How do i make homemade pasta?

Question

tonight i made homemade pasta from scratch and the paper said to use 21/2 cups of flour and 3 eggs but the pasta(spaghetti) was not as thick as the store bought pasta also when i cooked the pasta it did not have the fullness that the store bought pasta has when you cook it. it seems that the store bought pasta absorbs the water better and more filling then homemade pasta what else can i add to the pasta to make it more filling also when i went to cut the spaghetti in my machine it did not seperate very well please help me any good tips would be great thanks eddie

Answer 1

Depends if you are making a long pasta, or a filled one.  For pasta like spaghetti, tagliatelle etc, try this recipe. 8 eggs for 1 kilo of regular flour.  When the pasta is all mixed together, pass it through the pasta machine, folding and refolding.  The more you do this, the better consistincy of the pasta is when cooked.  The opposite is for filled pasta such as ravioli. When making a filled pasta you want a pasta very light, that almost melts in your mouth..to taste the filling so you want to work it as little as possibile. You can add a few tablespoons of water to give it a bit more elasticity also.

Before cutting the pasta let it dry a few minutes, it generally cuts better too. Good luck

Answer 2

I use the fail safe method of 1 egg per 100grams of flour. If it is a little dry I add a bit of olive oil. As you put it through the machine the final time dust the sheets with a little flour first that will help keep them separate if you either cut them by hand or use the machine to make the spaghetti. I also suggest using a good semolina flour rather than just a plain flour.

By store bought I am presuming you mean that hard yellowish dried stuff. Homemade pasta is very different and has more of a velvet like texture to it although it still should be firm to the bite or as the Italians say al dente'.