Perfect Basic Egg Pasta

I have been crazy about homemade pasta ever since I learned how to make it. A lot of times I feel like you can substitute store bought, but pasta is not one of those things. If you have the time and if you have a pasta maker (which I do....if only I could remember where the heck I put it on one of our many moves) it is seriously worth the effort. Even if you don't have a pasta maker (or you are absentminded like myself) it is still super easy to make your own egg pasta as I will show you. 

This recipe explains how to make basic egg pasta noodles say for spaghetti or fettucini. It can be adapted for any pasta shape you prefer and can easily be doubled or even tripled if you have the time though this does make a pretty large batch.

Basic Egg Pasta

You will Need:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 1/2 tsps salt
• 2 Tbs room temperature water

Add the flour and salt to a large bowl. Combine. Using the back of a spoon make a well in the center.

Add the eggs and water to the middle of the well. Whisk lightly. Slowly incorporate the flour into the center of the well.

Stir until flour is mostly incorporated. The dough should look something like this.

Once your dough sticks together, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. This is very important, you must knead it for a full 10 minutes.

Your dough should look like this. It should be smooth and it should no longer stick to your hands.

 Wet a dishtowel with steaming hot water. Wring it out until it is damp, there should be barely any liquid left. Place your dough ball in the center of the towel and wrap up. Leave the dough to rise for about two hours (depending on the humidity in your kitchen it could take more or less time). 

After the dough has risen, separate the dough into two equal balls. Coat your rolling surface with flour and turn one of the dough balls out onto the surface.

Roll the dough out until it is very thin. It should almost be translucent that is how thin you want it. If the dough starts to spring back after rolling, wait five minutes and continue rolling again. 

Once your dough has reached the perfect thinness, fold the dough once to the center then flour. Fold it once more to overlap the other side (like a tri-fold brochure). Be sure to flour each layer before you fold. The more flour the better, trust me it will come off in the water when it boils.

Lay out a cutting board and flour it generously (see a theme starting here?) Then thinly slice one side of your dough as shown above.

When unfolded, your noddle should look something like this. 

Continue slicing until you have used up the remainder of the dough. Loosely unfold each piece and set aside. Repeat the rolling and cutting with the second batch of pasta dough.

Boil the pasta in lightly salted water for about 3-5 minutes. Enjoy with your favorite sauce or toppings.

Basic Egg Pasta 

1 1/2 cups flour
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tsps salt
2 Tbs room temperature water

 Add the flour and salt to a bowl. Mix well. Using the back of a spoon, create a well int he center of the flour. Add the egg and water to the well. Gently whisk, slowly incorporating the flour into the mixture. Stir until the mixture is mostly incorporated and dough sticks together. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes. Wrap the dough in a warm damp towel and let rest for at least two hours. 

Break the dough into two equal pieces. Flour a surface and roll until almost transparent. Flour the surface of the dough and fold into thirds, being sure to flour each fold. Heavily flour a cutting board, and slice thin pieces of the dough. Loosely unfold and set aside. Repeat on remaining dough. Boil until al dente.

-Bee