Fresh Pasta

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I’ve been making fresh pasta, now that I’ve bought the KitchenAid attachment. It’s not very difficult to start making pasta. I even got very decent results for a first try.

Here are some of my observations and learnings.

Ratio

The baker’s percentage is:

  • 55% egg
  • 5% oil
  • 1.5-2% salt

Since egg are quantized unit, let’s convert this into numbers that are convenient to scale per large USDA eggs:

  • 90-100 g flour
  • 5 g oil
  • 1.5-2 g salt

Since different flours will hydrate differently, you’ll need to adjust accordingly:

  • If it’s too dry, spray on or sprinkle on some water as you knead.
  • If it’s too wet, dust on more flour and knead away.

Technique

I used the recipe on SeriousEats for directions.

Making the dough

  1. Pour flour into a mound and make a well for the egg.
  2. Using a fork, beat the egg.
  3. Slowly incorporate flour, while continuing to whisk.
  4. Switch to a bench scraper and fold in remaining flour. The key is to do this gradually, so the flour is evenly incorporate and not clumped.
  5. Knead with palm of hands. Use this as an opportunity to adjust the dough, if needed.
  6. Rest the dough for 30-60 minutes. This allows the dough to hydrate and allows the gluten to relax.

Rolling

  1. Roll through thickest setting a couple times. Fold over and rotate a few times. You should try to get a neat book fold.
  2. Roll through progressively smaller settings. Fettucine is setting 5.
  3. Before cutting, dust the dough well to prevent sticking as it goes through cutter.
  4. Dust after cutting to prevent the exposed surfaces from sticking.

Cooking

Fresh pasta is straight-forward to cook. Toss it in boiling water for a few minutes.