// July 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Recipes
Tin Chef Chuck
Ingredients
- 1 pound semolina or all-purpose flour (about 4 cups)
- 4 whole eggs, plus 1 yolk
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons water
Directions
Put the flour on a clean dry cutting board. It should look like a small mountain. Now, flatten it out to a height of 2 inches or so. Now create a hole or well in the center. Make sure it is wide enough to accept all of the eggs, bigger is better! Crack all of the eggs and the yolk into the hole and add the olive oil, salt and water. If this is your first time, you can break the eggs into a bowl and beat the wet ingredients first, then pour it into the well.
Use a fork to beat the eggs together with the olive oil, water and salt. Begin to incorporate the flour into the egg mixture. Take your time and try not to break the “flour bowl”. If this happens, no biggie, just use a dough knife to push it back into the flour. Once you get it to the point that the eggs will not run all over the place, wet your hands and start to mix it by hand on the board. Once it is well mixed, you can start to knead it. You can use a mixer and dough hook to do all of this, but personally, I prefer to do by hand.
A small flour well with eggs
Now this has been the part that has been a learning curve for me. Some common mistakes is to either not knead the dough enough or to have too wet or too dry of a mixture. It should be smooth and supple. Kneading the dough creates the important gluten structure that holds the pasta together. If it’s too flaky, add a little water, and if too sticky, add a little flour. Use a small amount at a time. I have used one of those automatic mixing pasta machines in the past, and the dough needed to be on the dry side. This will not work for an old fashion crank machine or one that you attach to your mixer.
Using the heels of your palms, roll the dough to create a smooth, supple dough. When done the dough should look smooth and feel almost velvety. Plan on working the dough for 8 to 10 minutes, but it may take longer, especially if this is your first time.
When the pasta has been kneaded to the perfect consistency, wrap it in plastic and let rest for at least 1 hour. If you are making the dough ahead of time, place in the frig, otherwise just let it rest at room temperature.
Tips for using a pasta machine
After the dough has rested, you need to decide what to do with it. You can role it by hand and cut it into what ever size you desire. I suggest using a dough knife and cutting the ball of dough into quarters first. If you’re working with only a portion of the dough at a time, keep the remainder wrapped in plastic to prevent it from drying out.
Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment- works great!!
If you use a pasta machine, then I sprinkle the cutting board with a little flour. I also sprinkle flour into the machine and onto my hands. Use the machine for the final kneading. Set the pasta machine to it’s widest setting (usually 1). Turn it on low speed or start cranking and feed the dough into the rollers. When it comes out, fold into thirds, and roll again. Continue this process until the dough is shiny and elastic.
Now, keep repeating the process, each time moving the rollers a setting closer. Keep doing this until you reach your desired thickness. If you are making ravioli, you should try to go to a setting of at least 6, although it’s personnel preference here.
Be aware that the dough can be several feet long and a helper can make things a lot easier. I have used a lot of recipes and tried this many times before it worked well, so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t work perfect the first time. However, if you follow the recipe and advice, you should be pretty close. If your pasta dough tears, develops holes or comes out messy, the consistency wasn’t right. Another hint, if you are using the pasta attachment for a Kitchen Aid® mixer, make sure that it is fully seated. There is a small notch in the mixer and a small table sticking out of the pasta attachment. If it is not pushed in far enough, the whole attachment will start to spin and roll up all of your pasta! Maybe I should of read the instructions….yeah right. Fortunately, we weren’t filming for a video!
Once you get this down and are comfortable- the whole process takes less than half an hour (not including the rest time). In a pinch, you can skip letting the dough rest, but it may just be a little more difficult to get it perfect. Just don’t skimp on the kneading!
Fresh pasta cooks quickly, small angel hair can take less than a minute, while ravioli might take up to five minutes, or until the filling is heated through. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days, or frozen for up to a month, but it is raw dough, so any moisture can easily damage it. Freeze it carefully, but why wait, just eat it all now!
Enjoy!
Tin Chef Chuck
