The Better Homemade Pasta

My favorite thing about homemade pasta is that it sounds a lot more grandiose and complex than it really is. Have a lady or gentleman caller you need to impress? Perhaps an in-law that you need to win over? From-scratch pasta is the easiest way to score extra brownie points.

Make a well with the flour and place scrambled eggs in the center, then carefully stir with your fingers to combine the flour and eggs.

Eventually, a messy dough ball comes together. Continue incorporating all the small bits that are on your work surface into the dough, then knead until it becomes smooth and soft.

I cut the dough ball in half or into quarters (depending on how much I’m making). It’s easier to work with smaller pieces than one huge lump of dough.

Roll out the dough making sure to fold it and dust with flour. When you’re done rolling the pasta should be dry–not sticky–and thin enough to fit through your pasta machine’s widest setting.

Feed your pasta through the machine. I usually run it through three times on setting six, two times on setting five, two times on setting four, then one time on setting three, and one time on setting two. It sounds laborious, but it’s actually my favorite part of the process; I find it so relaxing!

After feeding the dough through the machine a number of times, you will have these long silky sheets of pasta which you can use for lasagna, ravioli, spaghetti, or whatever your heart desires. Today I chose to make fettuccine.

Lightly dust the noodles with flour, and that’s it! You’ve made some pasta from scratch. See I told you it was easy! Fresh pasta only takes about 2 or three minutes to cook so you never have to wait too long to enjoy the fruit of your labor.

I love this recipe because it is so easy to remember and to adjust depending on how many servings you want. Each serving is 100 grams of flour and 1 egg. Seriously, it couldn’t get any easier!

RECIPE

3 servings

ingredients

300 grams ’00’ flour

3 eggs

directions

1.  Make a well with the flour and place scrambled eggs in the center. Slowly incorporate the flour into the egg mixture.
2. Incorporate all the flour with the eggs, then knead the dough.
3. When the dough has come together and is soft, divide in half so it is easier to work with.
4. Roll each of the halves out. Make sure to flip between rolls and dust with flour. Continue rolling out the dough until it fits through the widest setting of your pasta machine.
5. Guide pasta through the machine lowering the settings each time. Continue doing this until the pasta has reached your desired thickness.
6. Cut pasta to the desired shape. This can be done with the pasta machine (as pictured above), by hand, or with any other tool you may have for the task.
7. Dust noodles lightly with flour and allow to rest for ten minutes before cooking.
8. Bring water to a rolling boil and cook pasta for 2-3 minutes until al dente.
9. When finished cooking, remove pasta from water and toss with olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking.