According to current statistics, in Germany alone over 14 million people aged 14 and over eat pasta several times a week. This means that over seven kilograms of pasta end up on our menu every year – and that’s not really a lot. For comparison: In Italy, annual per capita consumption is 25 kilograms. Whether spaghetti or gnocchi, tagliatelle or cannelloni, farfalle or penne, ravioli or tortellini: real pasta fans always have several types of pasta in order to have the right pasta on hand for every dish. But why always buy the products that are shrink-wrapped in plastic when making fresh pasta is child’s play? You only need three basic ingredients – and if necessary, a pasta machine.
The classic pasta dough variant with egg is particularly sticky and therefore very suitable for different shapes of tagliatelle (including tagliatelle, fettuccine or pappardelle) as well as ravioli and tortellini. For the pasta dough you only need three ingredients:
Important: The ratio of flour to eggs is always 1:1, regardless of how much pasta you want to make. For four people, take 300 grams of flour and three eggs as well as a pinch of salt. To prepare it, you will need a cooking pot, cling film, a knife and a rolling pin – or a pasta machine. Proceed as follows:
Pour the flour onto a clean work surface and form a well in which to add the eggs and salt. Mix the flour with your hands or a fork, gradually mounding it over the eggs from the outside.
Once a crumbly mixture forms, you can lightly wet your hands and knead the dough until smooth for five to ten minutes. It’s best to always form a ball, flatten it again and then fold it. Repeat this process several times.
When the dough is nice and smooth and no longer sticks to your hands, shape it into a ball again and wrap it in cling film. Now let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before processing it further.
To roll out the pasta dough thinly, you will need a rolling pin. If you don’t want to make ribbon pasta (including tagliatelle), but rather more complex varieties such as ravioli, you will also need a rolling pin or suitable cookie cutter. Before you start rolling out, you should cut the dough into four equal parts. While you start with the first piece, the rest remain in the cling film so as not to dry out:
Finally, the dried pasta is cooked in boiling salted water. Depending on how firm you prefer your pasta to be, three to a maximum of five minutes of cooking time is sufficient. Then pour the water through a sieve and enjoy your freshly made pasta.
You need one thing above all to roll out the pasta dough: time. And actually power too, considering how long it takes until the dough is thin enough to cut into fine strips. If you want to save yourself the effort, you can use a pasta machine. Cheap models are available for around 50 euros, a fully automatic pasta machine with weighing function and shaping discs costs significantly more (e.g. from Philips for 219 euros).
Here too, it is important to quarter the finished pasta dough before further processing. Take a quarter and flatten it with the heel of your hand to create an oval shape. Before using the pasta machine, the roller must be dusted with flour to prevent dough from sticking to it. Then proceed as follows:
Adjust the roller to the greatest possible distance and rotate the dough through the pasta machine. Then fold the dough twice (always towards the middle) and turn the narrower side through the roller again. Repeat this process three times.
When the dough is smooth, reduce the distance of the roller by another notch and turn the dough again. After each rolling cycle, turn the pasta machine down one level until the dough has reached the desired thickness. Remember to keep flouring the roller.
Tip: If the pasta dough is too long to press through the roller, you can simply cut it in half and then process the individual pieces further.
Instead of eggs, you can simply use durum wheat semolina to make vegan pasta dough. Due to its coarse grain, the dough becomes more al dente and is therefore particularly suitable for making spaghetti, penne, rigatoni or fusilli – actually all types of pasta that you usually prefer to eat al dente anyway.
To prepare it you only need the following ingredients:
Tip: If you can’t tolerate wheat flour, you can alternatively use whole wheat, chestnut, chickpea or buckwheat flour. Once you have all the ingredients together, proceed to prepare and process the pasta dough as described above. We wish you good luck and of course a good appetite!
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