How to Make Pasta at Home
Typical fresh, Italian-style pasta is made from a combination of eggs and flour. If you have these 2 ingredients in your kitchen, then you have almost everything you need to make fresh pasta at home.
5-Minute Crafts would like to tell you about how to make fresh pasta at home.
Ingredients and gear
To make 4-6 portions of fresh pasta, you’ll need:
- 10 ounces of all-purpose flour or semolina
- 2 chicken eggs
- 4 yolks
- Salt to taste
You’ll also need the following gear:
Step-by-step instruction
Step 1. Measure the required amount of flour and pour it on a flat surface in a pile. Then, using your fingers, make a hole in the center about 4 inches in diameter. Add eggs, yolks, and salt there.
Step 2. Using a fork, gradually start pushing the flour into the pool with the eggs. Keep adding flour until you don’t need to use a fork anymore: the dough should turn into a single mass and become wet and sticky.
Take a scraper and scrape off the dough stuck to the fork and hands. Then sprinkle more flour into the dough, rotating it about 45° every time to distribute the flour evenly. As soon as the mass becomes firm and dry, start kneading. After about 10 minutes, you should have a smooth ball of dough. Wrap it in cling film and let it “rest” at room temperature for 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Step 3. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Set one aside and wrap the rest in cling film. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, making it at least half an inch thick.
Now you can cut it into the sheets for lasagne or squares for ravioli and tortellini. It can also be used to make one of the types of flat pasta — tagliatelle (1/4 inch wide), fettuccine (0.25 inch wide), or linguine (0.15 inch wide). If you want to make flat pasta, use a pasta maker, as in the photo above, or simply cut the dough with a knife.
Step 4. Toss the finished pasta in a bit of flour and place it on a flat surface to keep it from sticking. Then cut the remaining 3 pieces of the dough.
If you’ve made too much pasta and want to save it for next time, put it into an airtight container and store it for a few days in the fridge or up to a month in the freezer.
Step 5: Shake off the flour from the pasta and cook it in boiling salted water for 60 seconds if you like firmer and more elastic pasta, or for 90 seconds if you like it soft.
Step 6. Add your favorite sauce to the pasta. For example, flat pasta like tagliatelle and fettuccine go well with Bolognese sauce.
Colored pasta
If you want to make your food more colorful, you can make colored pasta. To do this, add the following ingredients to the flour along with eggs and salt:
- Spinach puree for green pasta: Steam or blanch about half a pound of spinach leaves until they are soft and bright green. Puree them in a food processor until smooth and squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible before mixing with eggs.
- Beet puree for red pasta: Roast 2 small beets or 1 large one in aluminum foil in the oven at 375°F until very soft. Clean and grind in a food processor.
- Squid ink for black pasta: You’ll need 1.5 tablespoons of squid ink. You can find it at gourmet food stores.
- Tomato paste for orange pasta: You’ll need 4 tablespoons of tomato paste.
- Saffron or turmeric for yellow pasta: Use 0.25 to 0.5 teaspoons of ground saffron or turmeric.