Homemade Pasta Recipe

Prep – dust a large baking sheet with semolina flour. Secure your pasta roller and set it to the widest rolling setting.

To make the dough – in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Make a well in the center and crack your eggs into it. Drizzle the eggs with olive oil then use your fingers to blend the eggs into the flour. Start stirring the flour from the sides of the well and work outwards until the dough is thoroughly mixed and has come together into a mass of dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough until it is smooth and flexible, but not sticky, dusting with flour if needed. Knead for about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball and flatten into a disk. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes or up to an hour.

Divide and roll the dough – Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Keep the extra dough covered with plastic wrap as you work with one piece at a time. Flatten the piece of dough into a rectangle to fit the dough roller and dust the dough with flour to prevent sticking then roll it through on the widest setting on your pasta maker, catching it as it comes through then trifold the dough like a letter. Put it through the widest setting again then fold the dough once more and roll it through the widest setting.

Continue rolling the pasta through the machine without folding, adjusting the rollers to a smaller setting with each pass-through until the desired thickness is reached (I stop at setting 2 for fettuccini). Keep the dough dusted with flour to prevent sticking. If the sheet becomes too long to manage, cut it into manageable lengths and continue rolling.

To Cut the Pasta – Dust the final sheet with flour to ensure clean cuts that don’t stick to each other and switch to your desired pasta cutter attachment. Catch the pasta as it comes through the cutter and arrange it on your prepared baking sheet, dusting it with more semolina flour. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let dry 20 minutes before cooking or freezing (see make-ahead tips).

To cook the homemade pasta – salt a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add the dried pasta dough (or frozen dough), stirring gently at first to be sure the noodles don't stick. Homemade pasta dough cooks much faster than store-bought dough, so check the noodles for doneness between 2-4 minutes. If undercooked, the noodles will taste a bit eggy. Add 2 minutes if cooking from frozen. Drain the pasta.