Easy Homemade Pasta Dough

Food Trend: Homemade pasta is not just showing up on restaurant menus, but home cooks are adding it to their repertoire as well. Fresh pasta is relatively easy to make, it just takes time…in fact…a lot of time. But the ends here justify the means. And I LOVE pasta.

Inspiration: Today, October 17th, happens to be National Pasta Day. So sharing my recipe for  homemade pasta seems appropriate.

Interpretation: My mother has always joked that I have semolina running through my veins. So my trick to my fresh pasta, is semolina. To make this recipe approachable for home cooks, the dough will be made in a food processor instead of the traditional flour/egg well.

Tools Needed: Yes, this is a simplified version of pasta, however you will need some tools. To make the dough, any standard Mixer or Food Processor will do. I recommend a KitchenAid Stand Mixer or a Cuisinart Food Processor.  To roll the pasta dough, you will need either the KitchenAid Pasta Roller Attachment or the Imperia Pasta Machine, which I have and use here. (Which was the BEST secret-santa gift ever from my bestie Jen!!)

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Before rolling your dough, using a pasta/bread cutter, divide the dough into 4-6 2in pieces. Take each piece and roll it out slightly by hand to make it into a square. Set your machine to the highest setting, which on my machine is a 7.

 I like to roll my pasta through the machine 2 times at each setting. After my first roll, I sprinkle semolina on my dough and fold it over to run through the machine. I only do this fold once, since I made my dough in a mixer it has already been “worked” a lot. If you were to roll your dough by hand, you might want to do the flour & fold 2 or 3 times.

Your going to have a long piece of dough. You will know it is ready when the dough is translucent and you can see your hand through it.

I chose to make Fettuccine. So I ran my flattened dough through the Fettuccine setting. Before running it through, make sure your flattened dough pieces are the same size. This will ensure all your Fettuccine is the same length. Then just line up your dough and start cranking.

Look closely and you will see the flat dough on the top and the cut dough on the bottom

You will have beautiful fettuccine!

I like to dry out my pasta for about a half hour before I cook it. During this drying time I will prep my sauce.

Isn’t is pretty! You can also freeze both the dough and the cut pasta for about 3 months in the fridge. To defrost the dough, put it in the fridge 24 hours before cooking.

Homemade Pasta

2013-10-16 18:14:04

Fresh, homemade dough and home cut Fettuccine

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Ingredients

I use a 1 to 1 ratio - which works well for doubling (or quadrupling) the recipe

For the Dough

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

About a cup of semolina flour for kneading, flattening and drying

Make the dough

- Combine flour & salt into mixer and pulse a few times to combine

- Add egg and olive oil and process for about 60 seconds or until the dough starts to form into a ball. If your dough is still grainy, add a table spoon of water, pulse a few times or process until you get your ball. If your dough is too watery, add flour

- Sprinkle clean counter top with semolina flour. Remove the dough and knead the dough with until everything is combined. You don't need to over-knead as your dough got a pretty good workout already in the food processor. You will know your dough is ready when you press on it with your finger and the spot your pressed up pops back up. Cover dough in plastic wrap and let it sit covered in room temperature for 30 minutes

Flatten the dough

-Cut your dough into 4-6 pieces. Keep pieces you are not using wrapped in plastic wrap

- Flatten the piece of dough into a rectangular shape and make sure it is thin enough to go through your roller. Dust the roller with semolina flour.

- Starting at the widest setting, roll your dough though the roller. After the first pass, dust with semolina and fold in half. Repeat this step on the widest setting 2-3 times. (4-6 if you kneaded the dough by hand.

- Continue to pass your dough through the roller 2 times per setting until your dough is strong but translucent

- Place your sheet of pasta on a large baking trey, sprinkle with semolina flour then cover with a paper-towel until all your sheets are done

- Make sure all pasta sheets are uniform in size, cutting if necessary. Run through the cutting roller to your desired shape. Put on a drying rack, or lay flat on a baking sheet until ready to cook

Cook Time

Fresh pasta takes about 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Cook in batches to avoid sticking. Serve immediately

By Julie Zucker

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