To make fresh homemade pasta it only takes 2 ingredients. No fancy tools and special ingredients.
In just a few minutes you can turn eggs and flour into delicious homemade pasta you can use to make Italian favourites like tomato mozzarella pasta.
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Best flour to use
- Semola - Produced from durum wheat, the same as semolina but not the same thing.
- Type "00" - Also produced from durum weat but a finer grind.
- All-purpose - Works a wonder and what I use in this recipe.
- Bread flour - Also great.
Although cake flour will work to an extent you will not get the same bite and texture as with the above-listed flours.
Useful Equipment
Rolling Pin
Pasta Attachment
Electronic Kitchen Scales
Kitchenaid Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- Eggs - Traditionally bright orange yolk eggs are used. I suggest you use the best organic free range quality eggs for this recipe. Some yolks are artifically coloured nowadays anyway.
- Flour - Traditionally type 00 flour is used but use a simple all purpose or white bread flour with a protein content of at least 10 grams per 100 grams.
It's that simple. Some regional pasta recipes use only flour and water but for a truly authentic pasta experience, you only need eggs and flour.
Instructions
Mixing the dough
- Place 150 grams of flour and 1 large egg(50 grams) into a bowl.
- Bring together the ingredients making sure the flour has taken up the moisture.
- Form a rough dough ball and wrap it up to rest and fully hydrate for an hour.
The correct dough texture
Because different flours absorb different levels of moisture, you might find the pasta dough to be a bit too dry to come together. Just add a small touch of water until the dough comes together.
Remember that pasta dough is very stiff and should be just hydrated and not wet. If it’s too wet the resulting pasta will not have the correct texture.
We want a nice smooth silky pasta dough with a velvety texture and some bite when cooked.
Important note
We do not add salt to the dough as salts strengthen the gluten and that would mean we will have a difficult time rolling it out later.
The salt gets added to the cooking liquid. Which in turn seasons the pasta as it cooks.
Rolling and cutting the dough
- When hydrated and well-rested place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and then cut it into two manageable pieces. Cutting the dough into smaller pieces makes it easier to roll out.
- With a rolling pin or pasta machine gently flour the dough and roll it out into sheets the thickness of a credit card or as thin as your pasta machine will go.
- Keep the sheets from sticking by dusting them with semolina once rolled out.
- You can now cut the fresh pasta into any shape you desire.
- I prefer a more rustic uneven look and like just laying out the sheets of pasta and cutting them into 1,5 cm strips.
- Dust the freshly cut pasta generously with semolina until you are ready to cook it. Alternatively, it can also be dried or stored in the fridge or freezer for later use.
How to cook it
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1.5% salt to the volume of water. This ratio is perfect for seasoning the pasta as well as the water. We will use the pasta cooking water to make a quick pan emulsion with some butter or olive oil or both. So, keep a container handy to save a touch of cooking water once the pasta is done.
- Once the water is boiling, put the pasta in. Boil on a not too vigorous boil for 2-3 minutes.
- While the pasta is cooking. Set a colander over the sink to drain the pasta. Keep in mind that you need to save about 200 grams or millilitres of the pasta cooking water.
- Test your pasta for doneness. Not by throwing it to the ceiling and seeing if it sticks, but by tasting it. Give it a bite after 1.5 minutes and decide how much longer you would want to cook it. Not all people like al dente pasta and most of the time this level of doneness varies from person to person. For example. I like pasta that is cooked so that it does not have a noticeable bite to eat but also not too soft so the texture is mushy. Kind of in the golden zone. Not too hard. Not too soft.
- When you are happy with the doneness of your pasta, strain it and keep back the 200 grams of cooking water.
- In a pan, melt some butter and olive oil. 25 grams each.
- Next, add 100 grams of the cooking water and boil to emulsify. Add the pasta to the emulsion. Toss and you’re done. You can have it as-is or add a bit of grated parmesan or shaved truffle if you feel fancy. If you like a chilli kick. Add some chopped chilli to the butter and olive oil at the start. I like mine with a bit of garlic, chopped parsley, grating of Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
This is the simplest way to enjoy freshly made homemade pasta, and also are the greatest.
Possible pasta shapes
Anything that does not require a pasta extruder. Below is a list of possible options you can use for hand-cut homemade pasta.
- Farfalle
- Tagliatelle
- Pappardelle
- Tagliarini
- Lasagna sheets
- Ravioli - Pasta with a filling
- Tortellini - Also with filling
- Linguini
- Orecchiette
Serving suggestions
- Pasta - Of course in pasta dishes like tomato and mozzarella pasta. Alternatively, mix with creamed spinach or this eggplant zaalouk.
- Garnish - Use instead of traditional sides with salmon fillet or baked chicken breast.
- Salad - Cooked and cooled pasta makes great salads. Add semi-dried cherry tomatoes, chopped parsley, honey-roasted carrots and a simple lemon dressing for a delicious pasta salad you can serve at your next barbecue.
Frequently asked questions
The resting time allows the flour to fully hydrate. By letting the dough rest the flour will hydrate properly without the need to knead it.
Once made it can be stored in the fridge uncooked for up to 24 hours. Make sure it's well-floured and sealed airtight. If the dough is too wet it will stick and be unusable.
Once cooked you can chill it down by running under cold water and tossing in olive oil to prevent it from sticking. Once cool and coated in olive oil it can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen for longer storage.
Once your desired shapes are made simply hang them over a wooden rod or spread them on a fine well-floured wire rack to dry out at room temperature until done. You could also do this in a dehydrator. Once completely dry it can be stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place.
Fresh pasta dough can be frozen and wrapped up airtight for up to 6 months without adverse effects. It can be frozen as a raw piece of pasta dough or already shaped. Once cooked it can also be frozen. Take note that shaped and rolled-out pasta will be very brittle when frozen and can break easily.
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Recipe
Homemade Pasta
Ingredients
- 150 g (1 ⅕ cups) flour
- 1 (1) egg
- 15 g (1 tablespoon) water - optional in case the dough is too stiff
Instructions
- Place 150 grams of flour, 1 large egg(50 grams) into a bowl.
- Bring together the ingredients making sure the flour has taken up the moisture.
- Form a rough dough ball and wrap it up to rest and fully hydrate for an hour.
- When hydrated and well rested. Place the dough onto a slightly floured surface. Roll it out a bit and then cut it into two manageable pieces.
- Next, we will start rolling and stretching the dough.
- This rolling and stretching action structures the dough up and gives it that lovely velvety smooth texture.
- As your roll keep the dough tight with your other hand. Fold it back on itself and then press it down with your fingers as seen below.
- Repeat the rolling and stretching step until the pasta is nice, thin and almost see-through.
- Once your homemade pasta is rolled out nice and thin, it's time to cut it.
- At this point, you could roll it up and then cut it into tagliatelle, pappardelle, or linguini.
- I prefer a more rustic uneven look and like just laying out the sheets of pasta and cutting into 1,5 cm strips.
- Dust the cut pasta dough generously with flour until you are ready to cook it.
Notes
- We do not add salt to the dough as salts strengthen the gluten and that would mean we will have a difficult time rolling it out later. The salt gets added to the cooking liquid. Which in turn seasons the pasta as it cooks.
- Once rolled out, the pasta can be dried or frozen for longer storage.
- Once cooked it can be kept in the fridge sealed airtight for up to 3 days or for up to 3 months in the freezer. For best results cook and consume as soon as you make it.
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