How to Make Fresh Pasta

If you’re a follower of my blog, you would know that I’m a pasta lover. I love trying new pasta recipes and most importantly I love eating it. Up until now, I’ve only shared recipes using store-bought dried pasta. As much as I love the firm al dente texture of dried pasta, my affection for silky, delicate and tender fresh pasta isn’t any less.

Despite what many of you think, fresh pasta isn’t difficult to make. With just a bit of practice, you can have pasta dough kneaded in 10 minutes and rolled out in 5 (but with a 30 minute resting period in between, of course). The ingredients are simple: eggs, flour and some olive oil. You would, however, have to invest in a pasta maker.

If you have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, you might already have the pasta attachments and don’t have to get a separate pasta maker. But if you are like me, and don’t have the kitchen space for the Stand Mixer, there are many pasta makers available. A popular one that is easily found in Hong Kong is the Marcato Atlas 150. This one is sold in many places: city’super, ilBelPaese and Wing On. I bought mine in the Silver for about HKD 700 . Of course there are many other brands out there, and I believe places like Pantry Magic carries various brands.

If you’re old school, you don’t even need a pasta maker, a rolling-pin and some muscles will also do!

Fresh Egg Pasta
Serves 3

150g Type 00 Flour*
150g Semolina*
3 fresh eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp olive oil

*If you can’t find semolina, you can just double the Type 00 Flour
**Rule of thumb: 100g flour to 1 egg for each person

: Measure out the flour.

: Make a well in the center and crack your eggs in.

: Add the olive oil to the eggs.

: Using a fork, beat the eggs until smooth.

: As you continue to beat the eggs, catch in some of the flour.

: Gradually mix in more flour.

: Continue to mix…

: …until all of the flour is incorporated into the egg mixture.

Now roll up your sleeves and start flexing your muscles…

: Using your hands, start binding the dough together.

: Once it’s one big lump, transfer it onto a clean surface.

: Start kneading the dough. Pasta dough isn’t fussy, so don’t worry about the technique.

: As you continue to knead, the dough will become less lumpy and become smoother.

: If the dough is a bit dry, you can wet your hands a bit while kneading.

: Work those muscles…

: …almost there.

: When the dough becomes one big smooth lump, you’re done! Wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Be sure to wrap the dough in cling film so that it is all covered. Dough exposed to air will dry out quickly and become crusty. When you’re ready to roll out your dough, take it out of the fridge.

: Split the dough into smaller portions. I like to work with a single portion at a time (100g flour). So in this case, I split it into 3 portions. Wrap the remaining dough in cling film so that it doesn’t dry out.

: Using your fingers, flatten out the dough.

: Clamp down your pasta maker and set it to the widest setting (usually 1). Dust the pasta maker and surface with flour. Roll your flattened dough through the pasta maker.

: For each setting I like to roll the dough through 2-3x.

: Don’t forget to dust your dough with flour.

: After the first passthrough of setting 1, fold the dough like above and fold along the middle again. This will help your dough to be more rectangular.

: Pass through setting 1 again, 2-3x again.

: Now, reduce the width of the pasta maker by increasing the setting number (ie., setting 2) and pass your dough through 2x.

: Continue to reduce your setting (increasing the number) and passing through your dough. Your pasta dough will become thinner and longer. Don’t forget to dust the pasta dough with flour as you do this.

: Depending how thick you want your pasta to be, stop at your desired setting.

Now for the fun part!

: Feed the pasta sheet through the cutting attachment. I’ve chosen the linguine attachment here.

: The pasta may be too long, so just use a knife to cut it to the length you prefer.

And voila…you now have fresh pasta. You can hang it to dry, or you can dust it with flour and keep it on a tray until you’re ready to cook it. Remember fresh pasta is much quicker to cook than dried ones, it should take about 1-3 minutes only. Serve with your favorite sauce.