Pasta is something that can be very easy to make from scratch and the taste is definitely worth the effort. Most of us don’t make our own though and that will be remedied with today’s technique. Today we learn how to make our own homemade pasta!
When making pasta you need to decide what kind of pasta you want. Do you want an egg pasta or a vegan pasta? One made with gluten-free flour? The ingredients are key when making your own pasta, as they vary from type to type. This pasta we are showing today is your basic egg pasta, one made without a pasta machine and assuming you’ve never made pasta before.
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup water
Serves 5
Time required 40 minutes
Difficulty level 2
Cost of ingredients 3 USD
In a large bowl, pour in the flour. With your hand make a well, basically a hole in the middle of flour all the way down to the bottom of the bowl.
In another smaller bowl beat together eggs, olive oil and salt. Pour the egg mixture into the flour well. Mix it with a fork so that all the egg is incorporated into the flour. The dough will be clumpy and damp to the touch. If the flour isn’t sticking together add in the water at about 1 tablespoon at a time until it’s firm but will stick together.
Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. The dough is much more dry than say a bread dough. It’s also a lot more firm, so it will need more work to get it smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow it to rest about 20 minutes.
Flour a flat surface and place the dough on it. Dust with more flour on top of the dough. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, making it easier to work with. Roll out the dough very thinly. Remember, you want your dough thinner than how you like the pasta to be when cooked as it will plump up as it cooks.
When your pasta is as thin as you want it, either keep it flat and cut it with a knife or roll it up and using the knife, cut it that way. This makes it easier to have an even shaped pasta.
Using a pot of boiling salted water, add the pasta to it and let it cook 3-6 minutes (give or take depending how thick the pasta is). The best way to make sure your pasta is done, is giving it a taste!
Serve with your favorite sauce. Once you get the hang of making your own pasta, you can always be more adventurous by adding in different things like spinach, tomato, squid ink, or any other ideas that come to mind!
Here is a video showing how to make your own pasta where only water is used to bind the pasta.
Photo by luvjnx
Video by 1gramm
7. August 2010 at 1:13 am
This content is worth its weight in gold, it was my pleasure to stumble upon it.