Erik Smith

The Manual of Homemade Pasta for Beginners Erik Smith

Making fresh, home-made pasta dough doesn't have to be tedious!




All you need is some flour, eggs, and a tiny bit of arm strength as you knead it all together - no food processor or fancy stand-mixer required. And once your pasta is ready, all it takes is 2-3 minutes of cooking before you can add your sauce, sprinkle your cheese, and open that wine.




Regardless of the recipe, the process to make pasta dough is the same: slowly stirring liquid into your flour to hydrate as you mix. Arrange your flour in a volcano shape-that is, a mound with a crater at the center-on a flat work surface or in a wide, shallow bowl. Add the liquid ingredients to the crater and break the yolks of the eggs (if using) with the tines of a fork. Whisk the liquid slowly into the flour, working from the center outwards. Then, when the dough is too stiff to mix with a fork, use your hands to bring it all together.




Electric pasta makers take the muscle requirement out of your homemade dough; after you add the ingredients into the chamber, the machine does all the kneading for you, which may seem like a worthwhile shortcut for those lacking in forearm strength. But according to most chefs, making pasta dough without equipment is easier than you'd think and more foolproof, yielding consistent, better-incorporated results.




Technically speaking, bringing your dough together by hand before kneading it means you'll end up with a properly balanced mixture every time. This helps account for variables in your dough that might make it looser or drier even when following the same recipe, like the brand of AP flour you use or the size of your eggs.
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