The Beginner’s Guide to making homemade pasta (with a manual pasta machine)

Everyone’s homemade pasta machine is slightly different, different thickness settings, and different ways you have to look after each machine. I have had the same one for around 10 years now and I would find it hard to use someone else’s, after having become so accustomed to mine. I love to make all types of pasta from Lasagne to Tagliatelle Verdi, and there is a very simple recipe for making pasta dough.

Per 2 people:
1 Egg
100 grams of Flour (Strong Flour if possible)
A Dash of olive oil
A Sprinkle of salt

You simply put these ingredients into your magimix or blender (I use one of those hand held blenders which has the small magimix attachment) and at first everything will mix into small crumbs before one ball of dough spinning around the edge.

If the crumbs remain crumbs – add a little water
If the dough is not forming a ball and looks like cake mixture – add a little flour
Let the dough ball spin for around 1 min and then take it out and place it on a lightly floured surface (to stop it from sticking to the surface).

A bamboo board offers the perfect hard and antibacterial surface to dry the pasta on.

At this stage leave the dough for 1 hour so that it becomes a little firmer. Some people put it in the fridge and use it the next day which works fine as well.
After this you can start to the dough through the pasta machine, increasing the thinness of the pasta each time until you have smooth sheets, and if the pasta is slightly to soft you can leave it to dry until you are content with the hardness of it. You can then cut it by hand or place it through the cutting part of the machine if you have one. For Ravioli you can turn a glass upside down and make circles, reusing the remaining dough.

To make different coloured homemade pasta it’s very easy, simply add the following during the beginning stage when you add the ingredients together to make the dough.

For Red Pasta – add one teaspoon of tomato pasteFor Pink Pasta – boil a peeled beetroot and add a tablespoon of the liquid

For Yellow Pasta (with an amazing aromatic smell) – add saffron
For Green Pasta – add a few spinach leaves

After your homemade pasta is ready to cook add it to boiling water, and it will only take a few minutes to cook.  Once the pasta is floating this means it is ready to remove from the boiling was and drain in a sieve.  You can then pour out the water from the pot and replace the pasta, and add any sauce, such as tomato or bolognese sauce to the pasta, and as soon it is totally hot, your delicious homemade pasta is ready to eat.