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By Root 3916 0

collapsing the well’s walls into the wet ingredients, whisking in more and more of the flour mixture until a wet dough forms. If you’re working in a bowl, when the dry ingredients have been almost all incorporated into the wet, turn the contents of the bowl out onto a clean, dry work surface.

Knead the dough just until it holds its shape, incorporating as much of the dry ingredients into the wet as possible. Use the heel of one hand to press gently into the dough, twisting without tearing as you incorporate the dry ingredients. Add a few drops of water if the dough is brittle, a little more flour if it’s sticky. (On any given day, flour and eggs have varying moisture contents; pasta can end up slightly drier in one batch than another.)

Divide the dough into 4 lemon-sized balls. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest at room temperature for 10 or 15 minutes to relax the glutens before continuing on section Pasta and Noodles.

To make pasta in a food processor:

Place the dry ingredients in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Pulse a couple of times to combine.

Add the wet ingredients all at once. Process just until a dough begins to form.

Turn the barely cohering dough out onto a clean, dry, lightly floured work surface. You will now undoubtedly need to add more flour than you would to the handmade pasta dough because of the way the food processor disassembles the proteins and glutens in the dough. Follow the remainder of the kneading instructions from step 4 on the preceding page.

Note: If you’re curious about why we add eggs to our pasta dough, see “The History of Durum Wheat” on section Pasta and Noodles.

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Tips for Success

• In order for the eggs to absorb the flour properly, they must be at room temperature. Set them out on the counter in their shells for 15 minutes or place them in a bowl of warm—not hot—water for 5 minutes.

• Overkneading or overprocessing produces tough, slippery pasta. Feel the dough—it should be smooth and supple, like a baby’s skin, and neither brittle nor sticky.

• Double or triple any of these pasta dough recipes for crowds.

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Serving Size

In most of this section, we’ve gone by volume or weight measures (2 cups, 1 pound, etc.), rather than by the number of servings, since pasta’s versatility means it’ll be served at various times, from starter to main course, depending on the meal. If the noodles are a first course, a single batch of noodles and sauce will be enough to get 4 to 6 people ready for what’s to come. If the sauced pasta is for the main course, you’ll want a salad, vegetables, and bread to go along with it—or you can double the recipe.

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Seven Pasta Variations

Following one of the two techniques on section Pasta and Noodles, you can create endless variations. Here are the dry and wet ingredients for seven other pastas.

1. No-Yolk Pasta

Makes about 1 pound fresh pasta

Dry Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and to keep the dough from sticking

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

4 large egg whites, at room temperature, lightly beaten

½ tablespoon water

Note: Once it is formed in lemon-sized balls, let this pasta rest 1 hour before rolling it out.

Sauce Suggestions: For almost any sauce.

2. Whole Wheat Pasta

Makes about 1 pound fresh pasta

Dry Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and to keep the dough from sticking

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Wet Ingredients

4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

¼ cup olive oil

Sauce Suggestions: Try this pasta with earthy sauces like the simple Walnut Sauce or the creamy Mushrooms and Sage Sauce.

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Pasta Shapes

For flat noodles, here’s the basic range:

capellini (the thinnest, around 1/8 inch wide)

linguine (about 1/4 inch wide)

fettuccine (about 3/8 inch wide)

tagliatelle (about 1/2 inch wide)

pappardelle (over 5/8 inch wide, even up to 1 inch)

Tubular noodles are mostly available as dried pasta—unless