Homemade Pasta
Once you have homemade pasta, you will never go back to boxed again. The best thing, it is way easier to make than you think. I use a pasta making attachment for my Kitchen-aid mixer, but you can still make this without any equipment.
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serving Size: 4-6portions
Ingredients
2 cups flour (I usually use Caputo 00 flour, but you can also use all-purpose)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon olive oil (add 1/4 teaspoon if using all-purpose flour)
pinch of salt
Instructions
Place the flour in a clump on a clean work surface (I usually use my counter) and make a ‘nest’ by pressing a small bowl down into the middle of the flour clump.
Add the eggs, olive oil, and salt to the center of the nest. Using a fork, start to gently scramble the eggs. Try to keep the sides of the nest intact.
Slowly start to mix more of the flour from the sides of the nest into the egg mixture. You can either use your hands or a dough scraper to push slowly incorporate in more of the flour. Keep kneading until the dough becomes a loose ball.
Continue to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes. The dough will be a dry and a little hard to work with, but just keep kneading! If halfway through, there is a lot of excess flour that is not getting incorporated and/or the dough ball in not starting to ‘tightly’ form, then rub a little oil on your hands and keep kneading. Depending on how dry your dough is, keep repeating the process of adding a little oil to your hands. Conversely, if the dough is too sticky, add some flour to the surface you are working on and keep kneading it in.
Once the dough ball is formed, tightly wrap the ball in plastic wrap and let the dough sit for at least 30 minutes.
Sprinkle flour over a large surface (either the counter or baking sheets).
Unwrap the dough ball and cut it into 4 pieces. Slightly flatten the first disk and run it through your pasta roller (I use this Kitchen-Aid attachment. If you do not have a past roller, you can use a rolling pin and roll the dough to about 1/3-1/4 inch thick. If the dough starts to break as you run it through your roller, put it back into a ball, cover it, and let it sit for 30 minutes as you work on the other pieces and then try again (try dusting it with a little flour before you run it through again).
Keep running the dough through your pasta roller, increasing the level, until you hit the desired frequency. If you are making ravioli, keep the dough on the thicker side (1/3 inch thick or a little more). For fehttuchini, I like making it thinner (about 1/4 inch thick).
Once you have your dough rolled out, lay the dough sheet on your floured surface and sprinkle the top side with flour. Continue to work on the other dough portions.
Once all your dough is rolled out, cut the dough into the shapes that you want either by hand or with a pasta cutter. As you are cutting your pasta, make sure to keep both sides floured so they do not stick together. Repeat until all the dough is cut.
Boil a pot of water and then cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes (fresh pasta cooks WAYY faster).
Strain your cooked pasta and add to a serving bowl or pan so you can mix in your favorite sauce!
