FRESH HOMEMADE PASTA

HAPPY NATIONAL PASTA DAY!

I hope you all enjoy pasta as much as I do, if not you might be reading the wrong blog post. As it is National Pasta Day, a holiday I think we can all get on board with, I decided to make pasta from scratch. I am not an expert by any means, this is harder than it looks and it takes some time, not to mention, the mess! But, it is SO much fun to make your own pasta. This would be a great date night activity or fun to make when you have friends over, just make sure you start early if you want to eat by 7pm.

You can use a rolling pin and a pizza cutter if you like, but I used a pasta machine. You can find them fairly cheap online from Amazon, Target, or Bed Bath and Beyond. As this was my first time making pasta I didn’t want to get an expensive machine. The one I chose was from Bed Bath and Beyond and worked just fine. (Click here to see the pasta machine I used)

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
  • Extra needed for kneading and dusting while forming the pasta
• 3 Eggs
• A Pinch of Salt (I used Himalayan Sea Salt)
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Pasta Machine or Rolling Pin and Pizza Cutter

WHAT TO DO:

1. Measure out Flour on cutting board or kneading surface. And make a well in the middle of the pile, you will want to make the well larger than you think so you don’t have a breach.
   
2. Add the Eggs, Salt, and Olive Oil to the center of the well and whisk together with a fork.
   
   Once mixture is properly whisked together, start taking portions of the inner well and continue whisking until all of the flour has been mixed in.
   
3. This is where you will need some extra flour as the dough will be very sticky. I recommend rubbing flour on your hands and sprinkling flour over the dough ball.
   
4. Start kneading the dough and making sure there are no clumps. If the dough continues to be too sticky keep dusting with flour. Don’t be afraid to add flour as long as you are adding it slowly.
   
5. Once your dough has been properly kneaded, you will cut the ball like a pizza in four different sections.
   
6. Take one section and roll out using a rolling pin or the pasta machine, make sure you use enough flour so the dough doesn’t stick.
   

*Pro Tip: If you are using the pasta maker, start out on a thicker setting when rolling out the dough. Then after one or two passes through the machine, reduce the thickness setting and pass through again. On the machine I linked, I used the number 7 setting and rolled the pasta sheet through twice, dusting with flour in between each pass through. Then, I went down to the 3 or 4 setting, again dusting with flour between each pass through. The final setting I used was the 2^nd setting.

7. After the first section of your dough is rolled out to your desired thickness dust with flour and set aside. Proceed to the other sections and repeat the process.
8. Attach the cutting attachment to the pasta maker, and roll through each section through the cutter. If using a rolling pin, this is where your pizza cutter will come in handy. Cut the sheets into strips.
   

AND THAT’S IT! Now all you have to do is decide whether you are going to cook the pasta and eat it immediately or if you are going to dry the pasta and save it for later.

COOK: If you decided to cook the pasta and eat it right away, place in a boiling pot of water with salt. It should only take about 4-5 minutes

SAVE FOR LATER: You can either use a pasta drying rack or lay in a bundle and let sit for 4 hours. When the top has dried you can flip over and dry for another 1-2 hours. This pasta will be best kept for about a month in an airtight container.

If you try out this recipe, or if you have pointers/ tips you think I should know, let me know below!