Pasta is one of the ultimate comfort foods. How to make the perfect pasta? Whether it’s doused in meaty spaghetti sauce, mixed with melted cheese, or just lightly dressed with some olive oil and pepper, pasta is popular year-round. But what about fresh pasta from scratch? Is it really better than the kind that comes in a box? The short answer is yes. Fresh pasta has richer flavor, cooks faster, and can transform a family spaghetti night into a gourmet dinner.
How do you make the best pasta?
There are countless recipes online and professional chefs everywhere debate on how to make the perfect pasta. Water or egg? Egg yolks, egg whites, or whole eggs? What kind of flour is best? Machine or by hand? It can get overwhelming. The reality is there is no one recipe that outshines the rest. If you’ve never made pasta before, the simpler the better. You can make delicious fresh pasta just using regular all-purpose flour, some eggs, and salt. You don’t even need a fancy pasta machine.
How to Make the Perfect Pasta
Basic Pasta Recipe
Serves 4-6
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Mix the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Using your hands, make a hole (think ant hill) in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs in the empty space.
Whisk the eggs a fork while slowly pulling in more and more flour until a soft dough has formed. Now it’s time to knead. Start folding the dough over on itself until it’s firm enough to knead like bread dough. If the dough starts sticking to your hands or the counter, add more flour. Knead away until the dough is smooth without any (or very few) air bubbles.
Let the dough rest in a mixing bowl (covered) for about thirty minutes. When ready, cut the dough into four equal pieces and begin rolling with a rolling pin. Keep adding flour to prevent sticking as you roll thinner and thinner. When the dough is thin enough to your liking, cut into pasta noodles and cook. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried, so keep an eye on it. Serve with your favorite sauce and enjoy!
