Homemade Pasta

Thanks god I wasn’t that obsessed with kitchen when I was so busy studying on my doctorate. Well, there were some signs, I was a kitchen-nut in-progress, but still managed to stay in focus in the beginning years. Studying on a PhD degree is probably one of the most boring experiences one can ever live. It bores you to death, sucks the life out of you and makes you to do weirdest things. For a time I went cuckoo about ironing. When we visited Turkey during summer, we stayed at B’s parents. His mom irons everything from bed sheets to socks and all. It was great and I was addicted! But it was probably the worst thing to do someone neat freak but busy and lazy at same time like me. What was I gonna do when we were back home? At the beginning, I said no way! But then as the end of the study nears and my brain burns out I was ready to do anything but academic! I started ironing, I mean ironing all day! I was ironing everything in and out! Of course, B. was worried especially if you consider normally I hated ironing, and he was the ironing guy in the house till that time! No worries, today I’m over it, again hate ironing! It is again the chore that is most complained about and not working in our house. Who is gonna do the ironing?? Sorry not me :)

OK, back to pasta! You got the idea- If I was this much into kitchen at that time, probably I wouldn’t manage to finish my study. Recently, I have been obsessively playing with homemade bread, ice cream, cheese (yes, my new project)… And now ladies and gentlemen Tartepink’s kitchen proudly presents homemade pasta! But be warned, once you eat homemade pasta, there is no way back to store-bought! This stuff is super delicious and addictive!

Ev Yapımı Makarna

If you have the pasta attachment like I do- great! It rolls and cuts perfectly, duh! If not, you just need a roller and a knife! Then it is up to you! This is an all-purpose pasta recipe- you can cut lasagna, ravioli, fettuccini, spaghetti…

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Homemade Pasta

Ingredients
1 pound all-purpose flour (4 cups)
4 whole eggs, plus 1 yolk
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
2-3 tablespoons water or more if needed

Directions

1. Put the flour on a clean dry work surface. Make a hole (this is also called a well) in the center of the flour pile that is about 8 inches wide (bigger is definitely better here). Crack all of the eggs and the yolk into the hole and add the olive oil, salt and water.

2. Using a fork beat the eggs together with the olive oil, water and salt. Using the fork, begin to incorporate the flour into the egg mixture; be careful not to break the sides of the well or the egg mixture will run all over your board and you will have a big mess! Also, dont worry about the lumps. When enough flour has been incorporated into the egg mixture that it will not run all over the place when the sides of the well are broken, begin to use your hands to really get everything well combined. If the mixture is tight and dry, wet your hands and begin kneading with wet hands. When the mixture has really come together to a homogeneous mixture, THEN you can start kneading.

3. When kneading it is VERY important to put your body weight into it, get on top of the dough to really stretch it and not to tear the dough. Using the heels of your palms, roll the dough to create a very smooooooth, supple dough. When done the dough should look VERY smooth and feel almost velvety. Kneading will usually take from 8 to 10 minutes for an experienced kneader and 10 to 15 for an inexperienced kneader. Put your body weight into it, you need to knead! This is where the perfect, toothsome texture of your pasta is formed.

4. When the pasta has been kneaded to the perfect consistency, wrap it in plastic and let rest for at least 1 hour. If using immediately do not refrigerate.

5. Roll and cut the pasta into the desired shape.

If you have stand mixer, pasta roller and cutter: Just mix the ingredients in the stand mixer bowl, let it knead for about 10 minutes. Start with widest setting of the roller. Go up to the thinnest, 8 for kitchenaid, if you are cutting fettucini or spagetti. If you are going to cut ravioli just stop at level 7.

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One Response to Homemade Pasta

  1. Pingback: Ravioli | Tarte Pink

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