A simple recipe for homemade pasta - 4 ingredients and options for using a pasta machine or by hand.
We eat a lot of pasta in our house. It's my favourite and of course, toddlers pretty much love nothing more than plain pasta, right?!
So it was only natural that eventually I was going to need a homemade pasta recipe that I could fall back on and make with whatever I had on hand.
A lot of pasta recipes use special "OO" pasta flour or semolina flour. This one doesn't, mostly because my regular supermarket doesn't stock it and I don't like keeping ingredients in my pantry that are only good for one thing.
I like to make my recipes as easy as possible, so I've stuck with the following ingredients:
- Plain flour
- Salt
- Eggs
- Olive oil
I bet you have all of those things in your cupboard right now!
The other thing I wanted to make sure I did was give options for how to make it. This dough can be mixed up by hand, in a stand mixer or in the food processor.
You can roll it out by hand or using a pasta roller (either a hand cranked one or one that attaches to your stand mixer)
I have a pasta roller (this is similar to the one I have, affiliate link), but if you are not sure if you will make a lot of pasta and don't want to invest in one, you can make this completely by hand and believe me, it's just as good as using a roller!
So let's get into how to make homemade pasta!
Step 1: Mix up the dough
Food processor: add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times until it starts to form a ball. Remove from the food processor, knead by hand on a lightly floured bench for 5 minutes until smooth.
Stand mixer: Add all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and knead using the dough hook for 5 minutes.
By hand: Add the flour and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk together. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and olive oil. Use a butter knife to combine the ingredients then tip out onto a lightly floured bench and knead for 5 minutes until smooth.
Step 2: Rest the dough
Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and let rest on the bench for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Roll out the dough
Pasta roller: Split the dough into 4 pieces. Take one piece and use your hands to flatten it into an oval shaped disc, dusting it generously in flour. Set the pasta roller on the thickest setting (this is 7 on my pasta roller) and roll the sheet of pasta through twice. Continue to feed the dough through the pasta roller, gradually reducing the settings so that the dough gets thinner each time. Make sure you dust the dough with flour between each run through - this helps it to go through smoothly. I usually run the dough through once on each setting until I get to setting 2 or 3.
If the dough gets too long to handle, use a sharp knife to cut it in half and continue to roll through.
Once the pasta is as thin as you want it, you can either stop and use this as lasagne sheets or attach the cutter attachment to make spaghetti or fettucine. Dust the pasta sheet in flour again and roll it through.
I like to prepare a baking sheet with a non stick liner or baking paper and lay the cut pasta into little nests while I cut the rest.
By hand: To roll pasta by hand, split the dough into 4 and shape one piece into a flat oval disc as in the previous method.
Place the dough onto a well floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out until it is about 1-2mm thin, adding more flour as necessary to stop the dough from sticking.
Once the dough is your desired thickness, flour the dough again and loosely roll it up into a loose, flat cylinder (see image below). Use a long sharp knife to slice the pasta into your desired noodle width. Transfer the cut pasta onto a lined baking sheet and lay the cut pasta into little nests while you cut the rest.
How to cook fresh pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Drop the pasta nests into the boiling water and stir so that the noodles don't stick together. Cook for 2-4 minutes until the pasta is cooked to your liking. Strain the pasta and serve immediately!
How to store fresh pasta:
Allow the pasta to dry at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and then transfer to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for 1-2 days or freeze for a couple of months. To cook frozen pasta, I just put it in the pot straight from the freezer and cook for 6-8 minutes (6 minutes for spaghetti, 8 minutes for thicker pasta)
How to serve fresh pasta:
- Spaghetti bolognese
- Instead of macaroni in mac & cheese
- Skip cutting it into noodles and use it in lasagne
- Any of your favourite pasta dishes!
Homemade Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Instructions
Step 1: Mix up the dough
- Food processor: add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times until it starts to form a ball. Remove from the food processor, knead by hand on a lightly floured bench for 5 minutes until smooth. The dough will be reasonably dry but will hold together and form a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour, if it's too dry add a bit more olive oil or water
- Stand mixer: Add all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and knead using the dough hook for 5 minutes.
- By hand: Add the flour and salt to a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk together. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and olive oil. Use a butter knife to combine the ingredients then tip out onto a lightly floured bench and knead for 5 minutes until smooth.
Step 2: Rest the dough
- Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and let rest on the bench for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Roll out the dough
- Pasta roller: Split the dough into 4 pieces. Take one piece and use your hands to flatten it into an oval shaped disc, dusting it generously in flour. Set the pasta roller on the thickest setting (this is 7 on my pasta roller) and roll the sheet of pasta through twice. Continue to feed the dough through the pasta roller, gradually reducing the settings so that the dough gets thinner each time. Make sure you dust the dough with flour between each run through - this helps it to go through smoothly. I usually run the dough through once on each setting until I get to setting 2 or 3.
- If the dough gets too long to handle, use a sharp knife to cut it in half and continue to roll through.
- Once the pasta is as thin as you want it, you can either stop and use this as lasagne sheets or attach the cutter attachment to make spaghetti or fettucine. Dust the pasta sheet in flour again and roll it through.
- I like to prepare a baking sheet with a non stick liner or baking paper and lay the cut pasta into little nests while I cut the rest.
- By hand: To roll pasta by hand, split the dough into 4 and shape one piece into a flat oval disc as in the previous method.
- Place the dough onto a well floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out until it is about 1-2mm thin, adding more flour as necessary to stop the dough from sticking.
- Once the dough is your desired thickness, flour the dough again and loosely roll it up into a loose, flat cylinder (see image above). Use a long sharp knife to slice the pasta into your desired noodle width. Transfer the cut pasta onto a lined baking sheet and lay the cut pasta into little nests while you cut the rest.
How to cook fresh pasta:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Drop the pasta nests into the boiling water and stir so that the noodles don't stick together. Cook for 2-4 minutes until the pasta is cooked to your liking. Strain the pasta and serve immediately!
Notes
Janet says
I recently bought a motor to run my pasta machine. Game changer. I also use it for rolling crackers, and have become a cracker snob 😱. Bought ones are like cardboard now I’ve had home made.
Daniel says
Was really dry as I started put so added quite a bit of water. It's resting now, will see how hand rolling goes?!?!
Helen Nugteren says
Easy peasy....commonsense Kiwi homecooking
Claudia says
Do you ever dry your pasta in nests for later use? Tips? I’ve tried but it goes grey!
Wendie says
First time I’ve made a recipe that worked in my machine - thank you!
Stacey says
Absolutely loved the pasta! Definitely found it hard to roll the pasta thin enough by hand so was a bit thicker than preferred but tasted delicious. Thank you 🙂