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Easy steps to homemade egg pasta

All you need is flour, eggs and a pinch of salt. It's really that easy!
Andre Martin
1
25M

Ingredients

Method

1.

Dust a clean, dry surface with extra flour. Mound flour on surface, add salt. Make a well in the centre wide enough to contain the egg.

2.

Crack egg into a cup, then pour into well. Whisk egg with a fork until lightly beaten. Use fork to swirl egg, then continue to swirl egg, adding in a little flour, swirling and adding more flour until all of the flour has been incorporated and a very rough, loose mixture forms. Use your hands to bring the dough together, forming a rough, sticky dough.

3.

Use the heel of your hand to knead dough, pushing dough down and forward, then turning dough clockwise 45 degrees and continue with pushing and turning for at least 5 minutes or until a smooth, soft, silky dough forms. If dough is too sticky, gradually add small amounts of flour, a sprinkle at a time. If too dry, add a very small amount of cold water, 1 tsp at a time. 

4.

Form dough into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Set aside for 30-60 minutes. You can chill overnight if more convenient.

5.

Cut dough into quarters. Put one quarter on the bench and rewrap remaining dough in plastic wrap.

6.

Form quarter of dough into a rough rectangle using your hands. 

7.

Pass dough rectangle through a pasta machine at the thickest setting (if you don’t have a pasta machine, see How to make pasta with a rolling pin and knife, below). Continue to pass dough through the machine, folding it in half each time, reducing the setting after every 3 passes through the machine, lightly dusting dough with a little flour as necessary. If pasta gets too long and difficult to work with, cut sheet into smaller, more workable-sized pieces. 

8.

Repeat with the remaining dough pieces. At this point you can make sheets, fettuccine, tagliatelle or other pasta shapes of your choice. 

9.

Once you have cut the pasta into desired shapes, dust with a little flour to ensure it doesn’t stick together, then it’s ready to cook (see Cook’s tips, below).

How much pasta do I need to make?

The simplest way to ensure you are making enough pasta is to allow 1 egg per person, so a pasta dough containing 4 eggs and 400g flour would feed 4 people.

However, if you’re serving the pasta with a very hearty sauce, such as a ragu, you probably won’t need as much pasta – you could reduce the quantity down to a three-egg pasta.

How to make pasta with a rolling pin and knife

Form one portion of dough into a rough rectangle using your hands. Lightly dust a dry, clean bench with a little flour. Use a rolling pin to roll out pasta as thin as you possibly can, dusting the pasta, bench and rolling pin with a little flour as you go.

If the pasta gets too large to work with, cut the sheet into more workable-sized pieces. Fold the pasta sheets up a couple of times and cut the pasta into strips using a large sharp knife, then unravel.

Cook’s tips

For best results, use eggs at room temperature. If your eggs have been chilled, simply put them in a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes before use.

If chilling the pasta dough overnight, remove from fridge 30 minutes before using.

Fresh pasta is best cooked on the same day. It doesn’t need a long cooking time, generally between 1.5 to 2 minutes in salted, boiling water.

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