Making Pasta - Basic
I remember the first time I made pasta at home, I was so worried it would be hard, that I would mess something up and that everything would get so dirty. Once I was done I was so pleasantly surprised that I almost forgot all of my initial worries - all except for the dirty part. The kitchen was a mess afterwards but the pasta was so good it was 100% worth it.
Since then I have made pasta plenty of times and I still haven’t bought a pasta machine, I just think there is something special about doing the whole process with your hands. The pasta might not come out perfect and some pieces will be bigger than others but it makes it feel even more home made.
One of the great things about pasta is that once you know how to make the dough you can pretty much make any type of pasta. The dough in the following recipe is great for tagliatelle, ravioli, linguine and even penne (but this shape is a bit harder to achieve with your hands only). You will be able to make ravioli filled with anything you want (spinach & ricotta, pumpkin, veal) or dishes like tagliatelle with mushrooms, asparagus or ANYTHING your mind can think of or our favourite Linguine alla Ligure (from Liguria in Italy) with anchovies.
Generally the following recipe will give you a great pasta dough knowledge and from there you can experiment and play as much as you like. Remember to let the dough rest before working with it as this is a very important step.
We tried many recipes and experimented quite a bit and found this one to be the absolute best.
Fun Fact: In some places in Italy you can find specific egg made for pasta making - the yolks are a bit more orange so that the pasta has more of a yellowish color and is less dull. You can, of course, use any type of egg.
Prep Time: 30 Min
Rest Time: at least 30 Min
Ingredients (for 1 Kg):
OO Flour - 200g (keep an additional 50g on the side)
Eggs - 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
Salt - a pinch
How to:
First things first, pick out a working area and clean it properly. You will be making pasta on here so it needs to be spotless.
Take your flour and make a little volcano in order to have a hole in the middle and more on the sides.
Put the eggs and egg yolk in the hole, add a pinch of salt and mix everything together with your hands. You will need to have a non-sticky smooth ball.
If the dough is not elastic enough you can add some lukewarm water, while if the dough is sticky you can add some flour (this is what the additional 50 g are for)
Once this action is completed you will have to leave the dough to rest at least 30 minutes in a dry and shady place (we like to put it in cupboards).
Once the 30 Min are over and you have decided the shape of pasta you want to do it’s time to move on.
With this pasta dough you will be able to make pretty much all types of pasta: ravioli, linguine, tagliatelle etc. so it is really up to you.
In order to make tagliatelle you will have to work your dough with a pin until it is around 7mm thick, after this you will have to roll the dough and cut it as seen in the picture below.
