Homemade Pasta
I use this fresh pasta recipe A LOT. When I have that little bit of extra time, this makes dinner extra special.
If this is your first time making fresh pasta, welcome. I’m glad you’re here to give it a go. It felt daunting to me the first time I made it, but once you get a hang of the process it’s a fairly straight forward, albeit a bit repetitive (but that just means you’ll get lots of practice and be perfect in no time!). Have a read through the whole recipe before starting - there are a few important steps like resting the dough, when to stop kneading and a lightly floured bench if you’re hand rolling. Also, bear in mind that the rolling time will increase with the more people you’re catering for. I tend to be happy making pasta for about 4 - 5 people at a time, but I have made batches for more - it’s just a small labour of love per person.
Fresh pasta, tossed in flour and drying out
Step 1: Make a well in the centre of the flour.
Step 2: Add the eggs to the centre of the well.
Step 2: Height of well to fold egg in centre before mixing
Homemade pasta
Yield: 1 Person
Time: 10mins kneading, 30 mins resting, 15mins rolling (per person)
Ingredients (Per Person)
100g ‘00’ or another soft flour (Plain/ standard work but try to avoid high grade)
1 egg
Method
On your kitchen bench make a well in the centre of your flour, aiming to have the edges a little high so that once you add in your eggs they won’t immediately spill over the top. I do this on a clean, dry bench and just clean it down afterwards. You could do this in a bowl but you’ll find the mixture gets quite tough and sticky which may become difficult to handle in the bowl.
Add the egg/s into the centre of the well. With your hands mix the flour and eggs together, starting in the centre and moving outwards to collect all the flour. It will start to become a bit of a shaggy mess… keep going and it will come together.
Once the dough starts to come together into a ball, you can start kneading more purposefully. Keep kneading until the dough is smooth on top and springs back a bit when you press it. The indent left by your finger may not completely go away but the dough should bounce back enough to create only a small dent remaining.
Wrap with clingwrap and rest on the bench for at least 30 mins. This step is important as it allows the gluten bonds that you have formed to relax. This will ensure that when you go to thinly roll out your dough it will stay thin and delicate like you desired and won’t spring back and become thick pasta strands. Also, by wrapping your dough you’re ensuring the surface doesn’t dry out and the dough will remain smooth when you roll it out.
You have 2 ways to roll out your dough – by hand or with a pasta machine.
BY HAND: Take pieces of your dough approx. 40g / just smaller than a golf ball. On a lightly floured bench*, roll your dough as thin as possible. You should almost be able to see through it. The shape you roll to will slightly depend on the shape of pasta you’re wanting to cut but in general 15cm x 25cm should work well. Try to keep the edges as straight as you can and this will minimise wastage of offcuts. Once your pasta is rolled thin, place onto a chopping board and use a sharp knife to cut strips to your desired width. I tend to go a bit thicker when making pasta by hand, but this is up to you.
PASTA MACHINE: Take pieces of your dough approx. 40g / just smaller than a golf ball. Flatten the dough so it looks like a square pancake. Feed the dough through the pasta machine on its widest setting. Continue feeding the dough through the machine, reducing the width of the rollers each time until you get to your desired thickness. If your pasta machine also has a cutting attachment then roll it through this and dry. If you don’t have a cutting attachment then cut by hand as above.
If you have a pasta drying rack you can now hang your pasta up to dry, or toss in a little flour and lay our on the bench to dry (if laying on the bench check it in a couple of minutes to ensure the strands aren’t sticking together – if needed sprinkle on a little more flour and toss through gently)
Cooking your pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Place your pasta in the water and cook approx. 6 mins – this will depend slightly on how long you dried your pasta for, so check as you go.
Drain your pasta and serve with your favourite sauce.
* Having a floured bench is important as it will allow you to roll out your dough without the underside sticking to the bench.