There is nothing like fresh, homemade pasta noodles. There, I said it. A big sorry not sorry to all of the store brand pastas and Italian restaurants out there, but we don’t need you tonight! Homemade pasta noodles have a texture you just cannot buy. And the experience of making fresh pasta is truly the most romantic and interactive date night ever! Making your own pasta dough will result in pasta that is silky, smooth, light, with a slight chew that is perfecto! And since homemade pasta absorbs sauce like a dried pasta cannot, you are in for the best pasta dish of your life! So now that we have established that this recipe for homemade pasta trumps any store-bought or restaurant made pasta, let me show you how to make it!
Also, did you know that long noodles are considered lucky when eaten on New Years Day? Check out what other foods to eat for occasions like New Years Day, The Luckiest Foods To Eat On New Years Day.
The Dough
Alright, Carb Lover, pay attention! This particular homemade pasta recipe uses a KitchenAid stand mixer with the pasta attachments. If you do not have these, don’t fret, because you can do this with any pasta maker. Or, if you are incredibly ambitious and patient, you can do this by hand. If you are doing this as a date night and choose to make pasta completely by hand, you will surely learn a lot about your partner’s patience level!
The first step in making pasta is getting your flour and salt into a big bowl while your room temperature eggs go into a separate bowl. You will be using a mixture of whole eggs and egg yolks. This will add to the flavor and give a gorgeous color to your homemade pasta.
Lightly beat these eggs with a little bit of olive oil and water and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix up your flour and salt. Then make a well in the middle. Your well will look much better than mine!
Now add your egg mixture into this well.
Now, working from the middle of this egg mixture, begin to whisk with your hand or a wooden spoon. Drag that flour into the egg mixture as you draw it in.
As you can see from the dripping talon, I used my claw hand for this dirty job! Once you have incorporated the dough together, attach your dough hook and let it get to work. As you can see, it won’t be a ball when you turn it over to the dough hook.
Then let the dough hook go to work. I used a higher setting, about a 7, and let it go for about 8 minutes.
But Sarita, why on earth are you showing me a blurry pasta dough tornado? I’m just showing you how it all gets pulled together with that dough hook, ok?! And this sucker moves fast!
Take a Rest
Homemade pasta happens in a few steps, and over about an hour. After the pasta dough is formed, you must let it rest for 30 minutes. Take a breather, enjoy a glass of wine, work on that Spicy Eggplant Marinara Sauce.
Turning Dough Into Pasta
Now that your pasta dough has rested, you will need to put down that glass of wine and get back to it! Cut your pasta into 4 pieces.
Use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten out each piece.
Make sure you begin with the rolling attachment. Put this piece of pasta dough through the roller.
Then you will fold the pressed piece in half and run it through the roller again. Then fold in half and run through once more. So this piece of dough has been rolled 3 times total.
You won’t believe what your pasta pieces turn into!
Set aside and do the same process with the rest of the dough pieces. Once all 4 dough pieces have graduated to pasta sheets, you will switch the pasta attachment to the cutting pasta attachment. Grant helped with this part!
At this stage you should get a big pot of salted water boiling.
Lightly flour each pasta sheet. You are almost on your way to homemade pasta!
Each of these sheets will be run through. Watch!
Set aside each section of your homemade pasta.
Isn’t that a beautiful sight?!
Once all of your homemade pasta is cut and ready, put it into the boiling water. Use tongs to make sure it is not sticking together once in the water. Now, this part is important. Homemade pasta only needs 2-3 minutes to cook. If you let it go any longer it will be mushy and gross. And after all of that hard work, you just cannot let that happen! So test at 2 minutes, be pouring into your strainer by 3 minutes. Got it? Great!
So test at 2 minutes…
Have in the strainer by 3! This homemade pasta will continue to cook, so even if you think it is too Al dente, it won’t be!
Now toss with a bit of olive oil, if desired, and serve immediately.
Gorgeous, silky, flavorful, homemade pasta! You did it!
Homemade Pasta
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon water
Directions:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix flour and salt. Make a well in the middle.
- In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and egg yolks with water and oil.
- Pour eggs into well of flour.
- Using hand, begin mixing from egg out into flour, pulling the flour into the egg mixture in a rounding motion.
- Continue until you have a dough.
- Use dough hook to knead this pasta dough for 8 minutes.
- Let pasta dough ball rest for 30 minutes.
- Cut into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out slightly to flatten.
- Use the rolling attachment. Put each piece through the roller then fold. Then repeat twice more until they are sheets of pasta.
- Lightly flour each sheet.
- Get large pot of salted water boiling.
- With your pasta cutting attachment, put each sheet through.
- Set aside cut pasta and get all sheets cut into pasta noodles.
- Boil for 2 minutes, and make sure the pasta is in strainer by 3 minutes!
- Serve immediately!
Notes:
- Cut noodles to any size you choose, like fettuccine, or use the sheets for lasagna.
- Be creative, and add your own twist by making these into spinach or another flavored homemade pasta! When I was little, my Mom made us carrot pasta. We loved all of the different colored pasta from the veggies she incorporated.
Don’t forget to share your homemade pasta on Instagram for a chance to be featured on my page! @ritzymomblog
Interested in Tools for Homemade Pasta?
And don’t forget these other recipes!
Want to learn more about the Nutrients of Fresh Pasta? Check out this post – http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrients-fresh-pasta-eggs-7335.html.
You must be logged in to post a comment.