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This Simple Fresh Pasta dough recipe is, just as the title says, "so simple"! It is fun because you can get creative and use it in any form that you would like. Fettuccine is a classic, of course, but you can also use it for raviolis, (like this delicious Butternut Squash Ravioli with Crispy Sage and Brown Butter), lasagna noodles, or really whatever strikes your fancy. These step by step instructions will make it easy to make your favorite pasta dish.
As far as I am concerned, fresh pasta and dry, store bought pasta are as different as fresh mozzarella and Velveeta. It's just not even in the same ballpark! And the thing is, fresh pasta is so easy to make! It took me a lot of years before I got the guts to try it myself, but now, I will never go back. I just can't. It isn't the same thing!
I am not sure if there is an actual scientific reason behind this (anyone?), but I feel like fresh pasta doesn't give you that bloated, gut ball feeling like store bought, dry pasta does. Even if you overeat it, (which...guilty!), it just seems to be a little bit lighter. Maybe that is purely wishful thinking, but I'm going with it.
"Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti."
~Sophia loren
Equipment
Fresh Pasta is truly minimalistic, in every way! The only real tool you'll need besides your hands is a pasta maker. I have a Marco Atlas Pasta Maker. It clamps to the counter and uses a hand crank. It is very basic and I love it!
Another option is to get a pasta attachment for your Kitchenaid stand mixer. In that case, you could use the bread hook attachment and knead your pasta dough in the mixer, then use the attachment to roll it out. That is truly the only way to make this recipe even easier!
Of course you will also need a big pot in which to cook these beautiful noodles! That's really about it.
Ingredients
- Eggs
- All-purpose Flour
- Sea Salt
- Olive Oil
How to make Homemade Pasta Dough
The simplified steps to creating this Simple Fresh Pasta are:
- Mix the ingredients together
- knead for 10 minutes
- Rest dough for 1 hour.
- Roll it out.
That is a very simplified list of steps, but it is basically all there is to it. I just want you to see that it isn't as scary as it seems that it might be.
Here is a more detailed description and then the official recipe is below.
- Remove your rings, bracelets, watches. This is a very underutilized yet very important step!
- Make a little "well" with the flour
- Crack your eggs into the well and add salt and Oil
- Use a fork to whisk the eggs, oil and salt in the well
- Use your hands to push the flour into the egg mixture and keep adding flour until all the flour is incorporated. Keep in mind that the well wall may break and egg mixture will run out, but just catch it with your hands and push it back into the flour and keep going until you have a shaggy ball of flour and egg. I didn't say it wasn't messy! ๐
How to Knead the Dough
Now you start your timer and start kneading. The dough might seem a little wet or a little dry at first, but give it a minute (literally) to come together. If after a minute it is still dry, get your fingers wet with a little water, or dry with a bit of flour and keep kneading.
The most important part of the recipe is the time spent kneading the dough. It isn't difficult, but it is very important that you knead it for the proper amount of time. This is what develops the glutens in the dough and makes it springy and allows you to roll it into long, thin noodles. If you don't knead it long enough, the dough will break and it just won't work. Like I said, it isn't hard, just roll up your sleeves and get to work. It is time well spent and in the words of George Michael (where are my 80s babies?!), "if you're gonna do it, do it right!". You will be so happy you did.
Keep kneading for about 8-10 minutes. The dough will get tough and springy, but power through it! After 10 minutes, you should have a nice ball of dough. When you poke it, the dough should spring back up.
Now, cover it with some plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour.
How to Roll your Pasta Dough
- Now, cut your ball into 4 equal parts and start rolling! If you don't have a pasta roller, or mixer with a pasta attachment, you can simply use a rolling pin. I'm not going to lie, it is MUCH easier if you have a pasta roller. I have a Marcato Atlas Pasta Roller that I bought on Amazon that I would highly recommend. It was not fancy or expensive, but works amazingly and makes making fresh pasta just that much easier (and fun!).
- Roll one part through the roller on the lowest setting (either 0 or 1) three times. Then roll it through settings 2 and 3, three times. Finally, roll it through settings 4, 5 and 6 one time each. You now have your finished sheet of pasta!
- From here, decide if you would like to roll it in the fettuccine or linguine, or spaghetti settings for noodles, or cut it into squares or circles for raviolis, or maybe wide strips for lasagna. The pasta world is your oyster!
How long to cook fresh pasta?
To cook the noodles, you will bring a large pasta pot of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt to the water. You will want the water to taste salty.
The kind of noodle you choose to make, determines the cooking time. The thinner the noodle, the less time it will take. For thinner noodles like linguine, you will only need to boil for about 90 seconds. For these Butternut Squash Ravioli, you will boil it for about 4 minutes. Generally, once the pasta starts to float to the top, it is done.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! If you have a mixer with a dough hook, feel free to use that. Process it on low speed in the mixer for about 6-8 minutes, or until it has a smooth, elastic consistency.
If you are making it to cook later in the day, you can tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store it at room temperature until you are ready to roll it.
If you would like to freeze leftover raw pasta dough noodles, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle it with flour. Lay the pasta noodles out in the shape of "nests" in an even layer. Place in the freezer for one hour. Once they are frozen, transfer pasta nests to freezer bags. They can be stored for up to 2 months in the freezer.
Place frozen pasta directly into a pot of boiling water and cook as you would normally.
Fresh pasta recipes
- Butternut Squash Ravioli with Crispy Sage and Brown Butter- Delicious fall decadence!
- Short Rib Fettuccine- Everyone's absolute favorite short rib pasta!
- Lemon Pesto Pasta- My absolute favorite lemon pasta recipe. Just use fettuccine or linguine in place of the rigatoni.
- Burrata Caprese Crostini- Serve these delicious crostini with your favorite pasta dish!
- Rigatoni with Creamy Mushroom Marsala- Rich, creamy, and so good. Use whichever pasta shape you'd like.
If you make this Pasta recipe, I would love to hear how you used it! Will you ever go back to store bought pasta? I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Thank you and thank you for visiting Mollie in Montana~*! โฅ๏ธ
๐ Recipe
Simple Fresh Pasta
Ingredients
- 3 Eggs
- 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- ยฝ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ยฝ teaspoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Make a little, "well" with your flour
- Crack Eggs into Center of Well
- Add Salt and Olive Oil
- Use a fork to whisk egg mixture into the well and slowly incorporate flour into the mixture
- With your hands, gently push the flour into the egg mixture to incorporate all ingredients together to form a shaggy dough.
- Set your timer for 10 minutes and start Kneading. This is the important step! It will start out sticky, or dry, but should come together after a minute or so. If it is still too dry to come together, moisten your fingers with water and continue kneading. If it is too wet and sticky, dip your fingers in flour and continue kneading until it forms a cohesive mixture. It will get tough, but just continue to knead until your 10 minute timer goes off!
- Form dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour. This is also very important.
- Cut dough ball into 4 equal parts.
- Roll dough into desired form. If you have a pasta roller (makes it so easy!) Start by rolling one section of dough through the widest setting on your roller. This is either a 0 or 1. Roll it though 3 times. Then roll it through settings 2 and 3, three times each and through settings 4,5,6 one time each.
- Sprinkle each completed sheet with flour and fold one end halfway onto itself, sprinkle the folded half with flour and then fold the other half back onto it. All of the touching parts of Pasta should be floured so they don't stick together.
- One by one, take the pasta sheets and run them through the pasta roller into the desired noodle shape. Fettucine noodles seem to be the easiest to start with. You could also cut the sheets into wide lasagna noodles, or small squares, or circles for raviolis. Whatever you would like!
- Boil Fresh Pasta for about 3 minutes depending on shape.
- Top with your favorite sauce or herbs and cheese and enjoy!
Notes
Notes
- If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can use this to knead the dough. Let it go for 3 minutes on a low speed like 2. Your dough will be ready when you stretch it and it doesn't tear, but stretches so you can see light through it.ย
- To freeze extra pasta dough, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and a zip loc freezer bag. It will store in the freezer up to a month.ย
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