Home made fresh pasta: how to make it

I have to admit, I’ve gotten a bit slack and have been buying dried pasta for the past few years. There’s nothing wrong with store-bought pasta – I’ve become fond of the whole wheat pasta spirals I get at my natural foods store, tossed with greens, garlic, and olive oil – but I was recently at the home of a friend and while we were talking over wine, he pulled out a disk of dough, quickly rolled it, and put together a simple lasagna with those just-made noodles. 

It was so good, and made me realize that I’d forgotten how good fresh pasta is. And it’s not difficult at all to make.

Unlike pastry and bread doughs, pasta dough isn’t very fussy. You don’t really need a machine to shape the pasta, but a pasta roller really helps and it’s one of life’s great pleasure when you pull that final cut of the pasta strands out of the machine and drop them into a pot of boiling water. 

I have an attachment for my stand mixer, although the small hand-cranked machines are inexpensive and do a good job, too. You can handroll pasta with a rolling pin, but be prepared for a bit of a challenge if you want the dough really thin.

Pasta dough is simple and forgiving. It’s one of those recipes that’s more about technique than ingredients or quantities. It’s basically only two ingredients, but because of variations in eggs, flour, and other factors, you may need to tinker with it a bit. 

Kind of like trying to tell someone exactly how much butter to swipe on toast, or trying to give a precise time for frying an egg to your liking – it’s impossible to give exact instructions to get it just right, but it’s very easy enough to figure out. 

I like the heartiness of semolina, so I use half of that, half all-purpose flour. It’s best to make the dough the day you plan to use it; if left overnight, even in the refrigerator, the dough will turn an unappealing grey color.

Semolina is relatively easy to find, although you can make pasta dough without it. If for some reason your dough feels a bit dry after you’ve been kneading it for a minute, wet your hands and add that small amount of water into it. I also weigh the ingredients since it’s more accurate.

Contact me if you wish to enroll to a course about the art of fresh home made pasta in Italy, I will be happy to help ;)