No one really has the time to make fresh pasta regularly, but it certainly is a treat when you have a few spare hours and want a mini-project to keep you busy. All the ingredients that are needed are most likely already on hand! Fresh pasta has a chewier, bouncier texture than the typical grocery store dried pasta. It’s more difficult to make all the fun shapes that you can easily find at the store, but I feel like fresh pasta is best enjoyed in a long noodle form anyway.
Fresh pasta is also a great meal to make with friends. Have each person come over with a different kind of sauce and tell them to be ready to work and covered in flour. You can make a couple dough balls in advance so that they have time to rest. When your friends arrive, set them up in an assembly line. Have a few people making more dough, a few people rolling and cutting, and a few people on boiling and sauce tossing. I love using my stand mixer and pasta maker attachments. At the end of the day, everyone will be so satisfied from a delicious meal and an evening of hard work.
Fresh Egg Pasta
Equipment
- 1 pasta roller
Ingredients
- 90 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Weigh out your flour onto a surface or bowl and mix in the salt. I recommend multiplying this recipe by the number of people you are planning on serving. If you are having multiple sides/appetizers/desserts with the meal, you could make 1 recipe amount for 2 people.
- Make a well in the center of the flour/salt and crack the egg in.
- Using a fork or your fingers, break up the egg and slowly start mixing the surrounding flour walls into the egg.
- Continue to mix the egg and flour.
- When you can no longer mix the egg and flour with a fork, switch to your hands! If you have your mix in a bowl, I would recommend turning it out onto a flat surface at this time.
- Continue pressing, folding, kneading the dough until you have a smooth dough ball. If the dough is still too sticky, add 1/2 tsp of flour at a time until the dough comes together. If the dough is too dry and falling apart, run your hands underwater so they are damp, and continue working the dough.
- Shape the dough into a ball and cover with a damp towel for ~15 minutes to rest. After 15 minutes, the dough should be soft and smooth.
- Cut the dough ball into smaller pieces to make it easier to work with when running through the pasta roller. Dust each side of the squished dough with flour to prevent sticking in the pasta roller.
- Flatten the smaller dough balls and run through the pasta maker, starting at the widest setting and moving to the thinnest setting. Dust with additional flour if sheets are getting sticky or you notice significant wrinkles.
- Cut sheet of pasta into shorter lengths to make them more manageable.
- Repeat rolling of all pasta dough balls.
- Change or adjust your attachment to whichever cutting form you like. I've really been liking the spaghetti shape right now.
- Run the rolled sheets of pasta through the cutter one at a time.
- Dust cut noodles with more flour to prevent them from sticking. If not using immediately, they can be frozen or hung to dry.
- If serving immediately, cook in boiling water ~5 minutes until texture is to your liking.
Serve some veggies on the side like Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
Carbs on carbs, right? Have some bread or My Favorite Focaccia.