Mark's Authentic Italian Pasta Recipe
Once you have treated yourself to a Candelaria Design pasta maker, you’ll be ready to roll up your sleeves and start making homemade pasta with Mark’s easy but very flavorful recipe!
Our pasta machine is beautiful and practical as the attachments for fettuccine and spaghetti are permanently attached to the main pasta roller. Click HERE to purchase our custom Candelaria Design Pasta Maker.
The recipe could not be easier:
Making the pasta:
4-1/2 cups flour
6 eggs
The ingredients are simple: flour and eggs. The quantity of flour to eggs will be adjusted as you go so you must mix the pasta by hand. The idea is to create a dough that doesn’t stick to your hands or the board you’re working on. If it’s too dry you add another egg; if it’s too wet you add more flour. Always dust your pasta board and your hands with flour so the dough does not stick to your hands or the board. You will use this technique all the way through the process.
Fill a large pot at least 5 inches deep with water. Cover and put on the stove to boil; add one heaping tablespoon of coarse salt.
To make the pasta, start out with 4-1/2 cups of flour and six eggs. On a large, flat board pour out the flour and shape into a mound. Make a valley in the middle of the mound – create a volcano! Break the eggs into the volcano and beat them with a fork. With a fork, begin to cover the eggs with flour, and continue little by little mixing in just enough flour so that the dough eventually sticks together uniformly. Flour your hands and knead for eight minutes until it is shiny and elastic. To test its readiness, stick your finger into the middle of the dough. If it comes out clean, the dough is ready for the pasta machine. If the dough is still sticky, knead in a little more flour.
Important: let the dough rest for at least 10 – 20 minutes. It can also be wrapped well and refrigerated at this point to be rolled out the next day
I then cut the dough ball into quarters or slices which then are easy to roll. Start with the dial on 1 and keep rolling the dough through adjusting the setting higher and higher until you get to the pasta thinness that feels right for whatever you are making.
Once your sheets are made to your desired thinness then you can either move forward making ravioli or run the sheets through the fettuccine cutter or the spaghetti cutter. Flour the cutters before you use them so the dough does not stick. Do not let the pasta sheets dry before you use the fettuccine or spaghetti cutters. Once your fettuccine or spaghetti is cut you can swirl them in mounds on a lightly floured tray.
Once made you can drop the pasta into the boiling water and the fresh pasta will cook quickly – about 3-4 minutes and it will be done. Don’t overcook – you want the pasta to be firm but cooked – al dente. Drizzle with olive oil and or butter and grate some parmiggiano-reggiano cheese and you have the basics….. from there you can endlessly explore. Trust me you will be in pasta heaven!!!!
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