I’m in no way shape or form Italian but I loooooooove making pasta…. and I figured that sharing some of the tricks I’ve learned along the way will help… However, I’m more than open to suggestions and to hear from everyone out there cause I’ve got plenty to learn in this category.
1. Don’t think that fresh pasta is the same as the dried and boxed stuff…. thats the biggest mistake you could ever make… ALSO, don’t think the fresh pasta bought in grocery stores will ever compare to what you can make in your own home within minutes (you dont really know what they put into it)
2. The ratio that has done me justice along the way has been 11eggs/1kg flour…. however, unless u’re making pasta for the entire neighbourhood you can scale that back and say about 1 egg for approximately 100g of flour (approximately 1/3 cup)… remember, thats an approximation and it’s all about how the dough feels (moisture in the kitchen will also affect the quantity of eggs needed and also whether or not you add oil to the mix-i don’t since i like to keep its flavour as neutral as possible)
3. Work on a large flat surface (preferably the clean counter-top) and make a flour mound in the middle of it. Create a big gaping hole (well) and add eggs (helps if u crack them in a bowl first, mix them a little and then pour them in since you avoid any shells or bad eggs). Then slowly incorporate the flour in with the dough… if you’re doing this for the first time, you’ll soon discover why you’ll need a BIG surface (there’ll be eggs running everywhere, but that’s definitely part of the fun)
4. Work the dough… it’ll seem dry at first but you have to give it a little push in order to incorporate the egg with the flour and therefore adjustments to the moisture of the dough should be made after working all the possible flour into a big ball
5. Knead the dough until it forms a very smooth ball that retracts once you poke it… the gluten in the flour has started working with the egg and it will produce the yummiest fresh pasta if brought to this point… allow to rest (covered on the counter) and resume after around 15 min (great time to make a simple sauce), roll the dough out -by hand or machine- and cut into desired shapes
6. Allow the cut pasta to dry out for about 5 minutes before cooking in order to avoid “stickage.”
7. Blanch in very salty water with a droplet of olive oil and boiling water. Cooking time is about 2 minutes (depending on the shape) and it should be pulled from the water in under 5 minutes in order to avoid overcooking
8. Dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for a month. Remember that ur fridge is a very moist place so more flour might be needed to coat the outside of the dough.
Hope this helped…