How To Make Homemade Pasta

Homemade pasta is one of those things that everyone should make at least once. It is sooooo much better than the store bought stuff. Don't get me wrong.... I LOVE the store bought pasta. Pasta is its own food group, amIright? 

Homemade pasta might be a little finicky to make, especially if you don't have a pasta roller.... BUT it can still be done with a rolling pin and a little muscle. I made angel hair, fettucini, and lasagna noodles for this post but with a little googling, you can easily use this recipe to make bow ties and other fun shapes. Break up the angel hair and you've got perfect noodles for chicken soup. So many options!

If you've got eggs and flour then you can have fresh and delicious homemade pasta in a very little amount off time! *Bada a bing*

Homemade Pasta

Ingredients

3 large eggs

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, place the eggs, flour, oil, salt & pepper. 

Mix until a shaggy dough forms. If it is too dry then add a little water (about 1 tablespoon at a time) until it comes together. Remove dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth: this can take up to 10 minutes. Pat into a ball. (I made 2 batches that is why there is 2 balls pictured below.)

Cover and let rest for about 30 minutes. After dough has rested, cut into 4 equal pieces. You will be working with 1 of the pieces at a time so cover the others again so they don't dry out. 

Put your pasta maker on the largest setting (1) and run the dough through once. Fold into thirds, and run it through again. Do this 3 - 4 times until dough is becoming more elasticy. 

Move your pasta maker to the next largest setting (2) to start to thin it.

Continue to change the setting to the next thinner, gradually working your way to the thin-ness you prefer. We go with #6. 

If you find your dough is too long to work with then cut it in half and work with half at a time. 

If you are making lasagna noodles - you are done. Just cut them to the size you need and hang to dry for at least 2 hours. You can also place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet to dry if you don't have a hanger. 

If you are making angel hair or fettucini noodles - attach the pasta roller to your pasta machine and roll the dough through to cut it.

Lightly toss noodles in flour to prevent sticking. 

Then hang to dry for at least 2 hours. 

NOTE - if you do not have a pasta maker you will need to work with the one piece of dough and roll it as thin as you can using a rolling pin, then cut them by hand using a pizza cutter or something similar. You can loosely roll the dough up and cut it with a sharp knife too, this can make cutting super thin a bit easier.  I used a rack from my oven to hang the pasta. I propped it up on a chair and my kitchen table and then placed a towel down under it to catch any bits that fell for easier clean up. 

To cook the pasta is super simple. All you need to do is bring a pot of salted water to a boil, drop the noodles in, and boil for about 3 - 5 minutes (to your desired level of doneness). 

I cooked up some chicken with a little oil in a pan, threw in the boiled noodles, tossed in some pesto and *voila*... 

The BEST garlic basil chicken pesto fettucini on the planet! Add a little homemade garlic gread focaccia and you've died and gone to heaven. (I'll be posting my focaccia recipe soon so stay tuned!) 

Lasagna is even easier! You don't have to pre-cook the noodles, just layer them in your lasagna and bake as you normally would. (350 for about an hour is our usual). 

You're not going to find a better lasagna ANYWHERE. Using homemade noodles is a game changer. 

Homemade noodles might take a bit of time and energy to whip up but trust me... it's totally worth it! It's a great project if you are stuck at home and looking for something to pass the time. Get the kids involved in helping you roll and shape the noodles. Break out the aprons... let things get flour-y. 

Homemade noodles will store in the fridge for about 2 days before going weird.... but can be frozen for up to several months. 

When you go to cook frozen homemade pasta do NOT thaw it. Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the pasta in. Be sure to use more water than you normally would so the temperature doesn't drop too much when you add the pasta.