some recipe add a bit of water?? what a different?? with or without?? Thks

thanks Tony

I find it using the whole egg makes dough a bit wet!! Is it ok to use just yolk??

thank you

is the pasta machine the only way to thin out the pasta? Can it be done by hand? Thanks,

Thats awesome I will research on that. Thanks a lot Tony.

The after-note states the shaped dough can be frozen for up to a month. To cook, would it need to be thawed in the refrigerator or can it be placed into boiling water straight from the freezer?

Hi Melissa. Good question. Cook from frozen. If you thaw, the pasta first, it will likely stick together.

I have had some really exquisite hand made - ravioli at a number of restaurants. They always seem delicate and delicious. I recently tried to make ravioli using the basic pasta dough. I'm not sure what I did wrong but the results were very gummy. Maybe I did not roll the dough out thin enough? I used he second to last setting on my pasta maker. Or perhaps I used the wrong flour? I just used all purpose. There has to be something I'm missing.

I use the same basic pasta dough, I also often use all-purpose flour. I also often roll the pasta out to the last setting (on mine that is a 9). I say try again...practice is what will make you good. If it seemed to thick, roll it thinner next time. Good luck!

as I knead the dough, after a few minutes it looks like the dough is tearing? Should I stop at that point?

Ever since I've started making fresh pasta, I haven't gone back to store bought pasta. I love it and in fact have given lots of pasta out to friends & family (I tell them, "you've got to try it"). Just wondering, 1. If I give fresh pasta to friends, can it be stored in the fridge for a couple of days if it has enough flour on it? 2. When using fresh pasta for lasagna noodles, do I need to cook the noodles first, or can the fresh pasta sheets be layered in the lasagna and then cook the lasanga? Thanks so much!

Sorry, I knew I had one more question.... Besides freezing the fresh pasta, are there any other ways fresh pasta can be stored? (ie. drying it?) I think that's it. Thanks

Tony, that brings up the question--how long do you cook your pasta sheets? I did not precook my noodles when I made lasagna and it was fine. I'm assuming you boil them in salted water for just a few minutes?

You are correct. Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until done. Depending on the thickness of the noodles the cooking time can vary - see step 7 of this recipe for an example. Cheers!

What are your thoughts on semolina flour? You don't call for it, but isn't that the classic pasta flour? Does it need to be a certain grind? How does that affect the ratio of liquid? Is olive oil a good addition as part of the liquid?

I made this recipe the other night and the dough came out quite wet. I had to add quite a bit of flour to get to the right consistency. I used large eggs - but it's possible they were on the bigger side of large. Isn't the classic ratio for this recipe one cup of flour to one egg?

I've been making my dough by hand for a long time, but the lesson showing how to make pasta in the food processor was a breakthru! This is such a time saver and the dough is perfect every time. I have found that my ravioli is best when rolled to thickness #6. Don't let the sheets dry! Fill and cut as soon as it's rolled and cook immediately. I've tried it thinner (all the way to #9) but it tended to break apart. Flat noodles on #7. I use the Atlas machine (doesn't everyone?)

I gave making pasta my first shot today. It tasted delicious, but it wasn't without problems. :-) I incorporated all ingredients using the food processor method. Once I had turned it out to knead it, I got the same "tearing" effect that another person posted about. I stopped to let the pasta "rest." Once I was ready to run it through the pasta machine, I had a great deal of trouble getting long, clean sheets of dough. I ended up more with weird, oblong pieces that did not resemble a rectangle in the least. Once cut and cooked, it was not able to be seen, but the process was frustrating. Any suggestions? :-)

I think this may just be a case of practice. I suggest making it again and perhaps adding a bit less flour so the dough has a bit more moisture. If the dough sticks as you roll it out you can sprinkle the machine with a bit of flour to help prevent it from sticking. Good for you for following through and finishing the process. At least you had some tasty pasta after your hard work. Hope this helps. Cheers!

I mean what do they do to make the pasta hard or dry like that? I can store it more than the fresh one.

Good question, the difference between extruded and laminated pasta is quite significant. This is covered in the lesson in the Cooking School called Selecting Pasta" (in particular topic 3). Cheers!

Thanks Dawn that was so helpful :)

I have tried to make pasta by hand a few times with varying levels of success. Still I haven't got it right or easily enough to make me think it's worth the trouble. I'm sure it is and I know it takes practice, but here are my recurring problems. 1) When kneading the dough, it gets tough really quickly and starts to fold into layers. 2) When cutting the pasta in the pasta machine, the pasta starts to back up in the rollers. This has happened more than once and even after I made sure that there was no dry pasta bits left in the rollers. 3) The pasta that I have been able to cut lumps together when I store it in the fridge before cooking. I'm wondering how to trouble-shoot these - especially (3). Should I lay out the pasta a certain way or mix with cornmeal or something? Thanks for the help.

My husband loves pasta but is allergic to wheat. Would King Arthur's Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour be a good substitute for the flour on its own or would I need to add something like xanthum gum as well.

How many servings are in the basic pasta receipt I have a large family so how much will I have to make? can they recept be increased or should ir be made in small batches

Hello: Today I tried making pasta in the food processor for the first time. However, I used the recipe I got at a fresh pasta cooking workshop - 1 cup AP flour, 1 cup semolina, 3 eggs, 1 TBSP olive oil, and a 1/4 TSP salt - and it was really hard to bring together to knead. I got to the couscous stage, and it felt nice when I pinched it between my fingers. But when I tried to clump it into a big ball and start to knead, it was tearing, folding over itself, and generally hard to hand. In general, I would say "more liquid," but it seemed to be plenty wet given the "food processor" criteria. Could it be that I used semolina? Something else? I'm a little frustrated because I wanted to put my brand new food processor to work, but alas . . .

I have a very similar (possibly the same) question as Robert S: 3) The pasta that I have been able to cut lumps together when I store it in the fridge before cooking. Tony M said "3) Yes, lots of cornmeal in-between sheets, to be brushed off before cooking." My main issue is when I've actually cut the pasta into fettuccine or spaghetti or something. The first cut strands end up sticking together by the time I've finished cutting the last strands. Even if I only have 4 sheets to cut. They mostly come back apart if I agitate them in the boiling water, but not quite as nicely as I'd like. The lesson suggests tossing with a dusting of flour for the hand cut style. Would this also work for thinner, machine cut? Can I toss the floured pasta in the water?

To prevent the strands from sticking together, whether hand-cut or machine cut, you can toss the strands with a bit of flour (as per the lesson). This is especially important if you are not cooking the pasta immediately. And yes, the floured pasta can just be added to the water (like we did with the freshly cut pappardelle noodles in the lesson). Also note, when cutting pasta be sure you do not stack it. Also, if you are storing the freshly-cut pasta in the refrigerator before you cook it, this will also add moisture to the pasta, which, in turn, can make it stickier. Cheers!

I realize that times will vary with thickness. Do you check doneness just by tasting the noodles as they cook? Is the time shorter / longer than store bought noodles? Thanks.

Tasting the pasta as it cooks is really the best way to test for doneness. As for store cooking at a different rate than homemade, the time all depends on which pasta etc. Also, remember that much of the store bought "fresh pasta" is really just extruded pasta. Cheers!

I've tried making my own pasta twice. The first time I couldn't wait to use it so I made chicken and "dumplings". I made my pasta and cut 1"x2" strips to add to my chicken. The second time I made spaghetti with shrimp. I had a couple of issues with the pasta gumming up in the rollers. However, I began to dust the sheets with a little flour and that did the trick. I think I've had beginners luck. My family has loved the fresh pasta. What a difference! I want to add one more thing. Rouxbe...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Hi! I tried putting in some olive oil and water in the dough (read it somewhere on another recipe) The problem then was that the pasta machine had trouble feeding the dough between the rollers because well, it was to slippery. I used a rolling pin to thin it out and then put it in the machine. The thing is that i liked the taste, colour and smell of the dough with some oil in, are there any way of making it go easier through? Thx for great lessons! /Oscar

I recently made a batch of gluten free lasagna sheets and froze them. i'm wondering if I need to cook them prior to making my lasagna or if I can make my sauce and stack frozen sheets in my lasagna with some extra liquid so the sheets cook in the oven? Similar to the dry lasagna sheet method.

Ah yes, this has been a popular question in the past. You may want to check out this thread here. The short answer is "no, you don't have to cook them first, but the longer answer is that you might be happier with the end result, if you do boil them first. Hope that helps. Cheers!

Thank you for point that out Dawn. I tried to search for it but came up empty. With the gluten free pasta being so brittle, I'm tempted to just cook it from frozen since it'll hold up better. I can't believe I paid $5 for a package of 5 gluten free sheets and made my own for less than $1 plus labour. :-)

No worries Tom. In the end, the best way to truly know if something will work for you, is to try it out. You may find that you are perfectly happy with the end results of cooking the gluten-free pasta sheets from frozen – it sure would save a big extra step. Let us know how it turns out. And btw, good job on making your own gluten-free noodles. Buy "gluten-free" products these days sure can get expensive. I saw a bottle of water the other day that was labelled "gluten-free" — ah, when was water not gluten-free? :-) Cheers!

.. after making fresh pasta, how do I store it in the fridge? In small nests, covered with a tea towel, or in tupperware containers?

Would this work the same way with ravioli?

At first, I tried making the dough in the food processor. It came out exactly like the videos from the machine. I believe the mistake I made with this dough was attempting to knead the dough on parchment paper taped to my counter (for easier cleanup). The parchment paper kept moving around and I wasn't able to knead it properly. Second, I only loosely covered it when setting it to rest and a tough skin formed on the dough after only 30 minutes. I tried to keep re-kneading the dough adding lots of water. I eventually gave up and rolled the dough anyway. It was way too dry and I wound up throwing it out. Last night I tried making it by hand. I did it slightly differently than the video. I took a large mixing bowl and added half the flour to form the well. Then I added the eggs in the middle. I mixed it and added a 1/4 cup of flour at a time until I got the correct consistency. I kneaded the dough initially in the bowl with my knuckles and then started on the counter. When kneading it, it still dried out a little, but somehow I was able to correct it. Before I let it rest, I put a thin layer of olive oil to prevent the tough skin I had previously. After 30 minutes the dough was very wet and I was worried it would stick. I wound up using a lot of flower on the rolling machine and an occasional dusting on the dough, but it came out perfect.

I made some pasta noodles from this recipe today. The dough was a pleasure to work with. I rested mine for 30 minutes and rolled by hand. They did, however, come out chewy and not as thin as I wanted. I like my boxed pasta pretty well cooked and don't have much experience with fresh. I didn't cook these for long, 5 minutes or less I think. Should I have cooked them longer? I'm sure rolling thinner would've helped too.

Good job Rachel. As for thinness and cooking times with fresh pasta — you are correct, if you wanted it to be thinner then yes, next time you will just want to roll it thinner. And for cooking times, you may want to refer to the lesson on "How to Cook Pasta" and also watch the lesson on "How to Make Fresh Laminated Pasta" these lessons will walk you through the process in much more detail then just a this text recipe. Hope that helps. Cheers!

I didn't realize there was a video on cooking laminated pasta. Very helpful. Next time I will roll mine as thin as possible and test the cooking noodles. I think since mine were thicker, 5 minutes wasn't long enough.

I decided to try this recipe again tonight. Beforehand I watched some YouTube videos on proper kneading technique and the traditional Italian way to roll out pasta by hand. I rested my dough a little longer too and tested the doneness of the cooking pasta minute by minute. I got a nice thin eggy textured noodle after 6 minutes. The secret seems to be REALLY rolling the dough thin. Mine was thin enough to see my cutting board through it. I also separated the dough into smaller balls so it would be easier to work with. So happy with the results! We may be having fresh pasta for supper tomorrow

when making the dough can you add other spices like saffron because I use 00 flour and I normally use 2 cups of the flour and pink sea salt along with 5 eggs with the whites plus 1 egg with out the egg white. frank

Hello there Frank, yes you can incorporate spices into your dough. I would be curious to see how you incorporate the saffron without being able to bloom the saffron threads themselves ( maybe powdered saffron would be nice ). Enjoy playing with your pasta dough recipe, we have really enjoyed fresh summer herbs with ours. Brian

Thanks again Rouxbe.com... I use the couscous technique in the food processor for making multiple batches and freezing the dough balls closely wrapped in Saran... They keep for months before freezer burn sets in, much of which can be cut away before using (note: even well wrapped, they will stale after two and a half months)... even with such excellent instructions, I don’t make pasta often enough to get a feel for the dough in the processor, so I have one modification to the technique giving me better control of the final product and improves the Kneading quality of the dough - After food processing, I roughly form balls wrapped in plastic, and stand the dough for a minimum of twenty minutes in the fridge to “hydrate”. At this point, you can determine if the dough is too hard or soft for rolling and kneading, and if so, add it back to the processor torn in one inch pieces, pulse to the couscous stage, then add flour, egg or water as needed. At this point you can go straight into kneading for ten minutes... wrap, store or use the dough. You will find it is much easier to knead a harder dough which without standing is miserable to knead, and a harder dough cuts much more cleanly through the pasta machine. It is a superior laminated pasta dough that requires almost no additional flour while rolling - the sheets are leathery... PS: I use only bread flour...

Well, thank you Char N! You are very kind! And yes, fresh pasta is it’s own reward... I hope the following will help make it more practical to make more frequently... I recently learned two more things that I thought worth sharing... firstly, you don’t need to knead for ten minutes, let the pasta machine do the kneading - my argument for this is that the dough get an adequate workout in the processor and the fifteen or more passes through the pasta machine develop plenty of gluten... and secondly, because I make enough to store, I freeze the cut pasta (fettuccine or spaghetti) in nests that I just pop into boiling water... I know this breaks with all traditions, but hey, schtuph happens when you least expect it! 1) - MINIMAL KNEADING - Once the dough is the right consistency from the food processor, knead the dough only long enough to form a smooth ball - about one or two minutes max. - excessive kneading over develops the gluten and the dough becomes resistant and starts tearing on the surface - try to stop kneading before this occurs... Be sure to let the balls rest again before rolling and cutting... the rest of the kneading occurs in the pasta rolling machine as described in the recipe (ten times through the largest setting and once more through each successive setting until you reach desired thickness... 2) - FROZEN NESTS - single servings... As you roll the dough thinner and thinner, the sheet becomes long enough that I fold it half and cut it on the fold mark with a pizza wheel, and then half again, yielding four manageable sheets... each sheet yields one modest serving... when all the sheets reach the final thickness, I run each sheet through the desired cutter and form a twisted nest of noodles on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze them all. After four hours in the freezer, they are then double-bagged in freezer ziplocks which will keep for four to six weeks before freezer burn sets in... Toss as many nests as desired into vigorous boiling water - when the water returns to a gentle boil, continue to cook until done (about three to four minutes for fettuccine)... There you have it, always fresh, ready to cook pasta! Bon appetite, Robert

And as a third and final comment on pasta making... in sixty-five years I have owned and/or used more than one type of pasta rolling machine and none of them cut spaghetti for some reason - the closest cutter was linguine which was most often too fine for my tastes, so I learned to hand-cut them jelly-roll style with a sharp carving knife... — PROCEDURE — Roll out a batch of dough into four sheets to the desired thickness as described above in FROZEN NESTS... Liberally dust the sheets with flour and roll them up jelly-roll style (like you would a carpet) keeping one edge aligned with the end of the roll (this is the end you will start cutting from)... you will need a sharp knife and use a slicing action with limited downward pressure. Not unlike slicing a cucumber, take as many slices as each roll will yield and either cook them or arrange them into twisted nests for freezing and storing...

Thanks Char... I love food... I hadn’t thought of a chitarra, in fact I have a barely used 12-string guitar that would cut both spaghetti and fettuccine - frets might be a problem... haha I will check out the udon noodles... Thanks for thinking! Robert

For the problem of clumping during storage here's a tip from a Chinese noodle maker friend -sprinkle with tapioca starch powder, not wheat flour which actually aggravates it.

Can I do my kneading in a kitchen aid mixer with the dough attachment?

I like this tip. Thanks

"let the pasta machine do the kneading " Great tip. It worked for me, thanks

I decided to make this for the kids school lunch, can I keep the dough in the fridge overnight or do I have to make it in the morning?

Wow Good is dough

First off, I hate ingredients that do not add up with Metric and Standard measurements. My daughter sent me this, because she tried it, and it didn't come out the same as mine. As a retired Chef, here is the main problem everyone here is having. PASTA RECIPE RATIOS per PERSON 1 EGG 100 grams "00" flour (trust me) 1.5 grams sea salt Knead for 5-10 minutes Wrap in plastic let stand 30 min Prepare pasta in maker according to desired cut.