Fresh Homemade Pasta
This fresh, homemade egg pasta is a foundational recipe for made-from scratch cuisine. You can make long or short noodles, filled pasta in a plethora of shapes, and tiny soup pastina all with this one basic recipe.
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup semolina can sub ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 large eggs
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl or food processor, combine the all purpose flour, semolina flour, and salt and stir or pulse a few times to mix. If you are working by hand, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in a large bowl or on a clean, flat work surface.
- Add the eggs to the food processor and pulse a few times just until combined. The dough will look dry and crumbly but if you squeeze it, it should come together and feel supple but not too tacky. If you are working by hand, use a fork to blend the eggs together in the center of the "volcano" and then gradually incorporate the flour from around the edges until you have a stiff dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic- it should be soft but springy, like an earlobe. If it is too dry, you can work in some water, no more than a tsp at a time, and if it's too wet, knead in more flour. The coarser semolina flour will hydrate and absorb moisture from the dough as it rests, so you can make it a little stickier than regular pasta dough, but it shouldn't stick to floured hands.
- When you are satisfied with the consistency, wrap the dough tightly and let rest. You can make it a day or two ahead- wrap well and chill in the fridge. The outside of the dough may discolor slightly but it will be fine to use.
- Cut the dough into quarters and roll out each quarter into thin sheets (0 or 1 on a pasta machine). Hang the sheets on a pasta drying rack, dowel rod, or lay them out on clean flour sack towels on a work surface or table.
- Working with the first sheet, cut into ¼"-1" wide noodles using a pizza or pasta cutter, sharp knife, or bench scraper. If the pasta sheets are dry enough to not stick together, you can roll the sheets and cut sections to get even noodles, or cut the whole sheet flat. Hang to dry slightly or lay out in bundles on towels or sheet pans.
- Cook fresh pasta immediately in a large pot of salted boiling water, or refrigerate for up to three days or freeze for up to six months. You can also carefully dry the egg noodles and store them in tins the traditional way, but this is risky as they contain raw egg and may mold or spoil. It's best to use them fresh or freeze them for later use.
- Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried or store-bought "fresh" pasta... just a few minutes. Time will vary with the thickness of the noodle, but the pasta will float... test it and drain when it's perfectly al dente. Frozen pasta will take a minute or two longer (more if it's filled than for flat noodles).
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