Ingredients
| 350g ‘00’ flour | |
| 50g semola flour (superfine semolina; use all ‘00’ if you wish, but the semola gives a slight bite and structure which I like) | |
| 228g egg |
The traditional Italian pasta dough is a ratio of 100g of flour to 1 egg. Does it work? Of course. I do not want to dispute the traditions of thousands of Italian pasta makers, but eggs can vary in size so much so I have found weighing the eggs gives you a foolproof dough every time. Have a bowl on your scales and crack the eggs straight into it until you get to 228g – it might be four eggs, it might be 4½. You’ll notice I do a double rest; this extra step allows the flour to hydrate and you’ll end up with a much smoother and more even dough.
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Instructions
| 1. | Mix the flours together in a bowl then tip out onto the bench. |
| 2. | I use the bottom of a bowl to create a nice well in the middle, then tip the eggs into the well and start to whisk the eggs with a fork, breaking up the yolks and gradually incorporating the flour from around the sides into the middle. |
| 3. | Keep doing this until the mixture in the middle is thick enough that it wouldn’t escape or run out, a scrambled egg consistency. |
| 4. | Go in with a bench scraper or your hands and start to fold it all together and almost cut the egg mixture into the flour like you are cutting butter into flour when making pastry. |
| 5. | When you have an even, shaggy mixture bring it all together into a mound with your hands. |
| 6. | Knead the mixture for 3-4 minutes until it comes together into a workable ball. |
| 7. | If it feels sticky, resist the urge to add flour; if it feels dry, wet your hands and continue kneading. |
| 8. | Wrap in plastic wrap and rest for 10 minutes. |
| 9. | After 10 minutes knead for a further 4-5 minutes until you have a smooth dough. |
| 10. | Wrap in plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour or longer. |
| 11. | PARSLEY-SPECKLED PASTA DOUGH |
| 12. | Add 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leafed parsley to the eggs before tipping into the flour. |
| 13. | This will create the green-speckled dough for the parsley-speckled handkerchief pasta with butter sauce & confit egg yolk. |
| 14. | HERB-LEAF PASTA |
| 15. | Using a quarter of the dough at a time, roll a sheet through all the settings of a pasta machine, stopping at setting 6. |
| 16. | Cut the sheet in half widthwise and lay fresh herbs on the top (use soft herbs such as flat-leafed parsley, dill, sage etc but nothing with a woody stem as that would pierce the pasta sheets). |
| 17. | Press them in lightly with your hands then lay the second sheet on top and roll gently with a rolling pin. |
| 18. | Dust with flour then roll back through the machine at setting 4, then through each setting getting gradually thinner until it is the desired thickness. |
Recipes & food styling Emilie Pullar / Photography Tony Nyberg / Art direction Fiona Lascelles