And then I saw this video and wondered why I had even wanted the machine. It looked so simple to make pasta even without a machine. And it was very simple. It really was! For anyone else who is as apprehensive as I was, do try it and you'll be as happy as I am!
Homemade Pasta
1 cup All-Purpose Flour OR 1/2 cup All-Purpose + 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 egg
Make a little mound of the flour and make a well in the center. Break an egg carefully into the well (as you can see from the picture, I wasn't very careful!).
Start by beating the egg with a fork while slowly incorporating the walls of the flour around until all the flour has been incorporated and it has come together into a dough. Pour the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 1/2 hour.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to as thin as possible. This is where the video was invaluable. It is amazing how well that chap rolls out the dough. I did a fairly good job.
With a sharp knife, cut the dough into the desired shape. I wanted tagliatelle, and so I folded the dough down from the top until the middle, and fold the bottom half until the middle, like so:
And then cut into pieces. To unravel, slide the knife down the underside of the pieces and lift the knife up.
Voila! Perfect pieces of tagliatelle. I tossed the uncooked pasta with some olive oil because I was scared that the pasta would clump together when cooked.
Throw the pasta into a pot of heavily salted boiling water. When they rise to the top, or after about 5-7 minutes, they're done. Drain and cook with preferred sauce or no sauce at all (like I did). I tossed it with olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper. Delicious!
Here's another entry for DK's AWED: Italian!
