How to Make Pasta

Fresh pasta is easy and fun to make, and is a treat that is sure to add a unique twist to your next Italian-themed dinner party or special family meal. This how to make pasta guide will walk you through all the steps you need to create fresh, delicious homemade pasta.

Pasta has a long and somewhat unclear history. While legend holds that Marco Polo brought the basic idea of pasta-making from China to Europe, people have apparently enjoyed pasta long before the 12th century.http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~gim/Shared/Italian_Pasta.pdf Today, pasta is part of numerous cuisines, and scores of people across the world enjoy it in its many wonderful forms from lasagna to ramen. While grocery stores and food specialty shops contain many types of prepared pasta, making your own fresh pasta is delicious and easy. This guide on how to make pasta will help you create your own pasta noodles, perfect for serving with your favorite marinara or Alfredo sauce.

Pasta recipes generally call for only three ingredients: eggs, flour and salt. A little water is added if the dough is too dry. While many pasta recipes instruct you to use white flour, semolina is traditionally used for pastas which will be dried, such as spaghetti.

Pasta dough is relatively easy to make, but rolling out and shaping the pasta noodles is more complex. A pasta machine gives even, consistent results, but you can roll the noodles out and shape by hand if you don't have a machine.

1. 3 cups of flour
2. 3 eggs
3. a pinch of salt

• Fork

• Mixing Spoon

• Measuring Cups

• Food Processor (optional)

• Rolling Pin or a Pasta Machine

You can mix the pasta dough together in a food processor or a mixer with the dough hook attached if you like.http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--792/making-homemade-pasta.asp However, these devices are not crucial to making pasta dough. Handmaking pasta dough is not difficult. If you know how to make bread, you will find that making pasta is a snap.

1. Pile the flour in a mound on the countertop.
   • -Don't want a messy countertop? Use a bowl.
2. Make a deep well in the center of the flour.http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/boiled-spaghetti-recipe/index.html
3. Break the eggs into this well.
4. Add the salt.
5. With the fork, gently start pushing flour into the eggs and mixing them together so that the eggs and flour blend.http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fresh-Pasta/Detail.aspx
6. Mix together until the dough forms a firm, solid ball that is resilient.
7. The dough should be in a solid, firm ball that is not sticky. Add more flour if it is too wet.

1. Put the flour and salt in the food processor or mixer with a dough hook attached.
2. Beat the eggs together.
3. Add eggs and process the dough until it forms a ball that leaves the side of the container.

Kneading is important to pasta because kneading breaks down the gluten in the flour. Kneading gives pasta dough the proper texture, so be sure not to skip it! Use the same kneading method you would for bread and work the dough until it is satiny and smooth.

1. Knead this dough about eight minutes or so.http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Taglierini-Pasta-103353
2. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap.
3. Let it sit for at least thirty minutes to allow the gluten to develop.

• A pasta machine will allow you to roll the pasta out evenly and easily. However, people in past centuries have made pasta without the assistance of a machine, so it is not vital that you have one. Do make sure to cut the pasta evenly so that your batch of pasta cooks consistently.

1. Sprinkle flour on a clean counter and roll the pasta dough out very thin.

2. When the pasta is 1/8 an inch thick, it is ready to be cut out.

3. Cut the pasta into thin strips or into the desired shape.

4. To make fettuccine, roll the dough up like a jelly roll, then cut off 1/4 inch strips of dough.

1. Separate the dough into quarters and flatten them out into a sheet that is narrower than the pasta roller.Epicurious: Food-Processor Pasta Dough

2. Dust the pasta machine rollers with flour, making sure to coat on all sides.Allrecipes.com: Making Noodles

3. Set the pasta machine on its widest setting.

4. Feed the pasta through the machine.YouTube: The Real Emilian Fresh Pasta (Time: 9:46) When it comes out, make sure it does not stick together.

5. Fold the pasta in thirds as if you were folding up a letter.Recipetips.com: Making Homemade Pasta

6. Pass the pasta through the machine several times, folding it after each pass.Recipetips.com: Making Homemade Pasta

7. Turn the machine to a thinner setting and pass the dough through a few times.Martha Stewart: Fresh Pasta

8. Keep turning the machine down to a thinner setting and passing the pasta through until it is the desired thickness.

9. Make sure to cut the noodles out before the pasta starts dryingEpicurious: Food-Processor Pasta Dough

10. You may wish to purchase a pasta machine attachment which will help you cut out fettuccine, lasagna and other types of pasta more evenly and effectively.Amazon.com: Pasta Machines

It is important to cook pasta in plenty of water. A quarter pound of pasta should be boiled in at least a quart of water.Allrecipes.com: Pasta Cooking After being cooked, fresh pasta will not be as firm as cooked dried pasta, so cook it until it is tender and to your liking.Recipetips.com: Checking Doneness of Pasta Fresh pasta cooks much more rapidly than dried pasta, so you need to supervise it carefully while it is boiling.Recipetips.com: Pasta Tips and Techniques

1. Bring four quarts of lightly salted water to boil.
2. When the water has boiled, add the noodles.
3. It usually takes only four minutes or less for fresh pasta to cook, so don't walk away from it.Recipetips.com: Checking Doneness of Pasta
4. A minute or so after the pasta has risen to the top of the water, test a piece to see if it has cooked to your liking.Recipetips.com: Pasta Tips and Techniques
5. Drain pasta and serve with your favorite sauce.

1. Wheat pasta is a healthy alternative to white flour pasta.Epicurious: Fresh Egg Pasta

2. To make red pasta, add some tomato paste and cooked mashed carrots.About.com: Flavored Pasta

3. Indulge your appetite for cheese by adding cheese to your pasta dough.About.com: Flavored Pasta

4. For vegans or people with allergies, pasta can be made without egg].Instructables: Vegan Pasta

5. Basil, parsley, sage, thyme, mint, tarragon, marjoram, pepper and rosemary mingled together in your pasta dough make for a wonderfully flavorful meal.Epicurious: Pasta "Rags" with a Thousand Herbs

6. Adding spinach to pasta dough is a classic technique.Food Network: Spinach Pasta Dough Recipe

With this handy How to Make Pasta guide, you won't ever have to face a pasta shortage in your kitchen again. If you forgot to buy dried pasta during your last food shopping trip or you had more guests over for spaghetti than you bargained for, don't worry! Simply reach for some flour and eggs and make a batch of fresh homemade pasta. Watch as ordinary Chicken Alfredo or lasagna come alive with the addition of fresh pasta.http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Alfredo-with-Fettuccini-Noodles/Detail.aspx