes, so we will be straight with you: for proofing pizza dough they are not what we would recommend. Dough balls need their humidity held in, and the perforations let it escape, so the surface skins over and a wet dough will push into the holes and tear when you come to lift it out. Where a perforated crate does earn its place is knocking the heat out of a freshly mixed batch quickly, or a short ventilated rest if a recipe calls for one. For a bulk rise or a cold ferment, use the solid 60 x 40 box with its lid, which is the industry standard for precisely this reason.

Adding a Lid

The matching 60 x 40 lid fits this tray, and what it gives you is protection rather than a seal. Sitting one on top keeps dust, insects and anything knocked off a shelf out of the tray while a batch waits on the bench or sits in a cold room, and it guards the top of a stack. Because the tray itself is perforated, air keeps moving underneath, so pasta carries on drying with the lid in place. Bought together as a set the two save you 5%, and the rest of the range sits in dough boxes and storage.