Pasta

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Course Main Course

Ingredients

2 cups flour (see #1 below) 240 grams
2 eggs I like to add 2 yolks
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Make a pile of flour on your clean work surface, or in an especially large bowl.
Form a well in the middle of the flour.
Beat the rest of the ingredients together.
Pour all the ingredients into the well.
With a scoopyclaw hand, slowly pull the flour from the inside of the well into the middle of the wet stuff, until it's all incorporated. This should have the consistency of a "shaggy dough"
Knead the dough until it's very smooth, 10-20 minutes, depending on your technique and speed.
Toss the ball around a few drops of olive oil, wrap in clingwrap, and let rest at room temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes, preferably 1.5 hours.
Remove half the dough, and leave the rest wrapped up.
Either roll the dough through your hand-cranked pasta machine 3 times per setting, and adjust the width until you get to the cutting stage. To do this by hand, roll the dough out to desired thickness with a rolling pin on a floured surface, and then cut into desired shape.
On the first pass through the machine or the first rolling of the dough, fold the sheet into thirds, and roll it again. Do that 2 more times.
If rolling it out by hand, and the dough pulls back, cover with a towel, and let it rest another 10 minutes. Do not press down hard or the dough will tear.
Run through a pasta machine to desired thickness, add the blade attachment, and cut into whatever shape you want... OR .. roll it out on a well-floured surface, flour the top and use a well-floured rolling pin. Lots of flour. Roll it out to desired thickness and length, make sure the sheet is floured enough so nothing sticks, gently fold it up, and make even cuts with a knife or bench scraper.
Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water for approx 2 minute (anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes). It's an excellent idea to cook a very small batch to get the perfect timing. You need to use a lot of water so the pasta doesn't stick together, 4 quarts/4.5 liters with 3 tbsp of salt is about right. Stir as you're adding the pasta, and stir a few times while boiling.

Notes

Semolina flour is traditional, but this works with all-purpose.
Some recipes call for 50-50 semolina - 00 flour.

If you're 100% convinced the dough is too wet, sprinkle 1 tbsp of flour. If it's too dry, add a few drops of water, or if it seems *very* dry, add another egg yolk. Knead it for 2 minutes before adjusting again.

If you're saving any noodles for later, you can roll them around your hand to form a little nest, put on a sheet, put that in the freezer, then bag it once it's solid. Boil it from freezing.

You can also dry out the pasta by letting it hang, or laying it out to dry on a lightly floured sheet. You can store this for up to 1 week

Things to add to the flour:

colouring: 2 tbsp freshly juiced veggies like beets or carrots, or a few drops of your favourite food colouring
spinach or other veggies like red pepper: 1/2 cup cooked, drained as much as humanly possible, and pulped in a food processor
herbs: 3 tbsp of finely chopped herbs

If making ravioli, make 2 sheets of the same size, use a beaten egg as the glue between the sheets. Make sure there's no air pockets in each cute little pouch. Let it sit on a floured tea towel for an hour before cooking.