Fresh egg pasta
Flour, eggs and your hands. Knead it smooth, let it rest, roll it thin and cut it into tajarin, tagliatelle or sheets for ravioli.
Why it works
Egg pasta is a gluten dough with almost no added water. When flour meets liquid, two wheat proteins, glutenin and gliadin, link into gluten: a stretchy network that lets you roll the dough paper-thin without it tearing. Kneading lines that network up. Resting lets it relax, so the sheet stops springing back when you roll it.
The eggs do three jobs. A whole egg is about three-quarters water, which is all the hydration the flour gets. The yolk adds fat and lecithin, which coat the gluten and make the pasta tender and silky. And when the pasta hits boiling water, the egg proteins set, giving it bite and holding it together even when it is thinner than a coin. That is why egg pasta can be rolled so much thinner than the water-and-semola doughs of the south.
Flour choice follows from this. Tipo 00 is soft wheat milled very fine, so it hydrates quickly and evenly and gives the smooth, silky sheet you want for tagliatelle and filled pasta. Semola rimacinata is durum wheat, re-milled but still slightly gritty, with stronger, less stretchy gluten. It makes a firmer, rougher pasta that sauce clings to, which suits hand-shaped orecchiette and cavatelli. For egg pasta, use 00. Keep semola for dusting, where its coarse grains stop strands sticking without turning gummy.
The classic Emilian proportion is 100 g flour to one egg of about 55–60 g out of the shell. In Piedmont the dough gets richer as you go into the Langhe: tajarin are traditionally made with yolks only, 30 to 40 of them per kilo of flour. Yolks carry less water and far more fat, so the dough is stiffer to work, deep orange, and cooks into fine strands that are tender yet springy. Treat any ratio as a starting point. Eggs and flours vary, and the real test is the feel of the dough in your hands.
What you need
- Wooden board: Wood grips the dough slightly and stays at room temperature; a large board also lets you roll long sheets.
- Bench scraper: Gathers stray crumbs into the dough and cleans the board as you knead.
- Pasta machine: A hand-cranked roller with a thickness dial does the hard work and gives even sheets.
- Mattarello: A long, thin wooden pin, around 80 cm, for rolling by hand the traditional way.
- Sharp knife or fluted wheel: A long knife for noodles cut from a folded sheet, a wheel for ravioli and pappardelle.
- Semola rimacinata: For dusting sheets and cut pasta; a small bowl within reach.
- Large pot: Big enough for about 1 litre of water per 100 g of pasta.
Step by step
Make a well
Weigh the flour onto the board and push it into a mound with a wide crater in the middle, walls high enough to hold the eggs. Crack the eggs into the centre. Beat them with a fork, then start drawing flour in from the inside wall of the well, a little at a time, until you have a thick batter. Keep the outer wall standing until the middle is too stiff to run.
Tip: A bowl does the same job with less risk of a breach. A food processor works too: pulse until the mix looks like damp couscous and holds together when pinched, then tip it out and knead by hand.
Bring it together and judge the feel
When the batter is too thick for the fork, use the scraper and your hands to push in the rest of the flour and press everything into a shaggy ball. It should feel firm and slightly dry, like stiff modelling clay. If it will not come together after a minute of pressing, wet your hands and work again. If it sticks to the board, add flour a spoonful at a time.
Tip: You may not need all the flour. Leave any that refuses to join in, rather than forcing it in and making the dough crumbly.
Knead for 8–10 minutes
Push the dough away with the heel of your hand, fold it back over itself, turn it a quarter and repeat. At first it feels rough and patchy. Keep going until it is smooth, slightly glossy and springs back slowly when you press it with a finger. That change is the gluten forming.
Tip: A stiff yolk dough is hard work. Knead for a few minutes, cover it for 5 minutes to let the flour hydrate, then knead again. It will be noticeably softer.
Rest it, wrapped, for 30 minutes
Wrap the dough tightly in cling film or put it under an upturned bowl and leave it at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. The gluten relaxes and the flour finishes absorbing the egg, so the dough turns supple and rolls without shrinking back. It can rest up to 2 hours; after that, refrigerate it.
Laminate at the widest setting
Cut off a quarter of the dough and keep the rest wrapped. Flatten it with your palm and pass it through the machine at the widest setting. Fold it in three like a letter, turn it so a short open edge goes in first, and roll again. Repeat 4 or 5 times until the sheet is smooth, even and has neat sides.
Tip: This folding finishes the kneading. A dough that felt slightly rough on the board will come out silky.
Thin it one notch at a time
Close the rollers one setting at a time, passing the sheet through once or twice at each. Dust lightly with flour if it feels tacky. Stop at the thickness your shape needs: around 1 mm for tagliatelle and pappardelle, the thinnest or second-thinnest setting for filled pasta. Support the long sheet over the back of your hand as it comes out.
Tip: Holding the sheet up to the window is a good test for ravioli. You should just see the shadow of your hand through it.
Or roll by hand with the mattarello
Flatten the rested dough into a disc and roll from the centre outwards, turning it a quarter after each stroke. Once it is large, wrap the far edge round the pin and roll it towards you while sliding your hands outwards along the pin, stretching the sheet rather than pressing it. Work quickly so the sheet does not dry and crack. It takes practice, and a hand-rolled sheet has a slightly rough surface that holds sauce beautifully.
Dry briefly, then cut
For noodles, lay the sheets on a dusted board for 5–15 minutes until they feel like soft leather: dry to the touch but still flexible. Dust with semola, roll each sheet loosely from the short end and slice across into ribbons of the width you want. Lift and shake them out straight away. For filled pasta, skip the drying, because a moist sheet seals.
Tip: The cutter attachment on the machine works well for tagliatelle. For tajarin, a sharp knife gives the irregular, rough-edged strands that are part of their charm.
Dust and nest
Toss the cut pasta with a little semola and gather it into loose nests on a tray dusted with more semola. Cook within a couple of hours, or see the making-ahead notes below.
Cook fast, finish in the sauce
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it with about 10 g per litre. Add the pasta and stir at once to separate the strands. Fresh pasta cooks in 1–3 minutes, tajarin in under a minute, so start tasting early. Lift it into the pan of sauce with a ladle of the cooking water and toss over the heat for 30–60 seconds, until the sauce turns glossy and clings.
Tip: Fresh pasta keeps cooking in the sauce. Take it out just before you think it is ready.
Shapes, sizes and sauces
| Shape | Width | Thickness | Classic pairing |
|---|
| Tajarin | 2–3 mm | 0.6–0.8 mm, setting 7–8 | Butter and sage, white truffle from Alba, or sugo d'arrosto |
| Tagliatelle | 6–8 mm | About 0.8–1 mm, setting 6–7 | Ragù alla bolognese, porcini |
| Pappardelle | 2–3 cm | About 1 mm, setting 6 | Hare, wild boar or duck ragù |
| Maltagliati | Irregular diamonds, 3–4 cm | About 1 mm, setting 6 | Bean or chickpea soup |
| Lasagne sheets | To fit the dish | 0.8–1 mm, setting 6–7 | Ragù and béchamel; spinach dough for lasagne verdi |
| Ravioli and agnolotti del plin | Squares of 3–5 cm; plin about 2 cm | 0.5–0.6 mm, setting 8–9 | Butter and sage, sugo d'arrosto, or in brodo |
Dough formulas for 4
| Dough | Flour | Liquid | Use it for |
|---|
| Classic egg | 400 g tipo 00 | 4 eggs (about 220–240 g) | Tagliatelle, pappardelle, lasagne, ravioli |
| Rich yolk (Piedmontese) | 300 g tipo 00 | 12 yolks (about 210–220 g), plus a spoonful of water if needed | Tajarin, agnolotti del plin |
| Egg-free semola | 400 g semola rimacinata | About 200 ml lukewarm water | Orecchiette, cavatelli, malloreddus |
Troubleshooting
The dough is dry and crumbly
Too much flour for the size of your eggs, or the flour has not had time to absorb the liquid. Wet your hands and knead, which adds a little water at a time. If it is still cracking, cover it for 10 minutes, then knead again; it often comes good once the flour hydrates.
The dough is sticky
Large eggs or a soft flour. Knead in more flour a tablespoon at a time until it no longer sticks to the board or your palm. A dough that is tacky now will tear and clump later in the machine.
The sheet tears or goes ragged in the machine
Usually you jumped several settings at once, or the dough was underkneaded or not rested. Fold it back up, run it through the widest setting a few more times, and go down one notch at a time. Holes at the edges of a very long sheet mean it is too wet or too dry; cut it in half and dust it lightly.
The cut pasta sticks together in clumps
The sheets were cut while still too moist, or not dusted. Let sheets dry to soft leather before cutting, dust with semola, and shake the strands apart as soon as they are cut. Do not pile nests on top of each other.
The sheet keeps springing back
The gluten is still tight. Wrap the dough and leave it another 15–20 minutes, then try again.
The cooked pasta is tough or chewy
Rolled too thick, or the dough was too dry. Egg pasta swells as it cooks, so roll thinner than looks right. Overcooking makes it soft and slippery rather than tough, so if it is rubbery, the sheet is the problem.
It is a raw egg dough
Fresh pasta is perishable until it is cooked or fully dried. Keep it cool and do not leave it lying around half-dry for hours.
- Work in a cool kitchen and keep dough wrapped. Refrigerate anything you will not cook within about 2 hours.
- Cook refrigerated pasta, plain or filled, within a day.
- Freeze or dry fully for longer keeping. Pasta that is only half-dry is the riskiest state, warm and moist enough for bacteria to grow.
- Use very fresh eggs, and cook filled pasta with meat or cheese fillings until the filling is piping hot.
