How to Make Perfect Homemade Pasta
February 22nd, 2009 by Scott |
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I’ve been going through one hell of a pasta phase recently. I’m putting it down to my wife’s pregnancy; she doesn’t always fancy a full meal, and if I’m eating alone I just can’t be bothered cooking anything big, time consuming or expensive. My pasta addiction has now led to the stage where I’m making my own home-made pasta from scratch, which luckily turns out to be one of the easiest yet most rewarding things to do.
Homemade Pasta
What I present to you here is the time honoured method of making pasta; one egg for every 100 grams (3.5 oz) of flour. It is important to choose a “00″ type flour and to use organic eggs (these give the pasta a delightful yellow tinge). Other than that, it’s just about the kneading. You don’t even need a pasta machine, although I do find the repetitive rolling of the machine method strangely satisfying.
Perfect Homemade Pasta Recipe – Ingredients
- 200g (7 oz) “00″ type flour
- 2 Large organic eggs
- Salt
Perfect Homemade Pasta Recipe – Method
- Make a heap out of your flour on a chopping board with a hollow well in the middle.
- Crack your eggs into the hollow and begin to mix around by hand. Warning; at first it will form crumbs and wont look like it will ever come together. Keep working and it will.
- Now time to knead; I find the easiest way is to squash it with both hands and then stretch the dough away from me with one of them while holding it with the other, pushing with the base of my hand near my wrist. I then simply fold it back on itself, give it a little twist and repeat. Keep doing this until the dough feels smooth.
- Wrap your ball of pasta dough in cling film and leave somewhere cool (the fridge is fine) for 1 hour.
- Remove your pasta from the fridge and flour a rolling pin and chopping board. Now either a) roll out to the required thickness and cut into strips with a knife (as illustrated) or b) (if you’re using a machine) roll out with a to about 1/2 a cm thick.
- If you’re using a machine you can now pass it through on the widest setting; do this a couple of times, before reducing the width by one setting and passing through. Repeat the passing / reducing width process until the desired thickness of pasta is reached. Once done cut your pasta with a knife or cutting device on your machine into the desired shapes.
- Your pasta is ready. You can now either hang it to dry or cook it right away in salted boiling water – it’ll only take a couple of minutes, unlike dried pasta, so keep an eye on it.
- Enjoy!
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Lovely picture. Have you found making pasta a quick and easy enough to do regularly? I think it’s true what the Italian’s say – some recipes are great with fresh pasta, others better with dried.
I’ve still never tried making pasta from scratch – I’ve made an agreement with myself that I will try it out but that I’ll shape it by hand until I’m convinced it’s a good idea, rather than buying another gadget that doesn’t get used.
Hi Sophie, well it does take longer than dried pasta; if I’ve just finished work I wouldn’t use fresh pasta. To be honest, I’d just use shop bought pasta in that case. I can’t imagine making home-made spaghetti, either, but tagliatelle or similar works perfect.
I agree with your comments about the machine, and would wholeheartedly suggest to make pasta “by hand” first. It is possible to have too many kitchen gadgets after all (my blowtorch is an example. I’ve used it about twice in the last few years!).
Yea for homemade pasta! I even grind the wheat
I use pastry berries which are a soft white wheat and low gluten, ground fine. I use my Kitchen Aide for mix/knead and the pasta attachment for the final noodles.
I love lasagna using fresh or dried lasagna noodles. I created a recipe and call it Portabella Cream cheese lasagna. I probably don’t have to explain the obvious substitutions for regular lasagna, and it can’t be beat if you use fresh garden tomatoes to make the marinara….
I’ve always loved fresh pasta, and the process is just as enjoyable as the end product. That being said, there are times when modern technology can really make a difference. If you have a food processor with a plastic kneading blade, it does a much more thorough job of incorporating the flour and eggs, and it makes for an easier clean-up. The best part is that the pasta is ready to roll as soon as it is mixed.
I do have a KitchenAid actually, but have always shied away from mixing pasta dough in it. I don’t know why, so perhaps I should give it a go?
If you decide to try it, keep in mind that the dough won’t come together into a ball in the machine. What you will end up with is a bunch of pea-sized pellets that will come together very easily with a few seconds of hand kneading.
All of this talk about fresh pasta made me think of one of my all time favorite recipes. Give this a try sometime when you have plenty of time on your hands.
Beef Ragout With Tagliatelle
I love the ragout recipe and will probably try it soon (along with pasta mixed in my kitchenaid). Thanks for letting me know!
There is nothing better than a perfect homemade pasta! Great recipe!
I thankyou – but really, I can’t take any credit as I didn’t invent pasta (LOL). It always helps to know a good method, though.
Looks great Scott. Home made pasta is one of those things I know tastes so much nicer than anything you can buy but I just don’t know if I can be bothered with it. You’ve made it sound really simple though.
Oh now, Julia, of course you can be bothered. I’ve seen your blog and you get up to much more difficult tasks than this!
I still haven’t attempted making my own pasta, as I don’t have a pasta maker. I’m going to have to try it if you say its so easy!
It’s easy and impressive too. What’s more, fresh pasta tastes so much better – you really can enjoy it with just a nob of butter to sample the great texture and flavour. Don’t know if I’d fancy it that simple all the time, though.
I don’t know why I always knocked the idea of making my own pasta because I don’t have a pasta machine. Apparently it’s still possible!…Just what I needed, Scott, another distraction of my studies! Thanks a lot
I have the same problem; I’m supposed to be studying too. Still, unless we fail no-one will ever know
One of the simplest yet most therapeutic of cooking exercises. I heart my pasta machine.
Now just to master the cake mixer and we can take over the world!
When you said homemade pasta, I assumed you meant pasta cooked with a homemade sauce. But you really meant pasta that’s made from scratch!
If that’s not a labour of love, I don’t know what is.
Ah, but it’s so easy, there’s not so much labour involved. Well, depending how many you’re feeding, of course.
All we need’s a pasta crank!
My crank keeps falling out. Story of my life
Nothing beats homemade pasta!
True. I’m a convert.
U really made them at home!! And you make it sound very easy & tempting to give it a try. I am sure homemade will taste much better than the dried ones at store! Those ribbons look reeeeaaaaaly pretty… BTW I thought I had read in a post that another ultrasound pic.. is due:-) or did I miss it? it really helps to have a guy who cooks when the lady is pregnant:-)
Well now Soma, I didn’t post until you reminded me just now: Baby Scan Photograph
Looks perfect Scott. I’m still enamoured with my new machine. The pasta possibilities are endless!
Now enamoured is a word I don’t hear every day! You’re right about endless possibilities – I’m determined to try out some different types (e.g. recipes, not just shapes) soon.
My previous attempts at making pasta have always ended in a) a huge lump of slimy, disgusting pasta b) carefully hung up strands of tagliatelli on the floor, having dried and snapped under their own weight or c) a lot of swearing and a huge row.
I promise to try again.
I never realised pasta could be so stressful! If it causes rowing, perhaps better to just buy it. Don’t want to ruin the relationship
Oh yes, I gave up trying years ago….just too dangerous for me. I’ve grown to love normal pasta, straight out of a packet.
I love homemade pasta, it tastes so good.
Great photo, what sauce did you have it with?
I did a parsley and lemon sauce in the end but probably wouldn’t use it again. I should’ve taken advantage of the basil I have growing and done a pesto.
Thanks for friending me on Facebook! I am determined to figure out how to make pasta this year so your post reassures me I won’t find to to be too much of a challenge.
It really isn’t much of a challenge – although I thought it would be on my first time. it’s a lot quicker than I thought it would be and cheap too – just an egg and some flour and that’s all you need. Give it a go!
Making pasta is one of favorite things to do in the kitchen. I find the whole process so relaxing and gratifying. I’ve been experimenting with semolina flour and eggless recipes, but my all time favorite is the silky feel of egg-filled pappardelle. Add a slow-cooked, rich sauce and I couldn’t be happier. Thanks for posting this, I really enjoyed reading it.
I’d love to experiment with some different pasta recipes, too. Perhaps I will over the next couple of months. I’ll make sure to blog about it, too.
Gorgeous photo! Have not tried making homemade pasta yet, although it’s very high up on the list of To Do’s
It’s a very rewarding experience and a lot easier than you’d imagine. I wholly recommend it.
Making pasta is so rewarding, I used to love making my own until my pasta machine broke:( I think it’s time I invested in a new one!
They’re well worth the money, and homemade pasta is *so* cheap to make. Don’t forget you can make simple pasta such as tagliatelle without a machine, too.
I have been making fresh pasta since I was given a pasta machine for Christmas last year. So far the only thing I haven’t been able to get the hang of is how to get nice straight edges when I put it through the rollers. I’ve tried all the ways to fold it, but it always ends up wonky. In the end I trim it with a knife before putting it through the cutters. I throw away these off-cuts because everything I try to preserve them and re-use doesn’t seem to work.
I’d love to help you on that but didn’t share the same problem. If the edges are crinkly because the dough is getting squashed out a little bit too far than I’d just trim the edges of as you have done.
so how much cooked pasta does this yield?
and what kind of flour is 00 flour exactly?
thanks a bunch!
You probably saw already, but David answers this one better than I ever could, below.
00 flour is often labeled as Italian Pizza Flour. It is basically the finest grind of flour you can get. You start at type 2 which is the coursest, then type 1 is a bit finer, then 0 and then 00 is the finest. You should find it in almost any supermarket these days. Otherwise any deli should stock it.
I’m not sure how much you get from the recipe above. I do my batches with 1 egg per 100gram of flour so it’s pretty much the same recipe (without the salt).
Mostly I do just a single batch which is more than enough to feed 3 adults with a bit left over for the dog.
Recently I did a 4 egg batch and it fed a hungry family of 5 (2 adults and 3 children) and another family of 3 (2 adults 1 child) and still enough to give to a household with 3 large adult males. Actually I have just enough left from that batch for a single meal tonight. Guess what I’m having for dinner?
Wow; great answer. Far better than I could, so thanks for the tips!
Love this page, you’ve the same feelings about making pasta and using the cutter as I do. Great fun, satisfying and rewarding. I found this recipe when looking for the perfect pasta recipe as last night’s batch was brittle and broke after drying. It’s fine when it’s cooked, but too dry after drying. Will try again tonight!
Haven’t tried drying the pasta made with this recipe; will do soon. Getting sick of buying pasta when what I make at home is so much better.
How long does it usually take to roll and cut?
Perhaps 15 minutes, or so. Time flies when you’re having fun, though.
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