Nothing Is More Satisfying Than Rolling Out Pasta From Scratch

This pasta recipe only uses three ingredients and a little elbow grease Fresh pasta is quite fun to make, especially if you have a few extra hands to help manage the long sheets as you are rolling and cutting them. Since flour and eggs both vary widely, you’ll need to adjust the recipe to arrive at a smooth, moist but not-too-sticky dough, adding flour if the dough is too sticky and dampening it with a sprinkle of water if it’s too dry. The fastest and easiest way to make the dough is to mix the ingredients together in a food processor. You can also make it in a clean bowl and knead it by hand but note that this is a stiff dough, and requires about 10 minutes of heavy kneading. The easiest way to make the dough into thin sheets is to use a roller attachment fitted to a stand mixer. You can also roll out the pasta with a rolling pin al a chef Evan Funke, but it’s difficult to roll the pasta sheets to an even thickness and takes lots of time and plenty of elbow grease. A happy medium is a hand-crank pasta machine that clamps to your countertop. It sounds and looks scary, but I’ve taught kids as young as six to roll out pasta with one of these inexpensive machines, so I recommend you give it a go. Fresh Pasta Recipe Makes 1 ¼ pounds, serves 4 to 6 Ingredients: 4 large eggs2 ¼ cups (11 ounces) all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur), plus more for rolling1 pinch salt Instructions: Step 1: Make the pasta. There are two options here: Option 1: Break the eggs into a large measuring cup with a spout, and whisk with a fork until blended. Put the flour and salt in a food processor bowl. With the machine running, add the eggs in a slow, steady stream. Run the machine until the mixture comes together into a slightly sticky ball. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute, or until the dough is smooth as a baby’s butt. Place the dough in a plastic bag and set aside for 30 minutes. Option 2: Alternatively, you can make the dough by hand. Put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and add the eggs (no need to beat them first). Stir with two fingers, gradually incorporating more flour into the eggs in the center, until you have a tacky dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic, and yep, smooth as a baby’s butt, about 8 minutes. Put the dough in a plastic bag and set it aside to rest for 30 minutes. (The dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to three days or kept in the freezer in a plastic bag for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator completely before proceeding.) Knead the dough until it’s elastic. Feed the dough frisbee through your pasta maker set on the thickest setting, and keep running through until smooth. Step 3: Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Flatten one of the pieces slightly into a frisbee shape and dust with flour; keep the rest of the dough covered. Feed the dough frisbee through your pasta maker set on the thickest setting; it may look a little raggedy, and that’s okay. Fold the ends of the raggedy dough into the center, as if folding a letter, dust with more flour, and feed the pasta through the machine again; it will be smoother this time. Continue folding and running the dough through on the thickest setting until it is smooth without any holes, two to three more times. Step 4: Continue to feed the dough through the rollers, turning to the next-thinnest setting each time and dusting the rollers with flour if the dough sticks, until you reach the second-thinnest setting, which is 6 on most machines. The pasta sheet should be smooth and so thin you can see your fingers through it. The sheet will become longer with each pass through the machine, so use a pasta cutting wheel or pizza cutter to cut the sheets into manageable lengths as you work. Lay the finished sheet of pasta on a work surface dusted with flour and repeat the process with the remaining dough balls. The finished pasta sheet should be smooth and thin enough that you can see your fingers through it. Step 5: When all the pasta has been rolled out into sheets you can leave the sheets as-is for lasagna. Step 6: For other pasta dishes, run them through the tagliatelle attachment on a stand mixer; or run them through a hand crank pasta maker into thick or thin ribbons. Don’t let the pasta sheets dry out too much before cutting them, as this will make them difficult to feed into the machine. If you prefer to hand-cut the sheets into ribbons, dust the sheets with flour and loosely roll them into cylinders. Cut the cylinders crosswise into ribbons with a very sharp chef’s knife. Tousle the strands to unroll them to make sure no strands are stuck together. For non-lasagna pasta, either run them through the hand crank pasta maker, or roll into cylinders to hand cut. Step 7: Cook the pasta in a lar

Mar 27, 2025 - 15:39

Nothing Is More Satisfying Than Rolling Out Pasta From Scratch

Two hands hold up long sheet of fresh pasta.

This pasta recipe only uses three ingredients and a little elbow grease

Fresh pasta is quite fun to make, especially if you have a few extra hands to help manage the long sheets as you are rolling and cutting them. Since flour and eggs both vary widely, you’ll need to adjust the recipe to arrive at a smooth, moist but not-too-sticky dough, adding flour if the dough is too sticky and dampening it with a sprinkle of water if it’s too dry. The fastest and easiest way to make the dough is to mix the ingredients together in a food processor. You can also make it in a clean bowl and knead it by hand but note that this is a stiff dough, and requires about 10 minutes of heavy kneading.

The easiest way to make the dough into thin sheets is to use a roller attachment fitted to a stand mixer. You can also roll out the pasta with a rolling pin al a chef Evan Funke, but it’s difficult to roll the pasta sheets to an even thickness and takes lots of time and plenty of elbow grease. A happy medium is a hand-crank pasta machine that clamps to your countertop. It sounds and looks scary, but I’ve taught kids as young as six to roll out pasta with one of these inexpensive machines, so I recommend you give it a go.

Fresh Pasta Recipe

Makes 1 ¼ pounds, serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
2 ¼ cups (11 ounces) all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur), plus more for rolling
1 pinch salt

Instructions:

Step 1: Make the pasta. There are two options here:

Option 1: Break the eggs into a large measuring cup with a spout, and whisk with a fork until blended. Put the flour and salt in a food processor bowl. With the machine running, add the eggs in a slow, steady stream. Run the machine until the mixture comes together into a slightly sticky ball. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 1 minute, or until the dough is smooth as a baby’s butt. Place the dough in a plastic bag and set aside for 30 minutes.

Option 2: Alternatively, you can make the dough by hand. Put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and add the eggs (no need to beat them first). Stir with two fingers, gradually incorporating more flour into the eggs in the center, until you have a tacky dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is elastic, and yep, smooth as a baby’s butt, about 8 minutes. Put the dough in a plastic bag and set it aside to rest for 30 minutes. (The dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to three days or kept in the freezer in a plastic bag for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator completely before proceeding.)

Hands knead dough on a kitchen counter. — Knead the dough until it’s elastic.

Hands place a sheet of fresh pasta dough through a roller. — Feed the dough frisbee through your pasta maker set on the thickest setting, and keep running through until smooth.

Step 3: Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Flatten one of the pieces slightly into a frisbee shape and dust with flour; keep the rest of the dough covered. Feed the dough frisbee through your pasta maker set on the thickest setting; it may look a little raggedy, and that’s okay. Fold the ends of the raggedy dough into the center, as if folding a letter, dust with more flour, and feed the pasta through the machine again; it will be smoother this time. Continue folding and running the dough through on the thickest setting until it is smooth without any holes, two to three more times.

Step 4: Continue to feed the dough through the rollers, turning to the next-thinnest setting each time and dusting the rollers with flour if the dough sticks, until you reach the second-thinnest setting, which is 6 on most machines. The pasta sheet should be smooth and so thin you can see your fingers through it. The sheet will become longer with each pass through the machine, so use a pasta cutting wheel or pizza cutter to cut the sheets into manageable lengths as you work. Lay the finished sheet of pasta on a work surface dusted with flour and repeat the process with the remaining dough balls.

Checking the thinness of a pasta sheet. — The finished pasta sheet should be smooth and thin enough that you can see your fingers through it.

Step 5: When all the pasta has been rolled out into sheets you can leave the sheets as-is for lasagna.

Step 6: For other pasta dishes, run them through the tagliatelle attachment on a stand mixer; or run them through a hand crank pasta maker into thick or thin ribbons. Don’t let the pasta sheets dry out too much before cutting them, as this will make them difficult to feed into the machine. If you prefer to hand-cut the sheets into ribbons, dust the sheets with flour and loosely roll them into cylinders. Cut the cylinders crosswise into ribbons with a very sharp chef’s knife. Tousle the strands to unroll them to make sure no strands are stuck together.

Cutting fresh rolled pasta. — For non-lasagna pasta, either run them through the hand crank pasta maker, or roll into cylinders to hand cut.

Hands separating fresh pasta that’s been cut into strips.

Step 7: Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until a test strand is al dente when you bite into it and it has no raw flour taste. This will take as little as 2 minutes and up to 4 minutes, depending on the thinness of the pasta sheets. Drain and toss with sauce immediately.

Dina Ávila is a photographer living in Portland, Oregon.