Every nonna has her own secrets, specific to their region in Italy. She shares the heirloom recipes and generations of women’s memories, including how to make the ideal pasta.
In the North, chewy and thick noodles go with a buttery sauce. On the other hand, olive oil-based sauces go perfectly in the South. Wherever on the boot grannies are cooking pasta, one fact is very important. They do it by hand.
Necessary Ingredients and Tools
Making fresh pasta requires precisely chosen ingredients and tools. A wooden tabletop or board for mixing, rolling, and kneading the dough is key; you have better control over the moisture of the dough because of the porous surface. The quality of the flour and its type is also important. Its protein and grind content will surely affect the texture of your noodles.
How To Make Egg Noodles
1- Make The Well Combine 1 ½ cups of semolina flour and all-purpose flour on a clean large wooden work surface. After that, form a well that’s 6-inch deep in the center. Add parsley, egg yolks, eggs, and oil in the well.
2 – Form a Batter Beat the egg mixture using a fork, until combined. Carefully incorporate flour mixture from inner edges of the well into wet ingredients until you form a smooth batter.
3 – Gather Dough Once the batter is too stiff and you cannot mix it with the fork anymore, use hands to work in the remaining flour. This way, you can form a shaggy dough. After this, add water, one tablespoon at a time, as needed to bring the dough together.
4 – Knead and Let It Rest Knead until the dough gets smooth, for about 10 minutes. After this, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for three hours, in-room temperature. Unwrap dough and cut the dough into quarters. Later, keep three of the dough portions covered while following the next steps.
5 – Divide and Cover Cut the unwrapped dough into quarters and keep the other portions covered while following the next steps.
6 – Flatten The Dough Roll one of the pieces out on floured wooden work surfaces. It should be a roughly 20 -x 12-inch rectangle, which is about 1/16 inch thick. It should be thin enough to read through.
7 – Roll Dough Lightly dust both sides of the dough and use all-purpose flour. Start at 1 long side of the rectangle and use the jelly-roll style to form a cylinder.
8 – Slice and Toss The Egg Noodles Using a sharp and thin knife, cut dough crosswise into ⅓-inch pieces. Put flour on your hands and unroll dough slices into a ribbon and after this, toss them with one 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour.
9 – Finish Noodles After you are done with noodles, transfer pasta to a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour. After this, cover with plastic wrap. Use the remaining dough and all-purpose flour to repeat steps 6 to 8. You can either cook it immediately, chill it in the fridge up to 24 hours, or even freeze it up to 3 weeks.