Basic pasta dough
MAKES Enough for 4 servings 400g 00 pasta flour, plus extra for dusting Pinch of sea salt
4 large eggs
1 Put the flour and salt on a clean bench and make a well in the middle. Break the eggs into the well and whisk with a fork. Now slowly start incorporating the flour as you whisk, bringing the flour from bottom to top and over on itself to form a rough dough.
2 Using your hands, start to bring the dough together, incorporating the flour with a metal pastry scraper or blunt knife. The dough will start to form a rough ball. Push it together with your hands and knead for 1—2 minutes, no longer; the dough must not be overworked. At this point the dough will feel quite hard, but it will soften as it rests. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave to rest on the bench for at least half an hour. (At this point the dough can be refrigerated for a couple of days, but I believe it is best used fresh.)
3 Flatten the rested dough and roll it out with a rolling pin to the width of your pasta machine. Working with small amounts — 200g at a time is usually about right for a domestic machine — roll the dough through the machine on the widest setting. Feed it through in one motion to prevent ‘stop’ marks on the pasta.
4 Lightly flour one side of the rolled pasta sheet with a little of the flour, then place it floured-side down on the bench. Now fold the pasta sheet into three: fold the bottom third up to the centre, and the top third over that. Press the seam together and roll the pasta through the machine four or five times, lowering the setting each time. Feed the pasta into the rollers with the seam facing down and lightly flour the sheet between each rolling. The pasta should be smooth and elastic.
5 Allow the pasta sheets to dry for about 15 minutes before cutting, but don’t leave them too long or they’ll become too dry and brittle.
6 For long pasta, you have a choice of cutting the pasta with the cutters provided with your machine or gently rolling the sheets up by hand and then cutting them with a sharp knife into ribbons as thin or thick as you like. At the restaurants, we stop rolling the pasta at the second-last setting; the cooked pasta has a great texture that works well with thick, ragú-style sauces. You can also use the dough for other hand-shaped pastas, such as garganelli and orecchiette.