Pasta love
Make pasta yourself – with or without an egg: this is how the pasta dough turns out to be in no time at all
You can shape different types of pasta with a pasta machine
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It tastes delicious, fills you up and is quick to prepare: Pasta is a regular item on the menu of millions of people. But why buy when you can make pasta yourself?
According to a recent statistics In Germany alone, over 14 million people aged 14 and over eat pasta several times a week. This means that over seven kilograms of pasta end up on our menu every year – and that’s not really a lot. For comparison: In Italy the annual per capita consumption is 25 kilograms. Whether spaghetti or gnocchi, ribbon noodles or cannelloni, farfalle or penne, ravioli or tortellini: real pasta fans always have several types of pasta in order to have the right pasta in stock for every dish. But why always buy products wrapped in plastic when making fresh pasta is child’s play? You only need three basic ingredients – and possibly a pasta machine.
The perfect pasta dough: this is how it works
The classic pasta dough variant with egg is particularly sticky and therefore very suitable for different forms of ribbon pasta (including tagliatelle, fettuccine or pappardelle) or ravioli and tortellini. You only need three ingredients for the pasta dough:
Important:
The ratio of flour to eggs is always 1: 1, regardless of how much pasta you want to make. For four people, take 300 grams of flour and three eggs plus a pinch of salt. For the preparation you need a saucepan, cling film, a knife and a rolling pin – or one Pasta machine – necessary. Proceed as follows:
Pour the flour on a clean work surface and form a hollow in it in which you place the eggs and salt. Mix the flour with your hands or a fork, gradually piling it from the outside over the eggs.
Once a crumbly mass is formed, you can dampen your hands lightly to knead the dough until smooth for five to ten minutes. It is best to always form a ball, press it flat again and then fold it. Repeat this process several times.
When the dough is nice and smooth and no longer sticks to your hands, shape it into a ball again and wrap it in cling film. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before processing it further.
The pasta dough is made from three basic ingredients: flour, eggs and salt
© Anchiy / Getty Images
Make pasta yourself: without a pasta machine
To roll out the pasta dough thinly, you will need a rolling pin. If you don’t want to make ribbon noodles (including tagliatelle), but more elaborate types such as ravioli, you need one more Rolling pin or matching Cookie cutter. Before you start rolling, you should cut the dough into four equal parts. While you start with the first piece, the rest of the material stays in the cling film so as not to dry out:
- Rub the rolling pin with a little flour, then place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Now roll out the dough until it is no more than five millimeters thick. Then fold the pasta dough several times and cut it into narrow strips with the knife.
- Before the ribbon noodles can be cooked, you need to dry them. Preferably so that they don’t touch each other – otherwise they would stick to each other. For example, place the pasta on a sheet of baking paper or use a practical one Pasta dryer wooden.
Finally, the dried noodles are cooked in boiling salted water. Depending on how firm you prefer to eat your pasta, three to five minutes at most is sufficient. Then pour the water through a sieve and enjoy your freshly made pasta.
Make pasta yourself: with a pasta machine
You need one thing above all to roll out the pasta dough: time. And actually power too, when you consider how long it takes for the dough to be thin enough to cut into fine strips. If you want to save yourself the hassle, you can use a pasta machine. Cheap models is already available for around 50 euros, one fully automatic pasta machine with weighing function and shaped discs costs significantly more (e.g. from Philips for € 219).
Here, too, it is important to quarter the finished pasta dough before further processing. Take a quarter and press it flat with the heel of your hand to create an oval surface. Before using the pasta machine, the roller must be dusted with flour so that no dough sticks to it. Then proceed as follows:
Set the roller to the greatest possible distance and turn the dough through the pasta machine. Then fold the dough twice (always towards the middle) and turn the narrower side through the roller one more time. Repeat this process three times.
When the dough is pliable, reduce the distance between the roller by one more level and turn the dough again. Set the pasta machine one step lower after each rolling cycle until the dough has reached the desired thickness. Do not forget to refill the roller over and over again.
Tip: If the pasta dough is too long to press through the roller, you can simply cut it in half and then process the individual pieces further.
Vegan variant: make your own pasta – without eggs
Instead of eggs, you can simply use durum wheat semolina for the preparation of vegan pasta dough. Due to its coarse grain size, the dough becomes more firm to the bite and is therefore particularly suitable for making spaghetti, penne, rigatoni or fusilli – actually all types of pasta that you usually prefer to eat al dente anyway.
You only need the following ingredients for the preparation:
- 250 g wheat flour
- 150 g semolina (durum wheat)
- 160 milliliters of water
- a pinch of salt
- four tablespoons of olive oil
Tip:
If you cannot tolerate wheat flour, you can alternatively use whole grain, chestnut, chickpea or buckwheat flour. Once you have all the ingredients together, proceed with the preparation and processing of the pasta dough as described above. We wish you every success and of course enjoy your meal!
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