Fresh Egg Pasta from Scratch
I bought a pasta machine almost a decade ago now ; however, I’ve been too intimidated to actually try pasta on my own. A couple months ago though I took a making pasta from scratch class with some friends and it was honestly so easy to make I don’t know why I waited so long to try it in the first place. This recipe uses white flour, however the teacher recommended using ’00’ flour for the best quality. Making pasta from scratch requires some thinking ahead of time because you need a day for the noodles to rest before preparing them to eat.
The recipe requires only two ingredients- yes two! I don’t think ANY other recipe on this blog has just two ingredients. On a clean counter, you have to make a well in some flour and then crack the eggs directly into that well on your counter top.
The next step is to knead the dough until it all comes together, the dough should be fairy tough and hard but still malleable. I then split it into 3 balls so that it’s easier to work with.
After letting the dough sit for about a half hour (covered and at room temperature) I used a rolling pin (along with some flour for dusting) to get the dough started before putting it through the pasta machine. You want to roll the dough at the widest setting on the machine at first and then fold it together in thirds and dust it with some flour before putting it through the machine a second time (still at the widest setting).
After folding the dough and rolling it through the widest setting another time (3-4 times total) you do not need to fold the dough anymore. Set the machine to a narrower setting and keep rolling the sheet out until it becomes almost paper thin. Once the dough is thin enough, let it sit on the counter to dry for a few minutes and then put it through the angel hair pasta setting to get some nice thin noodles. Do not let the pasta dry too much otherwise it will become brittle and crack.
Dust these strips with a generous amount of flour before curling them into loose ‘nests’.
The prepared pasta should rest overnight in the refrigerator in an airtight container before boiling it in salted water for 2 minutes. I recommend using a very light sauce with handmade fresh pasta because the noodles are very delicate. The texture of fresh pasta will be less rubbery than store-bought pasta.
The same steps can be used for fettuccine, you just have to cut the noodles at that setting. If you wanted to make lasagna then don’t cut the noodles with the pasta cutting setting but just cut them with a pizza-cutter or a knife into noodles the size of your lasagna tray.
Fresh Egg Pasta from Scratch
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 600 grams "00" flour or all purpose flour
Instructions
- Pile up the flour on your counter and then make a well in the center. Break your eggs into the well and then whisk them with a fork. Start mixing in a little bit of the flour at a time until all of it has been incorporated.
- Knead the dough just until it all comes together and then split the dough into 3-4 equally sized balls and wrap them in some plastic and let sit at room temperature for about half an hour.
- Use a rolling pin (along with some flour for dustinto get the dough started before putting it through the pasta machine. You want to roll the dough at the widest setting on the machine at first and then fold it together in thirds and dust it with some more flour before putting it through the machine a second time (still at the widest setting).
- After folding the dough and rolling it through the widest setting another time (3-4 times totayou do not need to fold the dough anymore. Set the machine to a narrower setting and keep rolling the sheet out until it becomes almost paper thin. If at any point the dough gets a bit sticky just dust it with some more flour.
- At this point you can decide what type of noodles you'd like to prepare- angel hair, fettuccine, lasagna etc,
- Once the dough is thin enough, let it sit on the counter to dry for a few minutes and then put it through the angel hair pasta setting to get some nice thin noodles. Note: do not let the pasta dry too much otherwise it will become brittle and crack.
- Dust the noodles with more flour before curling into loose 'nests', these can then be put in an airtight container and stored in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before cooking.
- To cook the pasta, boil a pot of water and add a generous amount of salt to it, add the noodles and cook 'al dante' meaning they should be a little bit on the hard side- not soggy. Angel hair pasta only really needs to be cooked for about 2 minutes.
- Mix in some light sauce and serve.
