With a bit of practice, you will find it easy to make fresh pasta at home. Once you get the hang of it, you won’t want to go back to boxed dried pasta. Fresh pasta is more tender and lighter in texture. You can mix the dough by hand, in a food processor or in an electric mixer. Rolling and cutting the dough will be done by hand or with a pasta machine. (Clean hands are the best cooking tool!) You can cut fresh pasta into many shapes, such as spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, etc. You can also use the pasta sheets to make filled pastas, such as ravioli, lasagne, manicotti, etc. Freshly cut pasta can be cooked immediately or stored in the refrigerator. If not using the fresh pasta right away, roll the strands into nests, dust lightly with flour, and let dry for 30 minutes on a baking sheet. Fresh pasta will last in the refrigerator for two days and in the freezer for 1 month.
2 cups flour or semolina
3 eggs (beaten and room temperature)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup water or mineral water
On a large surface, make a well in the flour. Add the eggs, salt, olive oil, and water into the well. Using your clean hands, mix the dough together until all ingredients are well-blended. Knead the mixture well; about 10 minutes. If mixture is a little dry, add a little water. If mixture is too wet, add a little flour. A good dough should never stick to your fingers. After kneading, let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
Cut the dough into three even pieces. Place one piece at a time into the pasta machine. Follow instructions for cutting and passing through the rollers that came with your pasta machine. Note: You will be passing the sheet of pasta through your rollers on different settings until thin.
Mangia with your favorite sauce!
Level: Medium