Homemade fresh egg pasta is a delightful and rewarding culinary experience. Surprisingly easy to make, this pasta is made from a simple dough of flour and eggs, resulting in a rich, tender texture that store-bought pasta can’t match.
Fresh Egg Pasta
Description
Simple yet very satisfying, fresh egg pasta can be made in less than one hour and deliver a great meal.
Ingredients
Instructions
Make The Dough
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Manual Version
Mix the all-purpose and semolina flours, and salt together, then make a mound on work bench and make a well in the center.
Crack the eggs in a bowl, and mix them up using a fork.
Add the eggs to the center of the flour well and slowly add the flour to the egg mixture until all flour is incorporated.
Switch to kneading by hand until you get a supple and uniform dough.
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Mixer Version
Add the all-purpose and semolina flours,and salt together in the mixer's bowl and start the mixer at slow speed to combine them.
Crack the eggs in a bowl and mix them up using a fork.
Add the eggs to the mixer and keep mixing a medium speed until you get a supple and uniform dough. If the dough is a bit wet add a touch of flour, a teaspoon at a time and keep mixing for at least 30 seconds to see if the dough comes together.
Rest The Dough
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Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Roll The Dough
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Cut the dough in four sections and flatten each section with the back of your hand.
Flour the dough and feed it through the pasta machine roller set on level 1 and after each pass switch the level up by one. Once you reach level 3, take the dough and fold it letter style, then turn it 90 degrees and go back feeding to the roller set back to level 1.
Keep feeding the dough and turn up the level after each pass until you reach the desired thickness.
If the dough feels a bit sticky, dust some all-purpose flour on each side before moving to the next level.
Since pasta machines come with different levels you need to test when to stop. My pasta machine has 7 levels and for regular tagliatelle or pappardelle I stop at level 5, while for ravioli I may go to level 6 since the pasta is doubled once sealed.
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Cut The Dough
For this recipe we are making tagliatelle, so we take each sheet of dough, right after you finish rolling it through the last level, and we pass it through the tagliatelle cutter in the pasta machine.
If you prefer pappardelle, I usually take the sheet of dough, fold it three or four times over itself and using a sharp knife I cut wide strips manually.
Once cut, mix in some semolina flour with the cut pasta to prevent sticking.
Flour The Tagliatelle
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If you are not ready to cook the pasta right away, mix the tagliatelle with some semolina flour to prevent sticking.
I generally store the tagliatelle in a covered container in the refrigerator up to a few days, otherwise I freeze each portion in a sheet pan in the freezer and then I transfer them to a zip lock bag.
And Now We Cook!
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the fresh tagliatelle for 3-5 minutes until al dente, or to the donness you prefer.
Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, so keep an eye on it!
Serve it with your favorite sauce, I personally like a nice bolognese sauce or brown butter sage.
Buon Appetito!
