Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®
How to Make Homemade Pasta
INGREDIENTS
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Start Your Dough
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Egg pasta is super simple ingredient wise: flour, salt, eggs and olive oil. Begin by whisking together 2 cups of flour
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and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add three large eggs and
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one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
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Whisk & Knead the Dough
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Whisk the eggs and oil with a fork while slowly incorporating some of the flour from around the edges
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as you go. Once the dough becomes too thick to whisk with a fork, turn the dough out onto a clean work
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surface, along with any leftover flour from the bowl. Knead the dough and remaining flour until you’ve
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got a smooth, stiff ball of dough.
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3 Let the Dough Rest
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Wrap the dough loosely with plastic and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The wrapped
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dough can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to a day if necessary.
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Divide the Dough
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When you're ready to make your pasta, divide the dough into four smaller portions. Work with one
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portion at a time, leaving the remaining three covered with plastic to prevent them from drying out.
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Roll the Dough
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Dust the dough liberally with flour, then flatten it into a rectangular shape with your hands. Once
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flattened, begin to roll the dough into a long, thin sheet, dusting liberally with flour on both sides
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as you go.
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Slice Noodles
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Dust the pasta liberally with flour once again, then fold it into a wide, flat roll. Folding the pasta
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into a flat roll instead of simply rolling the pasta up into a tube will help prevent the pasta from
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being squashed as it's cut. Use a sharp knife to cut the pasta into strips.
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Shake the cut pasta strands out into a loose pile and dust with flour. At this point, the pasta can
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be dropped into boiling water to cook or can be piled onto a baking sheet in single portions and frozen.
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If freezing, transfer the individual frozen pasta nests to an air-tight freezer bag for storage. To dry
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the frozen pasta, hang the strands through a hanger over a clothes drying rack, or over the back
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of a chair in a cool, dry place. Once the pasta is dry and brittle, it can be stored in an air-tight container.
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Cook the Pasta
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Keep in mind that fresh or fresh-frozen pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta. A quick
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three- to four-minute boil in lightly salted water is all you need for a plateful of springy, flavorful
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homemade pasta. The sky's the limit with shapes and flavors, so take this base recipe and
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make it your own.
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