Fresh Pasta

Yields approximately 6 servings (about 1 pound)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 c unbleached all-purpose or “00” flour, plus more as needed
• 1/4 t fine sea salt
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 t olive oil

1. To make the dough by hand, measure the flour onto a work surface, mix in the salt and shape the flour into a mound. Using your fingertips, make a well in the center (a small glass bowl works well, too).
2. Traditionally, the eggs are broken into the center of the well. We broke our eggs in to a glass bowl and whisked in the olive oil. We then drizzled the mixture into the well while gradually mixing in the flour from the sides of the well, being careful not to let our walls “tumble down.” If we did lose our walls, we had plenty of eager hands to help work the wet mixture into the flour to form our pasta dough.
3. You’ll eventually feel that the dough is a little hard to work in the egg mixture with the fork and you’ll need to incorporate the rest by hand. You are looking for a soft, slightly moist (not tacky) ball. You can add more flour during the kneading process if you think it’s too wet.
4. Flour your hands and board lightly before kneading. We divided the dough ball into six to eight smaller pieces so that the girls could all help. Using your “monster” muscles gave the girls a good idea that the dough had to be firmly pressed and rotated to get the finished smooth and elastic dough we needed – about 10 minutes for the full dough ball and around 5 minutes for the smaller pieces. It should bounce back when you press your finger into it.
5. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with an overturned bowl and let rest for 15 minutes allowing the gluten to relax so that the dough is easier to roll.
6. We used both a hand crank pasta machine and an electric roller and cutter to make our pasta. We rolled the pasta dough starting on “0,” folded and went through again, increasing a notch each time. By the time we got to 3 or 4, we didn’t need to fold the dough anymore. A second pass on each notch through 6 gave us the right consistency to make the fettuccine noodles.
7. To cook, bring water with a little splash of lemon or vinegar and plenty of salt to a rolling boil. Gently drop in noodles and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove with long handled strainer.