Once you make fresh noodles, it’s hard to go back to store-bought pasta. You can freeze homemade pasta in airtight containers or bags for up to 30 days. Go make some fresh pasta dough ahead of time; it’s a fun and messy weekend project.
To prevent noodles scandalously entangling with one another, it is very important to dust your noodles with enough flour, so that they don’t stick to each other. If you plan on hand-cutting your whole wheat pasta dough, make sure you roll it to about 2 mm (1/8 inch) thick. If you don’t have a drying rack, lay your noodles flat on a baking sheet to dry.
The pasta-maker I used is a hand-cranked Marcato Atlas 150 Wellness Pasta Machine. Using the pasta-maker is not as daunting as it seems. To care for your pasta-maker, be sure to clean it thoroughly with a brush afterwards and wipe down thoroughly. Even though I could put the KitchenAid pasta maker attachment on my wish list, I still prefer the hand-crank — mostly because it would be easier to pull out the hand-cranked pasta maker to feed my small fondant or gumpaste pieces through the roller for cake decorating. (But that’s for another post)
To freeze the pasta, be sure to dust enough flour to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other when you boil them. Thaw the noodles overnight in the fridge, prior to use.
Happy New Year! If you have got any questions on the pasta recipe, leave a comment below.
A successful whole wheat pasta dough would still require the addition of gluten-rich flours. If you cannot find semolina, you can substitute with bread flour.
It is recommended that you roll the pasta through the roller twice before feeding it through the pasta cutters.
A successful whole wheat pasta dough would still require the addition of gluten-rich flours. If you cannot find semolina, you can substitute with bread flour.
It is recommended that you roll the pasta through the roller twice before feeding it through the pasta cutters.
Make a flour well in the centre and add eggs, dried herbs, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Gradually incorporate the flour. Knead the ball of dough vigorously until it is smooth and firm; if using a stand-mixer, attach the dough hook and set the setting to 2 (maximum).
If you are using bare hands, you really, really need to work it. (Arms will be on fire!)
Dust your work surface. Divide the dough into 5 similar-sized balls. Cling wrap and let your dough balls rest for an hour. Resting the gluten is an important step -- your dough will lose the elasticity or toughness.
After resting your dough balls, it is time to roll them out into circles. If you are hand-cutting your pasta without a pasta maker or cutters, be sure to roll them as thinly as 2 mm. To use the pasta-maker, set the dial to 2, set up your hand-crank by the roller's position, then feed your rolled pasta into the roller. Repeat feeding the rolled pasta through the rollers again.
This is the exciting part! Set up the hand crank at the pasta cutters you want to use. Here, it is set at 1.5 mm Tagliolini. If you have a drying rack, use the wand to catch the bottom of the pasta, then proceed to dry it on the rack. If you don't have a pasta rack, lie flat on cookie sheets to dry. Dust some bread flour to prevent sticking at this point. Dry for 2 to 3 minutes, without letting the pasta become brittle. Then, you can choose to boil them for 5 to 8 minutes (taste test for consistency as fresh noodles cook faster than store-bought ones). Freeze any pasta that you don't plan to cook right away.
Recipe Notes
If using fresh herbs, reduce the amount of eggs in this recipe by 1 and use about 3 tbsp fresh herbs.
Be sure to budget time (1 hour) to rest the dough balls.To make curried pasta, after boiling the pasta, pan-fry it with a drizzle of olive oil, 2 tbsp ground turmeric and 1 tsp cumin powder; salt to taste.
Related from-scratch pasta recipe posts from other FBC members (check them out!):
The Tiffin Box's Tandoori Prawns on Homemade Lemony Tagliatelle, where Michelle also includes how she did it sans stand-mixer.
Jacqueline from Cooking With Jax shows us how to make raviolis, the easy way, without busting your arm muscles!
Got a food processor? Bridget's Green Kitchen shows us her Homemade Pasta the easy way and even includes suggestions on how to involve your children in the kitchen.
Laura from An Italian Canadian Life provides a spelt pasta version.
Megan from Food Whine plays with her awesome macaroni stand-up mixer attachment to make really good mac and cheese.
Fareen from Food Mamma tempts us with her cousin's from-scratch Butternut Squash Ravioli.
Kristy from She Eats has this amazing sweet potato from-scratch pasta version. (Did I say I love sweet potatoes?)
Allergic to gluten? Julia provides a buckwheat noodle recipe on Swirls and Spice. Oh, and with sweet potatoes!