Homemade pasta

1. Place the flour in a bowl. Make a cavity in the middle of it and brake the eggs there. Salt a bit and drizzle some olive oil. Beat the eggs with a fork until they become homogeneous. With the tip of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour little by little until they become well blended.

2. Knead the dough very well with your hands, for 10 minutes until it becomes soft, not sticky, shiny. Wrap it in a plastic foil and leave it in the fridge for at least half an hour.

3. If you don't have a pasta machine, stretch the dough in a very thin sheet with rolling pin until it is equal in thickness. You need a big working surface or just cut the dough in small shapes.
If you have a pasta machine, make sure it is well stuck on the clean working surface greased with 00 flour. Cut the dough in 4 pieces. Take the first one, dust it with some flour and then shake it well. Press it with the fingers to flatten it. Set the machine on the wider position then roll the dough. If it is sticky, dust it with some flour.

4. Set the machine on the next small position and roll the dough again. Fold the dough in two, set the machine on the wider position then roll. Repeat this process for 5-6 times. Even if you don't see any improvement, you are actually working the dough to become more fine and shiny.

5. After this process, dust flour on the both faces of the dough and roll it on all the machine settings, starting with the widest till the smallest. When you reached the smallest position, fold the dough in two, then again in two, then again in two until you have a square shape. Turn 90 degrees and roll in the machine starting with the widest till the smallest. The dough should be very thin and square. Don't forget to dust with flour once in a while.

6. If you are making tagliatelle, lasagna or stracchi roll the dough until it reaches the thickness between a coaster and a playing card. Now depends on everyone tastes. I like pasta very thin. If you want to make ravioli, tortellini roll it thin.

7. You now have to cut the dough immediately. Pasta is drying very fast so don't leave it uncut for more than a minute. You can place them on a damp kitchen towel to stop them drying. Cut the dough with the machine under the desired shape, if you don't have a machine just use a very well sharp knife.

8. Don't forget to clean the kitchen, after playing with pasta it will look like this:

9. Pasta boils like this:
Pour plenty of water in a pot, salt and drizzle some olive oil. Leave to boil than put the pasta and mix once in a while so they won't stick. Don't leave them too long. For tagliatelle 5 minutes are enough, taste and drain. More details on boiling minutes for each type of pasta you can find here.
If you are not using all the pasta, you can deposit them. Leave them to dry for an hour dusted with flour. Make nests and put them in sealed bags. Refrigerate. In the fridge they last 3 days, in the freezer 3 months.