Who loves pastaaaaaa? I’m always a sucker for a good pasta dish, especially when it’s homemade. I’ve posted about homemade pasta a few times and even did an IG live a couple of months ago where I shared my technique (which I’ll embed below!) so I thought I would share a basic, easy pasta dough recipe that anyone can make.
So, why should you make your own pasta dough?
- It’s unbelievably easy to make and this pasta dough recipe only requires 4 ingredients!
- Once you’ve had it, you’ll want it all the time (and hey, I’m not knocking store-bought pasta – it’s quick and does the trick!)
- You’ll impress the hell out of a date, your friends or your family when you whip out a dish made with homemade pasta
I think that says it all. The flavour is incredible, and once you get the hang of this pasta dough recipe you’ll be able to make little additions and tweaks so you can play around with flavours, flour, colour and other little details!
Once you’ve made your dough using this pasta dough recipe, you have lots of different ways to play with it. We usually end up using our pasta maker to flatten our dough into thin pieces (to get started quickly, cut your dough into 4 sections, then run through each level on the maker from 1-6 about two times per level until you reach your desired thickness) which we then turn into lasagna sheets, fettucini or ravioli, but there are more pasta styles you can try! If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, they have a great pasta maker attachment which makes working with your dough on your own easier. And hey, if you don’t have either of these tools it’s okay! Divide the dough into sections and roll it out using a rolling pin before cutting it into your desired shape.
Pasta dough recipe tips:
A few tips I want to share to make things a little bit easier:
- This recipe calls for 2 – 2 1/2 cups of flour. Start with a little more than 2 cups (I’m usually around 2 1/4) and add more as needed.
- Flour is your friend when it comes to turning your dough into pasta. Use it on the dough to keep it from sticking to the pasta maker and to help keep your pieces separate once you’ve turned them into pasta
- Want to keep your hands and workspace a little cleaner while you knead? Use a little olive oil on your work surface and your hands instead of flour!
- When it comes to hanging your pasta to keep it all separate, a clothes hanger works wonders! You can also pick up pasta drying racks if you want.
- If your dough is getting a little too dry, try adding a little water to it (about a teaspoon at a time).
Anyways, on to the recipe! I wanted this post to be more about the basic dough recipe and less about what you do with it after. I can go more into detail more about rolling out and shaping your pasta in another post if anyone is interested. Let me know if this is something you would like to see!
Pasta Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (start with a little over 2 cups – I usually start with about 2 1/4 – and add more as needed)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- On a clean workspace, make a mound of flour (as mentioned above, start with a little over 2 cups and add more as needed).
- Make a well in the center of the flour (almost like a bowl for the other ingredients) and add the salt, olive oil and eggs.
- Whisk the eggs inside the well (you can also pre-whisk before adding in) and slowly start to incorporate flour from the sides until it all starts to combine.
- Once the dough starts to come together, it's time to get dirty. Get your hands in there and knead the dough, using your palm to fold the dough over and into itself before rotating and repeating, until the dough a smooth ball forms.
- Once you have a beautiful ball of dough, wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour or up to 24 hours. I usually let mine rest for about 2 hours. After you've let it rest for a bit, go ahead and make your pasta! Buon appetito!
Have you tried making fresh pasta before? This basic pasta dough recipe is the perfect place to start if not and you’ll love it! Let me know in the comments below if you’ve tried it and how you like to enjoy yours!
