This fresh homemade pasta recipe is amazingly delicate and delicious. Using only 3 staple ingredients, homemade pasta is easy enough that anyone can make it and so tasty that your family will be raving.
Grab a glass of your favorite red wine, turn on some Italian music, and channel your best Italian accent. We are making my most favorite food….Pasta!
Pasta, is there really anything better? Its one of those foods that I just never get tired of, maybe its my Italian heritage, or maybe its just amazing stuff. Marinara, Bolognese, Meat-a-balls-a, Alfredo, Stroganoff, pesto or just buttered pasta…. It really doesn’t matter, I love it all….
This Homemade Pasta recipe is a classic and quite simple, but the results are A-mazing! The pasta comes out delicate, tender and so fresh tasting. It makes me question why I ever buy the tough chewy noodles from grocery stores.
This recipe is fun and so easy! It reminds me of playing with play dough, so go ahead and let those kiddos get involved!
Tips For Making Homemade Pasta
Tip # 1- Rest your Dough
This first one is pretty simple and straight forward. Letting your dough rest for about 15- 30 minutes, before you begin rolling it out, allows the flour to fully absorb the water and the glutens in the dough to relax, causing your dough to be easier to roll out. Make sure you cover your dough or it will dry out. Wrapping it in plastic wrap will keep the moisture in.
Tip # 2 – Use a stand mixer or food processor
While this tip isn’t necessary at all, it certainly makes things easier and keeps your kitchen a bit cleaner. I mix by hand in my video, but in the past I used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.
Traditionally pasta was made by piling flour onto a cutting board, making a well in the center, and adding the wet ingredients to the well and mixing from the inside out, incorporating flour as you work your moist ingredients by hand.
It really won’t matter whether you mix with a mixer or by hand as long as you get the correct consistency and moisture level. Your dough should be wet enough to stay together but not sticky.
Tip # 3- Wear and Apron
This isn’t related to the taste of the pasta. However, I felt like I would be wrong to not give you a heads up. Pasta making is messy business. I have made the mistake of not wearing an apron too many times and regret it every single time. If you are anything like me, you will have flour all over you.
Tip #4- Pasta Machine
I have owned my pasta machine for at least 10 years, probably a bit longer. I found it on clearance at a major kitchen store and snatched it up! SCORE! It makes the job sonmuch easier.
How Pasta Machines work?
Pasta machines take the two jobs of kneading and rolling out the pasta and roll them into one step…pun intended…
Most machines have 5-7 thickness settings. My machine has 7 settings so I will use that in my directions. By gradually stair stepping down to one of the thinnest settings, you knead your dough, all while producing very uniformly thin sheets of pasta that is difficult to achieve with just a rolling pin.
Pasta Machine Con
One down side to a manual Pasta Machine is that you need a good ledge to attach the machine to. I struggle with this just about every time I make pasta. Clearly im hard headed because I know this and still try to attach my machine to a cutting board and fight with it until I get so frustrated that I wise up and attach it to my counter. My issue is I dont have the perfect space so I usually try other ways first before I settle for my imperfect spot.
Of course, if you are fortunate enough to own the Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachments then where you attach it won’t be an issue. I have put off buying one of these because I already own a manual machine and as far a single purpose attachments, they just aren’t in the budget.
Is A Pasta Machine Necessary?
No. The machine makes the job a bit faster and the pasta more uniform, but if you are a kitchen minimalist I can see why a pasta machine is not the kind of single purpose tool you want to keep around. The good news is, you can still make amazing homemade pasta with just a rolling pin and a knife.
Without a machine, you will just need to be a bit more careful about thickness. Once you roll your sheets of pasta to your desired thickness, flour the tops of the sheets, and gently fold it in half, and then half again. This way you can cut your pasta strands more uniformly.
Tools For Authentic Homemade Pasta
- Pasta Machine
- Whisk
- Bowl or Mixer
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Pasta Drying Rack or Plate
Ingredients for making Homemade Pasta
- All purpose or Semolina flour
- Avocado or Olive oil
- eggs
- water
Directions For Authentic Homemade Pasta
Step #1: Add ingredients
To a bowl, add 2 cups of flour. Make a well in the center. To the Well, add 2 eggs, 1-2 tablespoons of oil, 1 tsp of salt and 2 tablespoons of water.
Step #2: Mix the Ingredients
Begin mixing by breaking the yolks of your eggs and gently stirring the wet ingredients together while slowly bringing more and more flour into the wet ingredients
Step #3: You need to Knead 😁
Once all of the ingredients are well mixed, knead your dough for 5-10 minutes. This is where a stand mixer comes in handy. But dont worry, if you get tired of kneading, your hand crank pasta machine will also knead your dough as you roll it out
Step #4: Rest the Homemade pasta dough
Rest your dough in your bowl, covered with a wet cloth to prevent the dough from drying out.
Step #5: Divide and Conquer
Once your dough has rested, divide it into 4 equal parts. Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, gently press it by hand, or with a rolling pin, into a rounded rectangle about 1/2 an inch thick. This will allow it to move through the thickest setting easily.
Step #6: Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’… keep that pasta Rollin’
Run the dough through on the thickest setting.
Fold the dough into 3rds and rotate a quarter turn. Repeat 2 to 3 more times. This will knead your dough and shape the sheets so you get a more uniform length.
Next adjust your machine down two steps. On my machine I go from setting 7 to setting 5. Run the dough through on this setting 2 times, without folding.
Adjust down 2 more settings to 3 and run your dough through 1-2 times. Your dough will get long and difficult to manage. At this point cut it into half or even thirds.
The lowest setting is one. Depending on your preference, you can either stop at 2 or adjust all the way down to the one. I chose one this time, but if I were making Ravioli, or Lasagna, I would stick with two, to give the dough a bit more strength.
Step #7: To Cut or Not to Cut your Homemade Pasta
Once you roll the dough on your thinnest preferred setting, you can now process it for your purpose. If you want to make ravioli, its ready for that. Im making fettuccine sized noodles for Beef Stroganoff so I ran the pasta sheets through the fettuccine cutter.
Viola! You have just made Delicious, Delicate, Fluffy and Authentic Homemade Pasta! Great Job!
Dont forget to save it for later!
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Homemade Pasta Recipe
Equipment
- Pasta Machine
- Rolling Pin
- Knife
Ingredients
- 2 Cups` Flour
- 2 to 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2-4 Tbsp water
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- To a bowl, add 2 cups of flour. Make a well in the center.
- To the well, add 2 eggs, 1-2 tablespoons of oil, 1 tsp of salt and 2 tablespoons of water.
- Begin mixing by breaking the yolks of your eggs and gently stirring the wet ingredients together while slowly bringing more and more flour into the wet ingredients.
- Once all of the ingredients are well mixed, kneed your dough for 5-10 minutes. This is where a stand mixer comes in handy.
- Rest your dough in your bowl, covered with a wet cloth to prevent the dough from drying out.
- Once your dough has rested, divide it into 4 equal parts.
- Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, gently press it by hand into a rounded rectangle about 1/2 an inch thick. This will allow it to move through the thickest setting easily.
- Run the dough through on the thickest setting.
- Fold the dough into 3rds and rotate a quarter turn. Repeat 2 to 3 more times. This will knead your dough and shape the sheets so you get a more uniform length.
- Next adjust your machine down two steps. On my machine I go from setting 7 to setting 5. Run the dough through on this setting 2 times, without folding.
- Adjust down 2 more settings to 3 and run your dough through 1-2 times. Your dough will get long and difficult to manage. At this point cut it into half or even thirds.
- The lowest setting is one. Depending on your preference, you can either stop at 2 or adjust all the way down to the one. I chose one this time, but if I were making Ravioli, or Lasagna, I would stick with two, to give the dough a bit more strength.
- Once you roll the dough on your thinnest preferred setting, you can now process it for your purpose. If you want to make ravioli, its ready for that. Im making fettuccine sized noodles for Beef Stroganoff so I ran the pasta sheets through the fettuccine cutter.
Check out some of my other recent Recipes
https://lemonsandlavenderfarm.com/tender-and-juicy-roasted-pork-tenderloin-with-herbs/
https://lemonsandlavenderfarm.com/classic-creamy-new-york-style-cheesecake-recipe/
https://lemonsandlavenderfarm.com/how-to-make-easy-artisan-sourdough-bread/
For other fermentation Recipes check out
https://livinglangtonhomestead.com/how-to-make-homemade-organic-apple-cider-vinegar-from-scraps/
https://livinglangtonhomestead.com/fermented-garlic-in-honey/
This looks so yummy! Homemade pasta is definitely on my list to do. I even have the pasta machine so I just need to do it haha.
You Can Do It! Its fun and the results are so delicious.