Homemade Pasta (from Scratch)

 perfected this recipe during my cooking classes: my guests loved every single step, from the choice of flours, to the processing, to the pastry to the deserved and succulent final tasting. With this recipe you will make the basic dough, you will discover that it is really simple and fun to prepare it and involve the children, they will love it! We will then prepare the “sfoglia” (pasta foil) to be used whole for lasagna, cannelloni or ravioli or to be cut into fettuccine, tagliatelle and pappardelle … the choice is yours

INGREDIENTS
Eggs 6 large
White Flour “00” 500 gr (approximately)
Semolina 200 gr
Salt 2 teaspoons
INSTRUCTIONS

Mix flour, semolina, salt and pour everything onto the work surface to form a cone (in Italian we call it “fontana” fountain) with the tip upwards. Create a very large hole in the center of the cone: you can do it with your hands (as my grandmother did), or by pressing the bowl on the flour mixture, in order to create a large crater (as I do, it’s easier and faster)

Break the eggs, one by one, and drop them gently into the hole. Using a fork, start mixing egg yolks and whites, gradually incorporating the flour. You have to move very quickly and very, very gently, trying not to break the banks and to keep the dough in the center of the hole. Continue to work with the fork until the eggs are absorbed by the flour.

If the dough seems to dry, add one more yolk. Otherwise add a bit more flour.

Then work the dough with both hands, mixing and pulling it outwards, until it begins to become a homogeneous mixture. After about 10 to 15 minutes you should have a smooth ball with a nice bright yellow color

You can carry out the entire first part of the process with the planetary mixer, kneading for about 8 minutes and then continuing by hand for another 8 minutes

Let the dough rest, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator

Squeeze the ball lightly on the work surface and divide it into about 6 or 7 pieces, lightly roll out the first piece with a rolling pin trying to give it a rectangular shape, then pass it into the pasta maker, notch n. 1 (widely spaced rollers). You will get the first sheet, which you will fold in 2 and pass again in the pasta maker, always notch n.1

Repeat the operation passing the dough 2 times in the notch n. 3 (rollers on average distance) and then in the notch n. 5 (rollers very close). But this is indicative: it depends on your pastry and how you prefer the pasta: more (for fettuccine) or less (for lasagna) thin

Each piece will turn into a long strip of dough (sfoglia), divide it into 2 or 3 pieces (about 20 cm long) and arrange it on the well floured work surface.

At this point the paste must rest for at least 15 minutes before being used.

NOTES
Homemade Pasta from scratch is a real art, codified by rules that have been handed down for generations. My grandmother rolled out the dough into a very thin strip of dough (sfoglia) using a rolling pin: a long, tiring and difficult operation that could make us lose the desire to venture into this recipe. Fortunately, today there are pasta makers who work for us with excellent results

ItalianCookingTips
Not only Fettuccine… the difference is the width: tagliolini = 2 0 3 mm; fettuccine = 5 mm; tagliatelle = 1 cm; pappardelle = max. 2 cm! Simple isn’t it?

preparing the dough adding eggs to flour
preparing the dough mixing eggs to flour
ItalianCookingTips
If you have time, I advise you to let the fettuccine (or the strips of pasta that you will use whole) rest before cooking them.
The rest, in fact, gives the pasta more flavor and makes it more full-bodied

the pasta dough is almos ready
scratching the dough with hands
ItalianCookingTips
Preparing the homemade pasta from the scratch takes a bit long.
That’s why I do it in abundance and freeze it. You can freeze the individual strips, raw, separated from each other with sheets of parchment paper.

Then just dip them in boiling water, without defrosting them, to prepare lasagna, cannelloni or ravioli

the dough ball is finally ready
ItalianCookingTips
The fettuccine, on the other hand, should be left to dry for a few hours and then collected in a container and frozen.
They must not be defrosted before being cooked

the dough in pasta maker
cutting the dough in fettuccine
ItalianCookingTips
Homemade pasta can be made by adding whole eggs to the flours (1 egg + 100 gr of flour = 1 diner), with only the yolks (2 yolks + 80 gr of flour = 1 diner) or, as happens in Southern Italy, with water (100 gr of flour for each diner and enough water to make the dough)