Handmade Pasta As Estimated By Tina Caputo Recipes

Steps:

• Recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc. I usually make a LOT and store in the fridge.
• Combine the first 4 ingredients and whisk together well with a fork.
• Add 1/2°C flour and mix with the fork until all lumps are gone.
• Keep adding flour little by little until a non-sticky ball is formed. (You will use between 1 & 1-1/4°C of flour, depending on the humidity, etc.
• Knead WELL about 10 minutes. Add light coating of flour as needed, until a firm ball is formed.
• Allow it to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cut off billiard ball-sized pieces and roll them out flat on a well-floured board. (Maybe 1-2 mm. thick).
• Fold thrice (3x) and cut noodles with a sharp knife roughly 4 mm. thick. - Similar to cutting soba noodles (Japanese buckwheat noodles) though with the thickness of udon noodles.
• Stretch out pasta and let dry (either hanging or on a plate) for a few minutes up to an hour.
• Cook in a pot of boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes or until the pasta floats to the top.
• -->Super delicious with olive oil, crushed, raw garlic, salt and parm. cheese, but can be combined with any sauce. This pasta really holds onto sauces, unlike commercial dried pastas.

Steps:

• On a clean, sturdy work surface, turn out your chosen flour(s) and salt and make a large well in the middle with your hands.
• Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and olive oil together in a medium bowl until combined, then pour the mixture into the well.
• Using the same fork, whisk the eggs, slowly incorporating more and more flour into the eggs by moving your fork along the edges of the well.
• Once almost all of the flour is incorporated, start bringing the dough together with your hands. (The dough should be malleable, but not sticky--add more flour if the dough is sticking too much to your hands or the surface. Alternatively, if it's too dry and tough, whisk another egg with 1 tablespoon of water and use your hand to sprinkle some of the mixture over the dough, continuing to do so until the dough is easier to knead.)
• Knead the dough for 7-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. When you poke the dough, it should spring back.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, or until the dough does not spring back when poked.
• Unwrap the dough and cut into 8 equal pieces so that it's easier to work with. Take 1 piece and wrap the rest in the plastic wrap so that they don't dry out.
• Lightly flour your work surface, and begin rolling out the piece of dough into one long piece. Then, fold the top third down, and the bottom third over that, like a letter. Rotate the dough 90˚ and roll the piece back into a long shape. This helps form a more even rectangular shape and makes the dough a little bit easier to work with.
• Continue rolling out the dough until it is very thin. When you lift the dough, you should be able to see your hands through it.
• Fold the top and bottom of the rectangle to meet in the middle, then fold over again--this will make the dough easier to cut. Cut the dough to your ideal shape. Loosen or unravel the cut dough immediately, so it doesn't stick, sprinkle with a bit of extra flour, or semolina, if using. Let the pasta sit out for about 30 minutes to dry out slightly.
• Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and stir to ensure it doesn't clump. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or 30 seconds to 1 minute after the pasta comes to the surface (fresh pasta will cook much faster than dried pasta!)
• Take out a noodle and taste for doneness. Once cooked to your liking, remove the pasta from the water, being sure to save at least 1 cup (240 ML) of the pasta cooking water.
• Add the cooked pasta into your preferred sauce and stir to coat, adding some of the reserved pasta water if needed to add a bit of body and silkiness to the sauce.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Sift the flour onto your work surface and make an 8-inch-wide well in the center. (You should be able to see the work surface in the middle, and the well's walls should be high enough to contain the eggs.)
• Beat the eggs in a medium bowl, then pour the eggs into the well. Working from the interior edge of the well, use a fork to incorporate the flour into the eggs, flicking about 1 teaspoon of flour mixture onto the eggs at a time and whisking to combine. Continue incorporating the flour, flicking then whisking, until you've integrated almost half the flour and the dough is the consistency of pancake batter.
• Using a bench scraper, scrape any remaining flour from the work surface onto the dough. Working in a clockwise motion, cut the dough together as if you were making biscuits: Scraping underneath the mixture, lift and fold it over itself and cut into it vertically a few times to help integrate the flour and eggs. Continue working the dough until a shaggy mass forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Knead with your hands until it forms a rough ball.
• Anchoring the portion of the dough closest to you firmly to the surface with one hand, use the heel of the other hand to push the far end of the dough away from you quickly and energetically. Fold it over itself, then continue pushing it away from you using the heels of your palms. Rotate the dough a quarter turn and repeat the kneading, pushing the dough away then folding the furthest portion back over itself and rotating until the dough is a compact, slightly tacky mass, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Using the bench scraper, scrape any dry bits of dough from your work surface and discard. Wash - but do not dry - your hands and continue kneading the dough by pressing it against the work surface and away from you using the heels of your palms and folding it over itself until it is relatively smooth, with a slightly dimpled texture, an indication of gluten formation, 3 to 5 minutes more.
• Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, smoothing out any air pockets between the plastic wrap and the dough. Set aside to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
• Unwrap the dough and halve it crosswise using a sharp knife. On a lightly floured surface, knead one piece of dough energetically with both hands, pushing the dough against the surface and away from you, folding it over itself then rotating the dough clockwise by 1- to 2-inch increments, like the hour markings on a clock. If the dough feels too dry, spray it and your hands with water, a little at a time every few rounds, until it loses its dryness. (A spray bottle will best distribute the liquid evenly, but you could also dip your hands into a bowl of water.) If you are closing the round ball and find that it is not sealing, spray that with a touch of water to help it along. Continue kneading until the dough is soft and smooth all the way around, lightens in color and becomes firmer, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, eliminating any air pockets between the plastic wrap and the dough. Repeat the kneading process with the second piece of dough. Let the dough balls rest at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours (or up to 48 hours in the refrigerator) before rolling them out to make fresh pasta. (Do not freeze the dough.) If you've refrigerated your dough, make sure to let it first come back down to room temperature for at least 30 minutes before removing it from its plastic wrap and rolling it out.
• On a lightly floured work surface, flatten the dough ball with your palm to form a uniformly thick disk that is about 6 inches wide. Using a rolling pin positioned at the center of the dough, roll the rolling pin away from you with firm, even pressure, stretching the dough into a half oval. Lift the pin and bring it back to the center and roll the rolling pin toward you, creating a full oval. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat until the pasta dough is a rounded square that is at least 20 inches wide - the wider the better, as it'll result in a thinner, more delicate pasta. (Evan Funke recommends rolling out the dough until it is the thickness of 4 stacked pieces of paper, but do the best you can.) Cure the pasta dough by letting it sit out on your work surface until dry to the touch, 7 to 10 minutes. Flip the pasta dough and dry the other side, another 7 to 10 minutes. While flattened pasta dough is curing, roll out the other ball of dough. Once both doughs have been rolled out and cured, fold each pasta dough in half, press gently along the crease, and unfold. Using a sharp knife, cut the pasta in half along the crease.
• Position the half-moon-shaped pieces of dough with the round ends closest to you and the cut ends facing away from you. Starting at the round edge, fold the pasta away from you in 3-inch increments until you have a loose roll.
• Beginning at the end of one roll, using a sharp knife, square off the edges at the left and right, discarding the uneven strip at both ends, and cut each pasta roll crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Using one hand, grasp 6 to 8 pasta strands in the middle. Lift them off the work surface and shake to unfurl. Place the strands on a clean work surface or large sheet pan in a horizontal orientation, then gently tug them in the center to form into a U-shape. Repeat with the remaining dough strands. Cook right away or refrigerate for up to 24 hours in a high-sided container lined with paper towels and loosely covered.
• To dry your tagliatelle in the traditional way, shape them into nests: Gather 20 to 25 strands, grasping them from the middle, and lift them off the work surface. With your other hand, grab the dangling ends closest to that hand. (You're grabbing the cluster of pasta by one end.) Release your other hand and allow the strands to dangle over the top of your fingers. Loosely wrap the strands up and over your hand until they are completely wrapped. Lower the nest onto the work surface and release. Repeat with the remaining strands.
• When you're ready to cook the fresh or dried pasta, simply drop it into boiling salted water and cook until tender and starting to float, 1 to 4 minutes, depending on how thinly you have rolled out your dough.

Steps:

• Mound flour on a cutting board or clean work surface and make a hole/well in the center of the flour. Crack the eggs into the well and add water and salt. Use a fork to break the yolks and slowly begin scooping flour into the well, a little at a time, until all the flour is incorporated into the liquid.
• Knead dough until smooth. If the dough feels sticky it is too wet; add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it feels smooth and doesn't stick to your hands. Form dough into a log shape.
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rest 10-15 minutes. While you're waiting, you can relax and drink some wine (this also applies to steps 4 and 7).
• Knead again for a few more minutes until dough is smooth, adding a bit more flour if needed. Again, form it into a log shape, cover and let rest another 10-15 minutes.
• Slice log into five pieces of equal size. Dip each slice in flour to coat it, and brush off any extra flour. Roll each slice with a rolling pin to flatten into small ovals and sprinkle with flour.
• Run dough slices through a hand-crank pasta machine or KitchenAid mixer roller attachment at the 1, 4 and 6 (wide, medium, and small) thickness settings. (Run all the sheets through on the wide setting, then roll al of the sheets on medium, etc. That allows the sheets to rest for a few minutes between rollings.) Skip the smallest setting if sheets have reached the desired thickness after two trips through the roller. You should be able to see the outline of your hand through the sheet. When dough is coming out of the roller, pull on it gently to stretch it out. Sheets should be smooth and elastic.
• Cut sheets in half so they are each about 12 inches long. Lay sheets on a tablecloth, dust with a little flour and turn them over. When edges begin to dry (in 20-30 minutes), the pasta is ready to cut. Don't let it dry too much, or sheets will buckle and caught in the roller.
• Run pasta sheets through cutter and arrange noodles in loose nests on a tablecloth. Sprinkle with a little flour to keep strands from sticking together.
• Cook in boiling salted water until al dente (2-3 minutes). If you're not planning to eat the pasta that day, leave it to dry completely, turning nests over after an hour or so. Dried pasta will keep in the pantry for a few months.