Homemade fresh pasta
Do you really think that making homemade fresh pasta is difficult?
Well think again! I would like to show you that, once you’ve learned the basics, you will be able to make your own favorite pasta in no time. To make homemade pasta you’ll only need two basic ingredients: eggs and flour. Easy right?
You do not need fancy equipment to make pasta, making it by hand is a good exercise and, unless you plan to feed 100 people even relatively time consuming.
Homemade pasta is one of those things in Italy that define the quality of your cooking skills. When you can make a good pasta you are definitely a very good cook! The basic recipe for egg pasta calls for eggs and flour and can actually yield an incredible number of pasta types. What changes usually is the shape.
Using this basic dough you will be able to make:
- fettuccine
- lasagne
- ravioli
- tortellini
- cannelloni
- tagliatelle
- tagliolini
- …and many more!
Vegan homemade pasta
If you are vegan or do not eat eggs you can still make a very good and flavorsome pasta and keeping it vegan. You simply need to swap eggs for water. For each egg you can add 60/80ml of water. The amount of water may vary depending on the humidity in the air, the flour you are using and the time of the year, always keep a bit more handy to add if needed.
Basic rules for making homemade fettuccine
The basic rule is simple: 1 to 100. This means 1 egg for each 100gr of flour. That is the average serving for one person. This is the rule that everyone follow for a very basic pasta recipe. The result is guaranteed.
Sometimes I add half egg/ half water, to making it a bit lighter, especially when I make lasagne. Since lasagne are a very rich dish with meat and cheese I often prefer to reduce the amount of eggs or swap it for water altogether.
How to store fresh homemade pasta
I usually make a large batch of pasta and keep it stored to have it handy whenever I want. There are two ways you can store fresh pasta:
Freezing: freezing is the best way to store fresh homemade pasta. It keeps perfectly well, and will cook in less than 5 minutes is semi boiling water. You can use it straight from the freezer, no need to thaw out beforehand. You can prepare single portions or the amount you think you can use in one go and freeze it a ziplock bag.
Drying: you can actually dry the pasta using a dehydrator or at a very low temperature in the oven. When dried the pasta keeps longer but it will take at least 10/13 minutes to cook in boiling water. This method is useful if you are making pasta sheets for lasagne. Since you will cook them longer anyway.
Fresh pasta also keeps in the fridge for a few days, however sometimes, depending on the flour you have used, it may get a bit darker. You do not have to worry, it’s still good, but maybe less appealing when raw.
The best flour to make homemade pasta
Usually to make egg pasta durum wheat semolina is best. It yields a very nice and rustic texture, whereas while flour usually gets a bit chewy. When making pasta for lasagne or tortellini, ravioli and fettuccine I highly recommend to stick to durum wheat. Nowadays is easy to find it in many grocery stores all over the world.
Step by step method to prepare pasta at home
Ingredients for 4 servings:
- 400gr of durum wheat flour
- 4 eggs
Preparing pasta by hand
Step 1
Pour the flour on the board and make a hole in the center.
Step 2
Pour the beaten eggs and gradually mix the two ingredients with a fork. When the eggs have absorbed the flour,
start kneading the dough with you hands.
Step 3
Knead until the dough is smooth.Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes, covered with a plastic wrap or a bowl.
Preparing pasta with a food processor
Step 1
Put the flour and eggs into the mixer, using the metal blade. Turn it on for about 15/20 sec. The mixture should become crumbly.
Step 2
Pour the crumbles onto the surface of you countertop or onto a wooden board and knead it for a minute with your hands, until it becomes smooth. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes, covered with a plastic wrap.
Shaping the pasta
Now flatten the dough with a rolling pin. You can choose the thickness according to your taste. Be careful not to flatten the dough too much, if the fettuccine are too thin, they will easily become gooey when cooked.
Cut the pasta into your favorite shape, fettuccine (about 6mm wide), pappardelle (about 1cm wide) or tagliolini (3mm wide). If you have a stuffing you can also make ravioli out of this dough.
You just have to pour the stuffing with a teaspoon on the half of the pasta, then wet the spaces between the stuffing and cover
with the other half. Press the borders around every spoonful of stuffing and then cut into rectangular ravioli.
Home made fresh pasta
Ingredients
- 400 gr of durum wheat flour
- 4 eggs
Instructions
How to make the dough
- Pour the flour onto the board and make a hole in the center.
- Pour the beaten eggs and gradually mix the two ingredients with a fork. When the eggs have absorbed the flour,start kneading the dough with you hands.
- Knead until the dough is smooth. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes (30 is best), covered with a plastic wrap or a bowl.
How to shape the pasta
- Flatten the dough with a rolling pin. You can choose the thickness according to your taste. Be careful not to flatten the dough too much, if the fettuccine are too thin, they will easily become gooey when cooked.
- Cut the pasta into your favorite shape, fettuccine (about 6mm wide),pappardelle (about 1cm wide) or tagliolini (3mm wide).
- If you have a stuffing you can also make ravioli out of this dough.You just have to pour the stuffing with a teaspoon on the half of the pasta, then wet the spaces between the stuffing and coverwith the other half. Press the borders around every spoonful of stuffing and then cut into rectangular ravioli.
