Super Simple Homemade Pasta

BUM-BUM-BUM! I know that this might sound intimidating, but please trust me, it's not. If you can roll out sugar cookies, you can make pasta. No lie! When I started making my own pasta about a year ago, I didn't even own a rolling pin - I used an empty wine bottle to roll out my dough. And it worked great! So there is no need for a fancy pasta machine, and in about half an hour you can have amazing fresh handmade pasta. 

I do have the advantage of owning a pasta machine now, since it was an anniversary gift this year (and a hint that the hubs wants me to make pasta more often). If you make pasta using this recipe and you decide that it's worth the time, effort, and you like to know exactly what's in your food - you can pick up a basic hand crank model like mine for about 20 bucks (or pounds, or whatever your unit of currency is). It still won't save you from the upper body workout that is kneading dough, but hey! The more calories you burn, the more of that fantastic pasta you can eat later.

So, without further adieu, here are the ingredients for my pasta recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus a little more for dusting)

3 large eggs

That's it! I swear! That's all that goes into pasta. Or, should I say, it should be. This stuff can be hang dried or refrigerated for up to a week, so even if you don't use this whole batch at once, it won't go to waste. Typically this makes 6-8 servings, depending on your appetite. I made lasagna noodles this time around, and about 1/3 of the dough was leftover and cut into fettucini for the later this week. 

Make sure your work surface is washed clean and dried thoroughly. You can use a large cutting board, but I prefer a nonporous surface like a countertop. Place your flour in a pile, then hollow out the center to create a well. Crack all 3 eggs into the center well of your flour, and whisk gently with a fork (if you'd prefer, you can whisk before pouring into your flour). While stirring with the fork, gradually incorporate flour from the center edges of the well. 

When the flour is about 2/3 incorporated, you can begin mixing with your hand until a ball of dough has formed. This dough will probably be flaking off and quite messy now, and that's when the fun of kneading begins! Knead the dough ball using the heel of your hand. Flatten, fold over, and repeat. Continue this for about 8-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stops cracking when kneaded. It's extremely important to knead the dough, since this process gives the pasta its elasticity. 

When your dough ball is ready to be rolled out, clean and dry your work surface, and dust it with a layer of flour. Divide the ball of dough into 3-4 even pieces, and work with one at a time. Dust the top of the dough and your rolling pin (or rolling wine bottle) with flour, and begin rolling! If you're using a pasta machine, you can probably begin rolling in the machine once you have the dough at about 3/8" thickness. If you are rolling by hand, skip the rest of this paragraph and see below!

For machine rolling, start on the lowest (biggest) setting, #1, and each time the dough is rolled through, increase the number by 1. I like my lasagna noodles to be a #6 thickness, and my linguine to be a #7. Unless you're making angel hair pasta, I don't think it's really necessary to roll anything out to the thinnest setting, but that's a personal preference. I like a little substance to my pasta. Then you can either use one of the cutting wheels on your pasta machine, or remove your pasta and cut it by hand (instructions below).

For hand rolling dough, roll into a large flat sheet of desired thickness - about 1/8" is usually good. Dust the top of the pasta sheet well with flour, then fold over in half. Repeat until you have a log shaped roll of pasta. Then, using a sharp knife that is lightly dusted in flour, simply slice your log into the desired thickness. Here's a good little demo video, in case you'd like a visual for this process. Shake out your cut pasta so that it doesnt stick together, and dust with another tbsp or so of flour if you're not planning to cook it right away. 

Simply repeat this process (whether by hand or machine) for the rest of the remaining dough, and voila! The first time I made this, I think it took about 20 minutes, so please don't be intimidated - give it a try! You'll never want to buy store-bought pasta again.

*Easy* Italian Bread

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are" - Brillat Savarin

I must be bread. 

Nothing quite excites me like a good rustic crusty loaf of REAL bread. My eyes light up in an Italian restaurant every time a basket full of hot-out-of-the-oven goodness plops down on the table in front of me. When I don't feel like cooking, I'll pick up a fresh baguette on the way home and just dip it in some good olive oil, or spread some nice soft bleu cheese on it while it's warm. Ah, the wonders of good bread.

I've seen countless recipes of the "no-knead Dutch oven" variety floating around the internets lately, but upon further investigation, these look like they come out resembling a dense white bread, which is not what I am looking for. No, I want hard-crusted oblong and round loaves with a fluffy, bubbly interior. And I want to make it myself.

So, without further delay, I present to you my first attempt at homemade crusty bread. And I double-pinkie-promise that it's easy.

You will need: 
Patience (Start to finish, this recipe takes about 4 hours)
3 1/2 cups bread flour (may be labeled as "strong flour") + extra for kneading/dusting
1 tsp dry instant yeast
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups warm water (Tap water is fine, it should be "bath water" temperature. Not too hot!)
1 baking sheet OR pizza stone
1 metal or glass pan with 1" sides
1 large mixing bowl
Your hands

The Dough:
Mix the flour, dry yeast, and salt in a bowl.
Slowly add the warm water, stirring constantly (I used a regular spoon to mix, but this can also be done in a stand mixer with a bread hook. I have none, so I did it the old fashioned way.)
When the dough is "sticky" (should look like the photo above), stop adding water, dust the top with flour, cover with a tea towel and let sit.

Let it rise for two hours. Leave it alone. Go do something else.

Dividing the Dough:
Divide the gooey dough into 3 balls. To do this, dust some flour on your countertop or wooden cutting/baking board, and roll the balls in it so that they're less sticky. Cover again, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Kneading the Dough:
A lot of people think that this is the hardest stage. Well, it's not. This isn't pasta, so the kneading part isn't the most difficult. Actually, the difficult part is done (for me, that was the waiting).
Take each ball and knead 5-8 times. Basically, roll the heel of your hand into the center of the ball, fold it in half, turn 90 degrees, and repeat. Once you have kneaded all 3 balls, either leave them in a round shape, or form/roll/stretch them into a baguette-like shape. Cover again, and let rest 30 minutes.

Baking:
Preheat your oven to 450 Farenheit (or 230 Celsius) with the baking pan inside, and the 1" deep pan below your baking pan on the lowest rack.
Score (slash) the tops of your bread balls/loaves a few times with a very sharp knife. If it is too stretchy and doesn't want to be scored, then use scissors and take a few shallow snips right in the middle. That's what I did for my first try, and it worked like a charm.

Get some hot water ready - about 3/4 cup. Once the oven is preheated, sprinkle a little flour onto the preheated pan (don't remove it from the oven, though! It will cool off too quickly) and plop your little dough balls onto it. Pour the hot water into the pan in the bottom of the oven, and quickly shut the door to trap the steam. This steam is what creates a really nice crust.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and let cool on a baking rack. You're done! Enjoy! Wasn't that easy???