I know it looks scary and it sounds scary! But it really, really isn't. Plus once you have tasted freshly made pasta you will not believe what you have been missing.
There are a couple of top tips I'm going to share with you to get the best results and if you follow them you will be banging out your own tagliatelle and ravioli in no time!
So first and foremost, my top tip.
To get amazing pasta you have to use the best eggs that you can get hold off. The better the egg the better the pasta, not just in taste but in texture and colour.
I use Bluebell Araucana eggs when I can get them, they are nearly almost on sale in Tesco but an egg with a rich creamy yolk is what your going for.
The next thing is flour. To make pasta you need to use '00' flour. In Europe flour is graded from how finely it is ground with 00 being the finest. The fine ground of the flour will give it a lovely silky dough. You then need to also look for the version of 00 flour which is made from Durum wheat this is particularly for pasta and will say on it Pasta Flour.
Ingredients
600g '00' Pasta Flour
6 Large Eggs
Firstly pour the measured out flour onto your clean worktop area. Make a well in the middle of the flour, quite large as it needs to fit in your 6 eggs.
Break the eggs into the well. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and then using the tips of your fingers mix the flour with the eggs just a small amount at a time until all the flour has been incorporated. Now you need to work the dough to break down the gluten. Its hard work, keep going with it, stretching and pulling it and reforming it back into the ball.
When its ready you will feel the change of it in your hands it will feel soft and smooth and when you press your finger in, the dough should retract again.
Once your ball of pasta dough looks like the above. You can wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
The next bit is much more easily done with a pasta maker whether its an electric one or a manual one that sits on your worktop.
Flatten out your dough ball and divide it up into manageable sizes. I would recommend into 4.
My last top tip!
Keep everything floured, your hands the worktop and especially the feed mechanism on the pasta machine. If you don't you will end up with a sticky pasta and its especially awkward when making thin spaghetti noodles if they end up all stuck together.
So lastly roll out your pasta sheet until it is thin enough to get through the largest setting on your pasta machine. Feed it through, then fold your piece in and envelope and feed it through again, lower the setting and keep repeating the process until you get your sheets of pasta down to the lowest setting you want.
Now you have your lovely fresh pasta sheets its up to you whether you want to create spaghetti noodles, tagliatelle or even lasagna sheets!
Let me know how you get on. Once you've nailed the perfect fresh pasta keep coming back and I will be adding some delicious fresh pasta recipes for you to try.
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