Pasta all’Uovo

Fresh egg pasta is an essential part of the Italian Jewish culinary repertoire. It is easy to make at home with a small, hand-cranked pasta machine, not an extruder that produces an elastic and often rather tough dough. For a tender noodle, use unbleached all-purpose flour, not the coarser semolina flour that is meant for commercially made extruded pasta. The following recipe makes a rather stiff and dry-feeling dough, but ultimately will yield a lighter pasta. It is essential to let the dough rest before rolling it out, giving the gluten in the flour time to relax. A drier dough produces a pasta that will not be gummy when cooked. So take the time to knead it well and you will be rewarded with a silky, light, and tender noodle. Measure flour by spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it with a knife. Weather affects pasta, so if the day is damp you may need a bit less flour. For the richest pasta, use more egg yolks than whole eggs. Three large egg yolks are the equivalent of a single large egg in moisture content.