Italian

Pasta fresca (fresh pasta)

Name: Pasta fresca (fresh pasta)
Yield: 4
Cuisine: /italian
Ingredients: 200g tipo ‘00’ flour; 2 eggs; Semolina, to dust

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Aug 08, 2018

“Fresh pasta should be made with ‘00’ flour. This is the finest grade of durum wheat flour, so fine it feels and looks like talcum powder. Do buy an Italian flour; it will be superior to any other kind. You can find it at Italian stores and online. The eggs should be from free-range corn-fed chickens. Cheap eggs and poor-quality flour give unappetising results. Eggs should be large (approx. 63-73g). We keep our own chickens and sometimes their eggs can be small, so a splash of water makes up the difference in size. Some people add a little salt for flavour, some add water for elasticity or economy, and some add olive oil to stop the pasta drying quickly. We use only eggs and flour. The standard recipe for fresh pasta calls for 1 large egg to every 100g of ‘00’ flour.” This is an edited extract from The Long & the Short of Pasta by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi (Hardie Grant Books, RRP $34.99).

200g tipo ‘00’ flour
2 eggs
Semolina, to dust

Method

1.

Place flour and eggs in a food processor and whiz until mixture just begins to come together. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover directly in plastic wrap and stand for 30 minutes to rest. (Alternatively, add flour to a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
2.

Crack eggs into the well. Using a table knife, gradually combine the flour into the eggs, starting with the flour around eggs and working your way out. Keep stirring the egg and flour until they form clumps of dough.) Use the fingertips of one hand to incorporate any remaining flour, bringing everything together until you have a ball of dough.
3.

Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Knead dough for 5-7 minutes or until soft and elastic. If the dough becomes really dry and has many cracks in the surface, cover directly in plastic wrap and stand for 30 minutes to rest (it will become soft and the lumps of flour will be absorbed into the egg). Failing that, whiz in a food processor with a drop of water to rescue it.
4.

Leave the pasta to rest covered directly in plastic wrap for 20 minutes at room temperature or chilled for 1 day. This allows the dough to relax and makes it easier to roll out through a pasta machine or by hand.