Making Homemade Pasta
Source of Recipe
Deborah Mele
Making pasta at home is much easier than most people would imagine. By making your own pasta dough, you have an unlimited number of options available to you to create your own personal pasta dishes. Imagine delicate layers of egg pasta nestled between a spicy tomato sauce and meltingly tender cheese for unforgettable lasagna. Or maybe you'd prefer soft pillows of ravioli stuffed with a tasty ricotta and spinach filling. You too can prepare dishes like this, and many others once you learn the basic technique of making pasta.
You don’t need a kitchen full of equipment to make pasta, but a hand-rolling machine that also cuts is a big time saver. The Atlas model from Italy is the one I have, and it can be found in most department or kitchen stores. At around $30-40 it is well worth the investment if you think making pasta is something you’ll enjoy. There are many ravioli forms available, but I find it is just as easy to make ravioli by hand. A dough scraper is helpful particularly if you make your dough on the counter or on a pastry board as I do. I also have a few hand cutters that crimp, cut, and seal as you roll them over the prepared dough. Of course having a good pasta pot is very important, and makes preparation much easier. An eight-quart size seems to be the average size available.
The two principle ingredients for making a basic egg pasta are flour and eggs. I use all-purpose unbleached flour as it has high gluten content, which creates fairly firm pasta dough. Large, fresh eggs are the only other ingredients unless a splash of warm water is needed to form workable dough. Generally, I would use 3/4 cup of flour for every large egg added. You can increase this recipe as needed depending on the type of dish you are making, or the quantity of people you need to feed.
To start, mound your flour on a large pastry board, or the counter, and make a well in the center. Break the eggs into this well, and start to scramble each egg with a fork as it is being added. Start to incorporate the eggs and flour by slowly bringing more flour in from the inside edges of the well. Continue adding the flour to the eggs until they are no longer runny. Using your hands now, bring the outside edges in, forming a large mass on your board. Use only the amount of flour needed to form a soft ball.
Begin to knead the ball of dough as you would bread, pushing it down with the heel of your hand. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and satiny, for about 8 minutes. Wrap the prepared dough in plastic wrap, and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
We will continue with this lesson in Part Two, where I will discuss the rolling and the cutting of the pasta. Future articles will deal with the many variations of this basic recipe that will produce numerous different flavored pastas. You might want to check my recipe links under Fresh Pasta Recipes, for more ideas using fresh pasta. Check back often, and you’ll learn how easy it really is to make your own pasta dough at home.
Now that you have made your dough in Part One, it is time to start rolling and cutting it. You have your choice of either using a hand-cranked machine, or rolling it by hand. To use the machine, begin by cutting off a piece of the dough the size of your fist. Flatten by hand, flour well, and start by rolling this piece through the rollers at their widest setting. Fold the dough in from each end reducing its size to 1/3. Repeat this process for about 6-7 times, folding, and flouring the dough as needed to prevent sticking. The dough is now ready to be thinned.
Decreasing the roller notches by one each time, pass the dough through the rollers until you have the thickness required for your recipe. Once it is finished, lightly flour this piece, and then cut it as desired. You can choose to pass it through the cutting tool on your machine for fettuccine or tagliarini, or cut it into sheets to be used for lasagne or ravioli. Continue in this manner using up the rest of the dough. Hang on a pasta dryer, or lay out on clean towels to dry. If making ravioli, do not let dry before stuffing.
To roll by hand, flatten your dough ball into a disc shape, and on a lightly floured surface, begin to roll back and forth with your rolling pin, exerting a fair amount of pressure. Continue rolling from different angles to obtain a rectangle type of shape. Dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking, turn the dough over a few times while rolling. Continue in this fashion, reducing the pressure exerted on the dough as it begins to thin. Once it has reached the desired thickness, dust well with flour.
To cut into fettuccine or tagliarini, begin rolling the dough away from you by hand into a fairly firm tube. Using a sharp knife, cut into the desired shape, either fettuccine or tagliarini. Unroll the pasta as soon as they are cut, and hang on pasta dryer or twirl into small nests to dry.
Remember, fresh pasta cooks very quickly. To cook your pasta, drop into boiling, salted water and watch it carefully. If your pasta has been made within the last hour, it could take less than 1 minute to cook! The longer it was left to dry, the longer it will take to cook. Test it frequently to prevent overcooking. Your pasta is now ready to be topped with your favorite sauce.
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