How To Make Your Own Pasta
This is for Carmen, who is beautiful and loving and fun.
I made fresh pasta last night. I am not much of a measurements girl, but I’ll give it a go telling you all how I made it.
About 1 cup of flour.
4 egg yolks.
So you can either put the flour is a mound on the table, make a well in the center, put the yolks into it, and then slowly beat it in with a fork. OR you can put it in a food processor and ‘buzz’ it. OR you can put it in a bowl and mix it together with a fork.
If the mixture isn’t moist enough then add a little oil, and then add egg white as you need to, but it should still be a little crumby. After a while if you start to ‘rub’ the ingredients together you see that it’s not as dry as you thought.
Alternatively, if you think it’s too wet, then just add a little more flour. Keep doing this until your’re satisfied.
Now, you really don’t want to make this without a pasta maker, but you can if you wish. Put it on the highest setting and push the pasta through. Then fold it into thirds, and repeat. Do this about 4 or 5 times. This helps to kneed the dough further, and to get it really silky and smooth.
Then push it through at each level indicated on the side. I never really do this- I can’t be bothered to put it through 7 times!! I usually just do settings 7, 5, 3 then 1. Sometimes I just leave it on 2 or 3, and that leaves me with a slightly thicker, easier to use pasta. Particularly good if you like pasta, and make lasagna with it.
When I’m on about setting 5, I usually cut my really long sheet in half. I’ve found that doing that really makes my pasta better, because it doesn’t curl up at the bottom. And covering the pasta generously on both sides with flour after that setting 5 roll will help a lot as well.
Cover it again with flour on both sides when you’re finished. This means it won’t stick together. You can either slice up the pasta yourself now for fettuccine, or spaghetti, or you can leave it flat for lasagna or cannelloni, or tortellini or ravioli. Or you can use the cutters that already come with it (most of the time), and make the pasta with that (like in the picture)!
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January 12 2008 09:35 am | 5Food and HowTo
January 12th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Thanks Talia!!!! I was just telling my mum about this today and how excited I was about getting one and making my own pasta!!!!!
I almost just want to go to the shops right now and get one hahaha! I guess the main thing is that practice makes perfect.
Thanks again and thankyou for last night, it was sooo lovely