Last year, I had the hair-brained idea that I could make my own pasta.  In my head it seemed simple enough, I would mix a few eggs with some flour and make delicious, velvety, egg noodles.  I ordered an old school pasta roller (ATLAS 150) and when it came, I was eager to live out the visions of velvety egg noodles in my head.  I started with this very recipe that I’m sharing with you today.  Only I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, I added  2 cups of flour, a few whole eggs, and when the dough didn’t immediately come together like I thought it should, water. After letting my dough rest, I tried to roll it out.  Rolling the dough out with the Atlas was one of the most awkward experiences of my life.  Not one part of it felt natural.  As a matter of fact it felt extremely unnatural. I felt like even if I had  3 additional hands, rolling the pasta would still feel awkward. My folly was clear.  The manual pasta roller wasn’t for me.  I decided right then and there I would need an electric pasta machine, and immediately set out searching for one.  I ended up ordering the KitchenAid 3 piece Pasta attachment.  During my research, I read every review, of every pasta machine on the market, (Phillips, ATLAS, Kitchenaid 3 piece roller set, Kitchenaid Pasta extruder, Marcado, ect.), and although I learned a lot about the different machines and their features, I also learned a lot more about pasta.  It made me think maybe I need to focus on what I did wrong with my pasta dough, and not what was wrong with the pasta machine. The dough  I made initially was sticky and the resulting noodles were a pitiful clump of a mess.  So I pulled out the ATLAS, my handy kitchen scale, and proceeded to weight my ingredients to make pasta.  Instead of adding water when the dough seemed dry, I kneaded until my dough came together, and what do you know–it came together without one additional drop of water.  Not only that! When I went to roll it, the two hands that God gifted me with were more than enough to roll and cut my noodles! In fact it was so easy, and such a different experience from the first time that I knew it was not the machine that was my problem, it was my dough! So here’s the key to making pasta, weigh your ingredients, don’t add unnecessary water, and let your dough rest so that it has time to relax and hydrate.  If you follow those 3 rules you will never fail at making pasta. Now that you have those keys, the recipe I used is from the Serious eats blog.  They have a great article on the Science of Making Pasta, definitely read it. It has some great information in it.  If you are in the market for a pasta maker, check out my review on my YouTube channel of both the ATLAS 150 Wellness Pasta machine, and The KitchenAid 3 Piece Pasta Roller Attachment.  I contrast the two and give you a step by step on how to use both. By the way I purchased both machines with my own money, I wasn’t paid by either company to give the review.  Now to the recipe. You can find 00 flour at most grocery stores.  If you can’t substitute with All purpose or bread flour.

 

Here’s what you need:

10 ounces of 00 flour

2 large whole eggs (weighing 4.0 oz) If my eggs weigh more I remove some of egg white until they don’t

4 egg yolks ( weighing 2.5 oz)

1 teaspoon of sea salt

 

Directions: Weigh your ingredients:

My egg yolks were a little over so I removed some with a spoon:

Place your flour in a large bowl and make a well.  Add your eggs and salt to the well.

With a fork beat the eggs until fully mixed.

Slowly start to incorporate the flour until a sticky dough has formed.

At this point I pour the contents of my bowl out on to a large work surface.

 

The dough will feel sticky by look very dry–DO NOT ADD WATER! You’ll want to, but trust me DON’T! Gather the dough together and knead.

The dough will appear to be dry and unwilling to come together, but keep going.

Knead and knead some more, until every drop of flour is incorporated into the dough, and the dough looks like this:

Now wrap it in cling wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

It needs that time to hydrate fully and to let the gluten relax.  Now it’s time to roll. With a bench knife cut the dough into 4 equal parts. Note how smooth the dough is now that it has had time to relax,

Place one part of the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Re-wrap the remaining dough in the cling wrap and set aside. Place your pasta roller dial on the lowest setting. On my ATLAS that is 0(zero). On my KitchenAid attachment it’s 1.

STEP 1: Roll the dough out into an oval shape on your work surface.

STEP 2: Roll the dough through the 0 setting 3 times.

 

Then fold the dough into an envelope and run it through the 0 setting 3 more times.

This is only to make the dough edges uniform.  But honestly if oval edges don’t bother you, that step is not necessary.  The only time I fold my edges into an envelope is when I tear my dough.  If your dough tears, fold it and start back at the zero setting.  Once you’ve run the dough through the 0 setting 3 times, dust it lightly with flour.

STEP 3: Move the dial on your pasta machine up one dial.

Run the dough 3 more times through dial setting 1. Dust the pasta sheet and Repeat steps 1-3, rolling the dough through 3 times on each dial setting from 2-6.

With each pass through and dial adjustment the dough gets thinner, smoother and longer.

Just a note: On dial 6 running it through 1 or 2 times maybe all you need–that’s up to you to determine.  If it feels like if you run it through one last time it may rip, then don’t run it through.  By this time you should have a long beautiful sheet of pasta.

Dust it lightly with flour, and place it on a parchment lined sheet, and cover with a sheet of parchment/cling wrap/towel. Repeat Steps 1-3 for the remaining 3 portions of dough.

 

Now it’s time to cut your pasta sheets.  If you’re making lasagna you’re pretty much done, just cut the sheets to fit your pan size.  If you’re making spaghetti,  or fettuccine, attach the cutter to your machine. Place the pasta sheets through your cutter of choice.

Gather the cut pasta as it comes out of your machine. Sprinkle some flour on your board, then place the noodles on the board and gently roll them in the flour, making sure to dust the ends.  Gently place the noodles in a circular nest on a dusted piece of parchment. Cover and continue until all your dough has been cut.

 

When your ready to cook, bring a medium pot of salted water to boil.  Place a few the noodles in and cook for 60-90 seconds. Toss in your favorite sauce and enjoy! Freeze any unused noodles in a ziplock, and when you’re ready to use them, simply bring a pot of water to boil, and drop the noodles in frozen. Cook until Al dente.

Don’t forget to check out my YouTube Channel for a detailed review of the KitchenAid and Atlas Pasta makers: