Best Fresh Pasta Sheets Recipes

FRESH PASTA SHEETS

Steps:

• To make dough in a processor:
• Blend flour, eggs, salt, and 2 tablespoons water in a food processor until mixture just begins to form a ball, adding more water, drop by drop, if dough is too dry (dough should be firm and not sticky). Process dough for 15 seconds more to knead it. Transfer to a floured surface and let stand, covered with an inverted bowl, 1 hour to let the gluten relax and make rolling easier.
• To make dough by hand:
• Mound flour on a work surface, preferably wooden, and make a well in center. Add eggs, salt, and 2 tablespoons water to well. With a fork, gently beat eggs and water until combined. Gradually stir in enough flour to form a paste, pulling in flour closest to egg mixture and being careful not to make an opening in outer wall of well. Knead remaining flour into mixture with your hands to form a dough, adding more water drop by drop if dough is too dry (dough should be firm and not sticky). Knead dough until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Cover with an inverted bowl and let stand 1 hour to let the gluten relax and make rolling easier.
• Roll pasta:
• Divide dough into 8 pieces, then flatten each piece into a rough rectangle and cover rectangles with an inverted large bowl. Set rollers of pasta machine on widest setting.
• Lightly dust 1 rectangle with flour and feed through rollers. (Keep remaining rectangles under bowl.) Fold rectangle in half and feed it, folded end first, through rollers 7 or 8 more times, folding it in half each time and feeding folded end through. Dust with flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through rollers once at each setting, without folding, until you reach narrowest setting. Dough will be a smooth sheet (about 36 inches long and 4 inches wide). Cut sheet crosswise in half. Lay sheets of dough on lightly floured baking sheets to dry until leathery but still pliable, about 15 minutes. (Alternatively, lightly dust pasta sheets with flour and hang over the backs of straight-backed chairs to dry.) Roll out remaining pieces of dough in same manner.

FRESH EGG PASTA SHEETS

Steps:

• Pulse all-purpose flour, eggs, oil, and salt in a food processor until dough forms pea-size crumbs.
• Turn out dough onto a work surface lightly dusted with rice flour, and knead until smooth and elastic, 3 to 4 minutes. Cover dough with a piece of plastic or a clean kitchen towel. Let stand for 10 minutes or up to 2 hours.
• Divide dough into thirds, and feed each piece through a pasta machine, starting with the widest setting, and ending with the second-finest setting. Cut dough into 4-by-6-inch sheets. Dust each with rice flour, stack on a plate, and cover until ready to use.

FRESH PASTA SHEETS FOR TORTELLI DI RICOTTA

Steps:

• Mound flour in center of a large work surface, and make a well in the middle. Beat eggs, olive oil, and salt in a small bowl and pour into well.
• Using a fork, slowly incorporate flour, beginning with outer rim of well. When flour is incorporated, gather dough together to form a rounded mass. Lightly flour work surface and hands, and begin kneading dough with the palms of your hands until no longer wet and sticky.
• Lightly flour work surface; knead dough until smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes. Continue kneading 4 minutes more, dusting work surface and hands with flour as necessary. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a small rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature.
• Set the rollers of a hand-cranked or electric pasta machine at their widest opening. Working with one piece of dough at a time, run dough once through the machine. Remove and lightly dust with flour. Fold the dough in thirds, like a book, pressing down with your fingers, and run through the machine again. Repeat this step at least two more times, dusting lightly with flour if needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Now change the rollers of the pasta machine to the next decreasing setting, and roll out the dough once without folding. Keep rolling the sheet through the machine on decreasing settings until you have rolled it through the last (thinnest) setting. Cut the pasta strip into 18-inch sheets. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let stand for 30 minutes. Repeat process with remaining piece of dough.
• Run each sheet of pasta through the narrowest setting of the pasta machine two more times each. Keep covered until ready to use.

FRESH PASTA SHEETS WITH PARSLEY

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt to blend. With the machine on, add the eggs, one at a time, and the water. Process until the dough forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead into a smooth ball Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Sprinkle 2 large cookie sheets with cornmeal. Lightly flour a work surface. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, flatten the dough with your hand and run it through a pasta machine: Begin at the thickest setting and work your way through consecutively thinner settings until you reach the thinnest one. Spread the sheet on the prepared cookie sheet, brushing away any excess flour. With a moistened finger, make 18 dots of water on the left half of each pasta sheet randomly or in rows; they should be 2 inches apart. Set a parsley leaf on each dot and press down lightly. Fold the other half of the pasta sheet over to cover the parsley leaves. Run the folded sheet through the pasta machine on the next-to-thinnest setting. You may need to cut the pasta dough in half, partway through rolling out. Cut the parsley-flecked sheets into 8-by-6-inch rectangles of dough. Repeat with the second piece of dough and the remaining parsley leaves.