Handmade pasta

Ingredients for 4 people:

200 gr flour

2 eggs

Salt

Pour flour on the table (better wooden board what we call “spianatoia”) and make a hole in the middle (we call it “fontana”). Pour inside 2 eggs and salt, mix it using first a fork then fingers until you have a smooth ball. Let it sit for about an hour. Then make the dough very thin using a rolling pin. Put in a cover in flour fabric and let it dry a bit. It has to be not too dry, otherwise it will crumble when you cut it, but not too wet because it would stick while cutting it. Cover pasta lightly with flour and bend it on itself so it results in a long cylinder you cut 1 cm depth if you want “tagliatelle” and 3 cm for “pappardelle”. Now stretch the pasta and it will be ready to cook.

Today just few people make handmade pasta because it is easier to buy it and it is supposed to be as good as the one handmade on a wooden board. But that is not true, of course. The materials make the difference: wood gives porosity and different thickness which will be obvious when you will flavor the pasta with the sauce. There is also a machine to stretch pasta, it is a quicker way to prepare it but the result does not mean you will necessarily save time in this way. I suggest to try once the traditional way, I am sure you will not find it so difficult and it will not take you long to prepare it.