Friday, July 8, 2011

Homemade Pasta

The other day I made Basil Pasta, but today I am making just regular pasta which I can use for an Asian Noodle Dish, or Spaghetti Sauce, or with Swedish Meatballs, or any other meal that I want a plain simple but delicious noodle. I freeze my pasta so I have it on hand when needed.

Homemade Pasta: Serves 8

2.25C Flour (I am using a bread Flour, I also recommend using Semolina, though regular white flour will work)
3 Eggs
1TB Olive Oil
1TB Water
3/4tsp Salt
Additional Flour for rolling/storing.

In a stand mixer place all dry ingredients then slowly add the wet ingredients and let it mix until a dough ball forms. Gently form the dough ball into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap that you have rubbed a little bit of oil on. Put in the refrigerator and let it sit for 30-40 minutes.

Now that the dough has had a chance to rest, remove it from the refrigerator and cut it into 4 equal sections. Make each section into its own flat disc and run it through your pasta roller on the thickest setting, fold the dough in half and run it through again, keep doing this until the pasta has stretched to the width of the pasta roller. Now move the rollers so it is on the next setting and run the pasta through once or twice. Continue this process of stretching the dough and thinning it out moving the rollers closer together one step at a time. You do not want to go to the thinnest setting right away, you need to slowly work down to it, the process of stretching the dough also kneads it and adds to the quality of the pasta.

Once you have the dough to your desired thickness add the cutter attachment to your pasta machine and lightly flour the pasta sheet. Cut the dough in half so you will have approximately (8) 12"-16" long sheets then run the pasta through cutting into either spaghetti or fettuccine noodles. I personally like to wrap the strands around my hand to create a nest, then I let them dry on a cookie rack for 1-2 hours, then freeze if I am not going to use right away. This will make 8 nests, with 1 nest being 1 serving.

When you are ready to cook it, place in a boiling pot of salted water and shake the nest loose and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. As the pasta is fresh and not factory made it will cook much quicker than pasta you get at the store.

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WW: 4 Points Plus / serving @ 8 servings
9 Points Plus / serving @ 4 servings

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