Making A Homemade Pasta
I have always wondered how easy it is to make homemade pasta.
Surprisingly enough, it's really easy. And nothing beats the flavor of
homemade pasta. The flavor is far better that what we usually buy in
shops. No matter how hard these shops claim that theirs is the freshest
homemade pasta in town. This simple, easy-to-follow recipe will put your
long lost forgotten pasta making machine into good use. You just need a
little dusting with it and I am pretty sure it will still work like a
well-oiled machine. The problem is if you can't remember where you
placed it. You can spend a whole lot of time remembering where, while
you read this article about making homemade pasta.
You need to find a good place to start working on your pasta. Going
forward, you need the following:
Large eggs (2)
Flour (1 and ¼ cups)
Salt
Let's start making the dough first. Pour the flour on a flat surface.
Not on the floor, please. A wide sturdy table is best. Using your hand
(be sure you've washed your hands clean off any dirt), make a hole in
the middle of the flour. Imagine creating a shallow well. Get the eggs
and break it into your well. Add salt. Oh, before that, get a little
amount of salt and mix it with the flour before pouring it on a flat
surface. The walls of the flour (should be circular in shape), pushing
slowly the walls of the flour toward the mouth of the well. This is
called kneading. It is a process where in you mix all the ingredients
together. In this case, slowly mix the flour with the eggs using a fork,
at the same time avoiding the eggs to spill out. This needs to be done
very carefully. It is best to use your hands in mixing the eggs and the
flour until you see dough take form. Keep kneading for several more
minutes until you see smooth elastic dough. You may need to add more
flour to achieve the elasticity and smoothness you desire.
Now it's time to make our pasta. Cut the dough into parts. For this
one, cutting it in 6 parts is ideal, and then run them into your pasta
machine. With each pass through the machine, roll the dough several
times over until they become really smooth. Set the rollers closer
together, run the dough through the machine, this may take several takes
until you get the thickness you desire. Lay the dough after each rolling
on clean towels. Be careful not to let the edges overlap so they won't
stick with each other. Let the strips dry for ten minutes after you
finish rolling them. It would be best if you turn them once or twice
while drying. Don't let it get too dry or you will have a problem
cutting the end with a knife. Cutting it straight at the end will make
it easier to feed it into the machine. Lay them on clean towels. And
your pasta is done! |
