I no longer buy store made pasta. It’s so easy to make fresh pasta from scratch
Jaimie Oliver is perhaps my all time favorite chef. I first stumbled upon him browsing TV late one night about a decade ago. Hooked by his accent and demeanor I quickly went out and bought one of his cook books. Flipping through his book, one of the first dishes I tried making fresh pasta from scratch. Thus, I went out and purchased a pasta machine (Ed note: I have a Imperia pasta roller but just about any similar type machines will work) and once I figured out how to make it work, it astonished me how easy it is to make fresh pasta from scratch!
First, Make the Fresh Pasta Dough
Fresh pasta is simply flour and eggs – there is nothing more to it. Getting the dough right is the tough part and took me a while to perfect, so I wanted to share my results with you!
Generally speaking 3/4 cup of flour (~90 grams) and 1 egg yields about 1.5 servings, and is a perfect portion for my wife and I (adjust accordingly). First, mix the dough either using a mixer, by hand, or a food processor (I typically start by hand and then move to the mixer with kneading hooks). From this I mix in more flour, a little bit of time, until the dough is no longer sticky. You can tell by pinching it together: when the dough is smooth yet can still be formed into a soft, singular ball without easily falling apart, you are ready to proceed.
Separate the dough into racquetball size balls (about 2 balls per egg you used), cover with saran wrap and let rest for about 10 minutes in the fridge. I will sometimes make this the morning of or during a break at work – it’s ok to let the dough rest longer in the fridge
Second, Roll the Pasta Dough into a Sheet
When the dough has finished resting, begin working it through your pasta roller. Take each ball and it to make it easier to work through the roller. I follow a three step process when working my dough through the roller.
- First, begin boiling your water to cook the pasta
- Crank it through your pasta machine a time or two, folding it in half after each pass through
- When you have a solid, wide sheet of pasta proceed to the next setting and slightlty dust each side of the flattened dough with flour to prevent it sticking in the rollers.
- Click the setting down a notch, repeat Steps 1&2 and when you get to the last setting you are ready for cutting!
Finally, Cut the Dough into Pasta & Boil!
Finally, take each flattened pasta sheet and roll it trough your cutter. Then take the cut pasta and throw into a pot of boiling water and cook for no longer then two
minutes. Be mindful, fresh pasta does not need to cook for very long!
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 Cup (~180g) of type '00' or all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of olive oil
- Form the Flour into a Volcano
- In a separate bowl beat the egg until smooth
- Pour the beaten egg into the center of the volcano and slowly incorporate the flour
- Add the olive oil
- Knead the dough for roughly 10 minutes or until smooth
- If the dough remains sticky add flour in small doses
- Seperate the dough into balls - roughly 2 balls for every egg you use
- Cover and let rest for 10 minutes
- Sprinkle some salt into a large stock pot of water and set on high to begin boiling
- Break the dough into small balls roughly the size of racket ball
- Roll the dough through each setting of your pasta roller (from thickest to thinnest), dusting the flour each time to prevent sticking
- Take the thinnest sheet, dust it with some flour, and roll it through your pasta cutter to make your desired pasta
- Take the cut pasta and boil for ~2 minutes
I always recommend weighing ingredients to get repeatable results!