Fresh pasta

Fresh pasta is actually very easy to make. It’s just flour and eggs. It takes a bit of effort, but if you invest in a pasta machine it’s a piece of cake. One misconception that a lot of people have is that fresh pasta should be made with durum wheat flour. Durum is only used for dry commercially produced pasta, such as spaghetti. Fresh pasta should be made with normal white flour, preferably finely ground ‘00′ grade. Allow 100g of flour and 1 egg per person.Serves 4

400 grams plain white flour (pref type ‘00′)
4 medium eggs

• Pile the flour in a volcano-shaped mound on a work surface
• Break the eggs into the centre.

• Stir the eggs into the flour with a fork and then with you hands until it forms a coarse paste.

• Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic (or pass it through the rollers of the pasta machine several times at the widest setting)

• Let the dough rest for about 30 mins, covered with a cloth.
• Roll the pasta out to a thickness of about 2mm for ravioli etc. Fettuccine should be a little thicker. (Thinnest setting on the machine for ravioli, second thinnest for fettuccine etc)

• To cut ribbon shaped noodle, loosely roll the sheets of pasta and cut to the desired thickness.

• Shake the rolls out onto a board and leave to dry for about 10 minutes before cooking.