Basic Pasta Dough....or Rick Finally Wins

  So the score now stands:  Rick 2, Pasta 1.  After the ravioli debacle last week, I've been chomping at the bit to get back in the ring.  The whole dislocated finger thing has been slowing me down.  However, with the help of the big brother skunk and the skunk in the middle, we pulled it off today.  Our first foray was fettuccine.  It was tasty, though a bit thick and doughy for my taste.  Second was the ravioli, and we all know how that one turned out... http://howdidibecomemrmom.blogspot.com/2012/09/pasta-has-learning-curve.html  Third was today, made fettuccine again.  This time we used a thickness setting of 5 so it worked much better!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 c unbleached flour
4 large eggs
Pinch salt

That's it!  I only use olive oil if I accidentally get too dry, didn't have to today.  I know I said 4 eggs, but our chickens lay small eggs, so I used 5.  And the Kindle is the most important part...my kids know it's illegal to cook without music!

  First, crack eggs into bowl.  Using the freshest possible eggs is important.  Store bought will work, but the pasta is just not the same.  Whisk eggs until mixed.

Fresh eggs have a much more orange yolk, which sits much higher.

  Slowly add flour, a little at a time, stirring with a spoon to incorporate. 

When the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl, remove to a lightly floured surface and knead, adding flour as necessary if it is still sticky, until you get a firm, yet not dry ball.  (Add a drizzle of olive oil and knead a few times if it gets too dry.)  One of the most important things I have learned is that there is no exact ratio of flour to eggs.  Each batch is a little different, depending on humidity, consistency in egg size, etc.  This batch only used 2 cups of flour out of the 3 1/2!

Tightly wrap dough in plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 mins.  Some say to rest in fridge, some say at room temperature.  I've had best results with room temperature.  The rest is critical!  You start with a firm ball of dough and end up with a supple dough that is easy to roll.

After resting the dough, it is time to roll it out.  You can use a rolling pin if you really want to.  I much prefer a pasta roller.  It is far easier and thickness is far more consistent.  Rollers aren't terribly expensive.  I have a really nice Italian model (not kidding, all the directions are in Italian!), that my wife found at a thrift shop for $15.  Yes, my wife is amazing.  Here is a decently priced model new from Wayfair.  "Imperia Home Pasta Machine" (Google Affiliate Ad).  If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, they make an excellent attachment for rolling/cutting pasta.

Say hello to my little friend

 Take your ball of dough and cut it into 3 or 4 pieces, to make it easier to work with.  Make sure you tightly wrap the dough you aren't working with, so it doesn't dry out.  A small bit of dough rolls out amazingly long.

   Lightly flour the rollers and the surface the sheet will land on.  Always start at the largest setting of the roller, feed the dough through the roller, fold the resulting sheet in half and run it through again on the same setting.  Do this until the dough takes on a silky sheen, then start dropping the setting on the roller, one setting at a time, until desired consistency is reached.  Today, we went to the 5th setting out of 6. Feel free to cut the sheet to manageable lengths, it does get very long.

Big brother skunk cranks the roller while the sunk in the middle watches on.

Resulting sheet, this is about 1/12th of the dough.  The top dough was cut off at setting 3, was getting too long to work with.

     Once the desired thickness is achieved, it's time to cut your noodles.  If you aren't blessed with a pasta cutter, lightly flour the sheet and loosely roll it up into a short cylinder, then you can use a knife to cut pinwheels, which roll out into noodles.  I use a cutter, which operates exactly like the roller:  Just feed in one end and turn the crank

Mine has two options, fettuccine and tagliolini (flat angel hair).

   Once your noodles are cut, toss them lightly with flour and then either hang them on a drying rack, or lay them flat on some wax paper to dry for at least 5 minutes.  At this point, you can cook the pasta immediately, refrigerate them in a sealed bag for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

My improvised temporary drying rack.

 When cooking, remember that fresh pasta cooks much faster than store bought.  Bring salted water to  boil, then add noodles.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or until al dente.  Personally, I like to add the cooked pasta directly to the sauce and toss, rather than pouring on top.  Better texture in my opinion.

Ready for the fridge!

 

 

And there you go, it's pretty easy, just takes a little practice.  Don't be afraid to mess up a few times, eggs and flour are cheap!!