Basic Pasta Dough

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taylor's tips

Drying is a crucial stage, pasta will get sticky gummy if it's too fresh.
Dough is not a science, it is weather dependent – be mindful of whether you are working on a humid or dry day as this will affect how much water you might need.
Like bread, pasta has few ingredients, so the better the quality the better the end result! .

With or without the fancy pasta machine, hand-made pasta is surprisingly simple. You can use a wine bottle or a simple rolling pin, it will take a bit longer and be a bit of a workout. The dough is supple and springy, with a quick boil.

ingredients

150 grams all purpose flour (about 1 ¼ cups)
½ tsp salt
100 grams eggs (about 2 large)

directions

Combine the flour and salt and place directly on your countertop. Using your fingers, create a well in the flour mound, keeping a layer of flour on the bottom of the well (so that the countertop isn’t exposed; this will help the dough from sticking to the surface).
Crack the eggs into the well. Using a fork, gently incorporate a little flour at a time from the mound into the well. Continue to add more flour until most of it is incorporated (you may not need to use it all).
Once your dough is generally cohesive and begins to form a wet ball, start to knead it together. Sprinkle as much flour as you need just to be able to handle the dough, being careful not to over-flour it so that it becomes too dry (it is much easier to add flour to wet dough than to hydrate dough that’s too dry!). Continue to knead and incorporate more flour as necessary, for about 5 minutes. You’ll know the dough has been sufficiently kneaded when it is smooth and elastic, and has a consistency similar to Play-Doh. When you poke it, it should spring back easily. (Fresh pasta dough can also be made in a stand mixer, using the dough hook attachment)
Cover the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. The dough can be rested longer, but note that longer periods in the fridge will cause the dough to oxidize, which changes the color from yellow to gray or brown.
Once dough has rested, unwrap and cut into approximately 1”x2” pieces. Flatten into a rectangular shape and then start to run pasta through the machine. Start with dial at “0”, which is widest setting, and do this twice. Work your way up through each number on the dial until you reach “6” or “7”; once at each setting. Be sure to dust dough with flour as needed so that it does not stick to machine. When dough is at the appropriate thickness, lay out on floured surface to dry before cutting.