Fresh Egg Pasta

Fresh Egg Pasta

Time of preparation: 40 Minutes
Time of cooking: 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

Tipo ‘00’Flour	600 grams
Eggs	6 large

Steps:

1. Place the flour on a board or in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it.
3. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth.
4. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined.
5. Knead the pieces of dough together so it all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough.
Tip; You can also make your dough in a food processor. Just bung everything in, whiz until the flour looks like breadcrumbs, then tip the mixture on to your work surface and bring the dough together into one lump, using your hands.
6. Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy.
7. There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again.
8. Stop once the pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury. Then wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour before you use it. Make sure the cling film covers it well or it will dry out and go crusty round the edges.
9. Roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than a few big ones with a rolling pin.
10. Make square shapes to give better shape.
11. Once you’ve rolled your pasta the way you want it, you need to shape or cut it straight away.
12. Pasta dries much quicker than you think, so whatever recipe you’re doing, don’t leave it more than a minute or two before cutting or shaping it.
13. You can lay over a damp clean tea towel which will stop it from drying.
Tip; If you’re making pasta like tagliatelle, lasagne or stracchi you’ll need to roll the pasta down to between the thickness of a table mat and a playing card; if you’re making a stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini, you’ll need to roll it down slightly thinner or to the point where you can clearly see your hand or lines of newsprint through it.