How to Layer Lasagna
How to Layer Lasagna
Lasagna is a layered dish made up of: ragù meat (ground beef with onion, celery, carrots), mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, béchamel sauce and lasagna noodles that are baked in a hotel pan.
The anatomy of how to layer lasagna.
How to layer lasagna setup
Set up your station with the lasagna sheet plan placed between the ragù meat sheet pan and the béchamel sauce sheet pan as in the photo below. From left to right béchamel pan, lasagna pan, ragù pan. You will be scooping the béchamel from the left to the center and the ragù from the right to the center.
Initial Setup to Layer Lasagna has béchamel, lasagna sheet pan and ragù on the right.
One complete lasagna layer when baking in a standard hotel pan consists of ragù meat 20oz + béchamel sauce 20oz + mozzarella cheese 1 cup + parmesan cheese 1/4 cup + lasagna noodles. A classic Italian lasagna has 4 layers.
Ingredients and quantities needed to layer lasagna
Standard hotel pan
8oz ladle
1/4 cup measuring scoop
1/2 cup measuring scoop
1 cup measuring scoop
4.5 lb Ragù (18oz per layer or Two 6 oz fluid ladle scoops per lasagna layer)
6.25 lb Béchamel (25oz per layer or Two 8oz fluid ladle scoops per lasagna layer)
9 oz Shredded Mozzarella (1 cup or 3oz per layer)
3 oz Grated Parmesan (1/4 cup or 1oz per layer)
1/2 Cup Whole Milk (1/2 cup only on top lasagna layer)
15 Twenty inch long lasagna noodles: Five two ounce lasagna noodle sheets per layer. Most 10 lb cases have 80 noodle sheets.
Kitchen tools
Ingredients and quantities needed for 3 layer lasagna
How to layer lasagna
When you layer lasagna the first or bottom most layer is 20oz of ragù + 20oz of béchamel sauce mixed together (left image below) with lasagna noodles layered over them (right image below).
The bottom layer has béchamel and ragù with lasagna noodles on top.
In the second layer of lasagna is the first complete lasagna layer with the [ragù + béchamel + mozzarella cheese 1 cup + parmesan cheese 1/4 cup + lasagna noodles]. Mix the ingredients well as in the image below. *Make sure you give your lasagna structural strength and layer the lasagna noodles going the opposite way as the previous layer.
The second layer has the lasagna noodles running in the opposite direction.
Repeat this lasagna layering two more times to get four total lasagna layers.
Your final lasagna layer is a bit different. This one you will poke with a knife to make sure your lasagna noodles have holes and cook through. This is not necessary if you are using lasagna noodles that are pre-cooked. In this lasagna layering recipe we use standard lasagna noodles that will cook with our lasagna. Poke holes with a knife and top it off with a little bit of whole milk 1/4 cup along the sides and to fill the holes.
Poke holes through the lasagna noodles and top with milk.
Bake the layered lasagna in a convection oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Bake lasagna at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
How to layer lasagna notes and tricks
What meat do I use for lasagna? Traditional Italian lasagna bolognese is made with beef ragù sauce but you can also layer lasagna using turkey ragù or any kind of ground meat including pork to create a different version of lasagna.
Why does my lasagna fall apart? To give lasagna layers structural strength you need to layer the noodles so they change direction at each layer (refer to images above). Notice how when you layer the lasagna noodles they do not go in the same direction. This makes a big difference in how your lasagna layers hold together.
Do we have to pre-cook our lasagna noodles? This is not necessary. Lasagna noodles will cook in the oven as your lasagna bakes. Adding some milk and poking holes in the lasagna layers facilitate the cooking process. (refer to image above).
Chef Justin started his career in as a pantry relief cook in the casino fine dining scene, and quickly moved up to Sous Chef within a few years. His career later took him to a two star Michelin restaurant, Localis where he worked as Sous Chef/Chef de partie to specialize in meats and butchery work.