Basic pasta dough recipe

The basic pasta dough recipe is really simple but making pasta takes time and best done with company. The more people, the better! Let everyone take turns using the pasta machine. Another way of putting it:  let your friends work for their meal!

The recipe below is good enough for a serving for 4 people. Someone (ie Dan) attempted a double recipe and, consequently, messed up my kitchen. Nice one, Dan.

You don’t have a pasta machine? Personally, I would not make my own pasta without a machine as I will have to roll out the dough using a rolling pin for ages! But if you have the energy or enough pent up frustration, go for it!

You need:

• 2 large free-range eggs
• 200 g pasta or ’00’ grade flour (if you can’t find this, use strong white bread flour)

Tools:

• pasta machine
• baking sheets or trays lined with tea towel or kitchen towel, dusted lightly with flour
• rolling pin (optional)

What to do:

1. Put the flour on a clean work space. Create a little well in the centre.
   

   creating a well for pasta recipe © danandtuesday

2. Beat the eggs lightly using a fork then gradually start to blend the flour to the eggs. Do this until you have a a crumbly mixture. Ditch the fork and start using your hands.
   

   blending pasta © danandtuesday

3. Work the mixture by kneading the dough. If it starts to stick to the work surface, just sprinkle more flour in. Knead until it feels smooth and elastic.The dough should feel firm. It should be slightly firmer than a bread dough.
4. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and then leave it to stand at room temperature for 20mins. If you don’t want to use all your dough, you can freeze it.
5. Before using the pasta machine, divide the dough into about 6 parts.
   

   rolling the dough © danandtuesday

6. Set the pasta machine setting to its widest setting and then begin rolling out the dough. Change setting to a narrower one and roll the dough again. Do this until you have reached the right thickness for your pasta. the thickness really depends on how what you want to do with your pasta. If the pasta becomes too long, just cut it in half.
   

   Monette helping to make pasta © danandtuesday

7. Put the rolled out pasta on top of the lined trays while rolling out the rest.
8. Once the pasta is rolled, you can do many things with them such as make flavoured pasta or ravioli. The pasta we made here was used to make a “silhouette” pasta (recipe soon!) which has different herbs between thin sheets of pasta. I used a clothes drying rack for drying my pasta before cooking them. You can leave them for 5 – 10 mins, if you have the time. Or you can cook them straight away in boiling water for about 3 mins.

1. 

   drying silhouette pasta © danandtuesday

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