Fresh pasta is amazing for several reasons. It is not complicated to make at home and requires just three simple ingredients. As delicious as boxed pasta already is, fresh pasta is even better and someone once told me that the amount of kneading required to make pasta completely cancels out any calories involved, so it’s the perfect situation!
Ok I made that last part up, but I really do think that there are plenty of reasons to make fresh pasta at home. With these three ingredients, you can create delicious sheets of pasta that you can shape into so many beautiful pasta shapes and sizes.
Did you know that there are over 90 different kinds of pasta? If you are interested in learning more about the different kinds of pasta, visit this page. I feel like enjoying each one of them at least once is something that should be included in my bucket list. Goals…
Today, I am making tagliatelle, which is a thin, but broad ribbon cut pasta. It is one of my favorites and I am excited to toss it in something fabulous.
Lets make some pasta…
Begin by gathering 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 large egg, 6 egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Although you can bring pasta dough together in a bowl, my preferred method is on a nice smooth countertop or large cutting board, so begin by adding about 2 cups of the all purpose flour into a mesh sifter and sift it directly onto your counter top. Set the remaining flour to the side for now.
Use your fingers to create a deep well in the center of your sifted flour and add the whole egg, 6 egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into the well. Be sure to make the well large enough to hold all of the eggs and oil inside of it.
Note: If you are nervous about whisking the eggs and oil inside your flour well, you can absolutely whisk them in a small bowl before pouring them in!
Use a fork to begin gently whisking the eggs and oil, dragging some of the flour from the top edges of your well down into the eggs.
Continue working more flour in as you whisk until it is all fully combined with the whisked eggs.
Don’t worry if some of your eggs escape! Use your fork or a bench scraper to bring it back into the mix and add more of the remaining flour when necessary.
As soon as a soft dough has formed, lightly flour your hands and begin kneading. If the dough is really sticky, dust more flour in until you have a kneadable dough that no longer sticks to clean, lightly floured hands. At this point, continue kneading for 6-8 minutes or until you achieve a smooth, springy dough.
This kneading work is worth it in the end. Trust me. Under kneaded dough doesn’t have the same texture that a properly kneaded dough achieves and don’t worry too much about over kneading… your arms will fall off before that happens…
You will know that your dough is done when it feels smooth, elastic and it will bounce back when you poke it with your finger. If you poke it and the indent stays there, knead on my friend.
When you’re finished, form the dough into a disk and wrap it up in some plastic wrap. Let it rest on the counter for 60-90 minutes. This resting time allows the gluten to relax, so when we roll it out later, it won’t tense back up. Relaxed dough is good dough.
Once your pasta dough has rested, unwrap it and place it on a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, divide the dough into 4 or 6 equal portions. If you are confident rolling pasta dough, 4 portions will be fine, but if you are new to the pasta game, make 6, because a smaller portion of dough will be easier to roll out. Keep one portion out and set the rest of them aside covered with plastic wrap. Pasta dough dries out quickly and become difficult to work with, so keep the other pieces covered up until you are ready to work with them.
Before you start rolling out the first portion, be sure that your work surface is floured and so is your rolling pin. Since I divided my disk of pasta dough into little triangle sliced shapes, I work with it a little bit to bring it into a more rectangular shape before beginning to roll it out.
If you have pointy ends as you begin rolling out your dough, simply fold them back in and continue rolling, like I have shown below…
Continue rolling your pasta, either by hand or using a pasta roller, until it is thin enough to see your hand through…
Once your pasta is rolled out beautifully thin, it is time to cut it into your desired shape.
There are so many different shapes that pasta can be cut or shaped into, but today, we are focusing on long ribbon style pastas like fettuccini, tagliatelle, linguini or pappardelle. They are all cut the same way, just with varying widths.
The easiest method to cut your pasta is by gently folding both ends in toward the middle and then doing that again until you have several loose folds (photo below).
Do not press on these folds, as this can make the pasta stick together and not loosen once your ribbons are cut.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into the thickness you are looking for…
Next, gently loosen the ribbons and spread them out a bit. Lightly dust the ribbons with flour before you gather them up. The flour not only helps prevent the fresh pasta from sticking together, but it will also help dry out the pasta a bit more before cooking.
Repeat this with the remaining portions of dough…
If you enjoy making pasta and want to do it more often, I would suggest adding a pasta rolling machine to your kitchen tool chest. It really speeds things up and creates the most beautifully even and thin pasta…
Once all of the pasta has been rolled out, cut and dusted with flour, it is time to cook it up!
Bring a large deep saucepan of water to a boil over high heat and as soon as it begins to boil, add a big pinch of salt. You may have noticed that I did not add salt into the pasta dough and this is because I find that seasoning your pasta in the water is a much better method. Pasta cooked in salty water is delicious pasta, so don’t forget to salt your water!
Fresh pasta only needs to be cooked for 2-3 minutes, so be sure that you have your sauce all ready before you drop the pasta in the water. After the pasta is cooked, transfer it directly from the cooking water into your sauce of choice. Fresh pasta is delicate and delicious and really pairs well with a variety of sauces, but it is also just perfect with a little butter and parmesan.
However you decide to enjoy your fresh pasta, I am quite confident that you will absolutely love it…
Fresh Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 large egg (whole)
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Separate 1 cup of flour and set it aside
- Place the other 2 cups of flour into a large mesh sifter and carefully sift the flour into a small pile on a smooth flat work surface and form a large well in the middle
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 whole egg, 6 egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of olive oil until smooth and pour this into the well in the flour
- Carefully begin dragging the edges of the flour into the whisked eggs until the flour and eggs are combined
- Lightly flour your hands and begin lightly kneading until a dough begins to form
- Continue to knead for 6-8 minutes
- Once the dough is smooth, elastic and bounces back when poked with a finger, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and rest on the counter for 60 minutes
- Unwrap the rested dough and divide into 4-6 equal sections
- Begin rolling out one section of the dough (keep the remaining dough covered with plastic so they do not dry out)
- Once the dough is thin enough to see your fingers through, gently fold both ends in to meet in the middle and then fold the ends over themselves once more
- Using a dough cutter or sharp knife, cut pasta into the thickness you prefer
- Gently loosen the pieces, dust with flour and set them aside
- Repeat with the remaining sections of pasta
- Boil pasta for 2-3 minutes in salted water
- Drain and toss in your favorite sauce
- Enjoy immediately
