Fresh Pasta
Making Pasta, for me, is probably the most satisfying job ever. It is so simple – only 3 ingredients required and at the same time it is not only extremely impressive but also so much more delicious than anything store bought! I’ve spent quite a few hours of my life trying to handmake things where, i am sometimes not sure if was really worth it (mincing burger meat using a kitchen knife…). However fresh pasta is definitely worth it.
Its easiest to roll out the pasta using a pasta machine. But don’t worry if you don’t have one – with a bit of elbow grease you can roll it with a rolling pin. A few important bits to remember when making pasta and then you can go and impress all your friends and family.
Secrets to success:
- You need to use ’00’ flour. This is more finely milled flour than regular flour and will makesure your pasta is nice silky smooth. With regular flour you won’t quite the right result!
- After you created your pasta dough, you need to let it rest. Resting dough before working it is always important, it will relax the gluten and make it much easier to work with
- You can make pasta with whole eggs, or just egg yolks or a mixture of both. The more yolks you add, the richer silkier your pasta texture will be. If you want to add more yolks, substitute each egg with 2 yolks.
- Do not add salt to pasta. It will create a white spotted appearance when being cooked. Instead, liberally salt the cooking water. It should taste salty like sea water.
- You can make the dough the night or morning before you want to roll it out by keeping it wrapped tightly in clingfilm. You can store the rolled out pasta on a bed of semolina overnight in the fridge
| Prep Time | 45 minutes |
| Cook Time | 5 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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Ingredients
- 500 g '00' flour
- 4 eggs (or 2 eggs and 4 yolks)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- semolina or more flour
Ingredients
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Instructions
- In a food processor, combine flour, eggs and olive oil. Blitz until you get a coarse crumb. The dough should be soft but not too tacky. If it feels to dry add a little more egg – do not add more oil as that will interfere with the texture of the pasta. If it is too soft add some more flour. If you do not have a food processor, add the flour into a large bowl and create a well. Mix the egg and add with the oil to the well. Work the flour in slowly with your hands until you have created a soft but not tacky dough.
- Bring dough together, knead briefly and wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave to rest 45 min-2 hours. Any longer keep in the fridge.
- Cut about 1/4 of the pasta dough and roughly flatten into a rectangle the width of your pasta machine. Keep the rest wrapped in clingfilm. You don’t want to roll out too much at once or the pasta sheet becomes difficult to manage. Feed through the largest setting 3-4 times, folding the dough in half each time. This will create a stronger pasta. Try and keep the dough as a rectangle to make it easier later. You can always tuck and fold in edges.
- Next, start narrowing the pasta machine by one setting each time. Feed the sheet through once each time until you have the desired thickness. If it becomes sticky you may need to lightly dust the dough with more ’00’ flour or semolina. You should be able to just make out text if you held a newspaper under the pasta. Filled pasta should be thinner than unfilled so roll out slightly thinner.
- If you do not have a pasta roller, roll out thinly and evenly with a rolling pin. Roll out less dough at a time so it will be easier. Make sure to have sufficiently rested the dough before you do this otherwise it will be very difficult!
- Cut the sheets into the desired shapes. I’ve cut tagliatelle, papardelle, farfalle or garganelli. For farfalle cut into rectangles, using a crimped dough cutter for the sides and pinching the middle together. For garganelli, cut into squares and then roll using a garganelli board, as pictured below.
- Let pasta dry on semolina until leathery to touch, then cook and serve with desired sauce.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
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