Basic Fresh Pasta Dough Recipe (2024)

By Samin Nosrat

Basic Fresh Pasta Dough Recipe (1)

Total Time
About 45 minutes, plus 30 minutes resting time
Rating
5(2,065)
Notes
Read community notes

Fresh pasta isn't something to master in one go. It takes time and practice, but it yields dividends. This particular recipe is vastly versatile. It can be made into whole grain pasta, by swapping in 1 cup sifted whole wheat, spelt or farro flour in place of 1 cup all-purpose or 00 flour. Add more egg yolks or water as needed and rest the dough for 1 hour. Or try a green pasta, as in this ravioli verdi: Steam or sauté 6 ounces baby spinach (about 6 cups) until just wilted. Spread it out on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and, when cool, squeeze water out thoroughly, a handful at a time, then chop roughly. Purée with 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, then use this mixture in place of eggs in the recipe. Or, for something a little different, make an herbed pasta, like this pappardelle, by stirring in ½ cup finely chopped parsley, chives, chervil, tarragon, or basil in any combination to the eggs before adding to the flour in the main recipe.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings for cut pasta, 6 to 8 servings for stuffed pasta

  • 2cups 00 or all-purpose flour
  • 2large eggs
  • 3egg yolks, plus more as needed
  • Semolina flour, for dusting

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

197 calories; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 28 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Basic Fresh Pasta Dough Recipe (2)

Preparation

Make the recipe with us

  1. Step

    1

    Mound the flour in the center of a large, wide mixing bowl. Dig a well in the center of the mound and add eggs and yolks. Using a fork, beat together the eggs and begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well. The dough will start to come together in a shaggy mass when about half of the flour is incorporated.

  2. Step

    2

    Use your fingers to continue to mix the dough. Press any loose bits of flour into the mass of dough. If needed, add another egg yolk or a tablespoon of water to absorb all of the flour. Once the dough comes together into a cohesive mass, remove it from the bowl.

  3. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 4 to 5 more minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and uniform in color. Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside for at least 30 minutes (and up to 4 hours) at room temperature.

  4. Step

    4

    Line three baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly dust with semolina flour. Set aside.

  5. Step

    5

    Cut off a quarter of the dough. Rewrap rest, and set aside. Use the heel of your hand to flatten the dough into an oval approximately the same width as your pasta machine, about six inches. Set the rollers to their widest setting and pass the dough through.

  6. Step

    6

    Lay the dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board or countertop and neatly press together into halves, so it’s again about the same width of the pasta machine. Feed the pasta through again at the widest setting. Think of these first rollings as an extended kneading. Continue to fold the dough in thirds and roll it until it is smooth, silky and even-textured. Do your best to make the sheet the full width of the machine.

  7. Step

    7

    Once the dough is silky and smooth, you can begin to roll it out more thinly. Roll it once through each of the next two or three settings, adding flour as needed, until the dough is about ¼-inch thick.

  8. Step

    8

    Once the pasta is about ¼-inch thick, begin rolling it twice through each setting. As you roll, lightly sprinkle all-purpose or 00 flour on both sides of the pasta to prevent it from sticking to itself.

  9. Step

    9

    Roll out pasta until you can just see the outline of your hand when you hold it under a sheet, about 1/16-inch thick for noodles, or 1/32-inch thick for a filled pasta. (On most machines, you won’t make it to the thinnest setting.)

  10. Step

    10

    Cut pasta into sheets, about 12 to 14 inches long. Dust the sheets lightly with semolina flour and stack on one of the prepared baking sheets and cover with a clean, lightly dampened kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

Ratings

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2,065

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Barbara Nivens

We make pasta 2x week on average using this flour mix:
Semolina Durum AP 1:1:2
ie 1c semolina 1c durum 2c ap
We mix 18 lbs at a time using all King Arthur.

Jeff B

Try the David Tannis recipe instead. This one has many steps (and one too many egg yolks), all of which were not completely necessary.

deb in AZ

When I make pasta, I never use all the flour at once because depending on humidity and the size of your eggs, it may be too dry. I normally start with one half to 2/3 of the flour required and mix it in. I then put in a ziploc bag for 15 min or so and it helps to absorb more of the flour. Then take out and knead in a bit more flour. The rest of the flour can be added bit by bit as you are putting the dough through the machine.

V. baccari

I have used 00 flour and it gives a different finer texture. Normally I only use semolina and eggs no salt, oil or anything else. This gives a silky wonderful flavorful dough that is a delight to handle. If it is to wet add a little semolina, if to dry wrap in a wet cloth. I use approx. 4 eggs 2 1/2 cups semolina. Depending on type of egg and local humidity . This will feed 4 people, no leftovers. I roll out to #4 you can go to #5. Knead the dough after resting 100-300 times until silky.

Can this be made ahead of time?

Can this be made a day or two ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until ready to use?

Kjerstin

This seems like a lot of eggs. I've binged enough "Pasta Grannies" on youtube that now I follow the simple nonna recipe of 1 egg per 100 grams of 00 flour. If I'm making eggless semolina pasta, just lukewarm salted water until it comes together and can be kneaded. Works perfect!

Chris Pineview GA

I use Italian 00 flour as IMHO is the best. Then use a scale to simplify the amount of eggs: 60% of the weight of flour gives a neariperfect dough for rolling. I usually start with 55% as the flour moisture varies. Then if 60% seems a little dry and moisture by the tablespoon. Oh 2% salt based on the total weightI had a bakery in my former life so I always weight ingredients

George

I expect this suggestion to be read with surprise. I make fresh pasta with no eggs at all. I use only semolina flour and water. I put 1 1/2 cups of semolina in my food processor and through the top slowly add lukewarm water until the dough forms a ball, adding water or flour very gradually until the consistency is right. After resting in the fridge for a few hours, it runs through the pasta machine like a charm. Use it fresh, or if dried, it keeps indefinitely.

Erin

This was great, although I agree with earlier reviewers that there was not nearly enough liquid in the recipe as written. I added 1 additional Tbsp of olive oil and 1.5 Tbsp of water. I do not have a pasta maker, so kneaded the dough longer before resting (10 minutes) to account for the fact that I would not be running and folding it through the pasta maker. After resting, I then rolled it out in quarters by hand using a rolling pin.

J Paulson

I use a Julia Child one from long ago. It works great. 1 3/4 c flour, 2 eggs in food processor. Mix, then add 2-4 Tablespoons water while pulsing. It doesn’t even need to rest, unless you want it to. Use a pasta machine to make lasagne or fettuccine, etc. Boil 3 minutes or use lasagne without boiling since it bakes in the sauce.

wendy

what is King Arthur?

FRITZ

Eggs aren't uniformly sized. I recently took a pasta class from King Arthur. Their method: 90 g AP flour, 93 g duram flour, two eggs, nothing more. They let moisture from eggs dictate how much flour to stir in from well, only gathering as much flour as the eggs need to form a handle-able dough. Knead to form slightly tacky dough (abt 7-8 min, think silly putty, soft kneaded art eraser), lightly flouring hands & surface as needed. Rest dough 30-45 min, roll out & fill, or dry til firm & cut.

GoddessOfGreens

Great reference for all techniques and variations and flavours are in:Guide to Pasta by Sam Nosrat .....

Bill Fitz

I learned to make pasta w a food processor in a cooking class years ago. The teacher DID teach the manual method, but with the processor, it's super quick and easy. Also, her recipe called for 3 large eggs (no additional yolks). It's always worked for me (except when I accidentally used medium eggs-- big no-no).

Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor

There's not a separate recipe for the whole grain pasta dough. You can make this one into whole grain pasta by swapping in 1 cup sifted whole wheat, spelt or farro flour in place of 1 cup all-purpose or 00 flour. Add more egg yolks or water as needed and rest the dough for 1 hour.

Stephany

Made this exactly as written, and perfect! Easiest pasta dough I've ever worked with, and made the most delicious final product. It did use a lot of egg, but it was great. Thanks Samin!

béchamel

4-5 thickness on the kitchen aid

Joe D.

I used to do 2 large eggs per cup of flour, and texture was never consistent. I then saw this video where 300g of flour and 185g of eggs is used with 1/4th teaspoon of salt. It works like a charm. I sometimes very the whole egg to just the yolk to get to weight, in doesnt seem to make much difference in flavor to me. Try it!

Ally Draizin

This was my first attempt at homemade pasta and it turned out beautifully. I used the OO flour and I ended up adding about 2 tbsp of water to get it to the right texture. It was silky, elastic, and breezed through the pasta roller with almost no added flour.

Matt Pritchard

Great pasta dough. Easy to work with after resting. We used a pasta roller/cutter attachment on our Kitchen Aid mixer and took it up to setting #6, which was probably too thin for fettuccine. This cooked in about 90 seconds in well-salted, boiling water. Next time, we'll stop at #4 or #5 for a slightly thicker noodle and assume we might need a slightly longer cooking time.

diane

Can this be made a day or two ahead of time? thank you

ameliajayne

2 cups 00 flour = 245 g

Mari

Initial kneeling with roller, put it through with open end through, book fold, don’t overlap the foldsShiny but not sticky before thinning and cutting

David B

Need to add more flour if using 00 otherwise it’s too sticky

David B

Nee to increase the amount of flour if using 00 otherwise it’s too sticky

Becca

I always need at least one more yolk but otherwise perfect recipe.

Leanne

Made great no boil lasagna sheets. Very tender. Would use this recipe again

Scale the recipe

Try with 1 medium potato and 16 oz (two smaller) onions. Double the dough.

lisa

As per other comments this has too many eggs. I had to add flour because it was so sticky. And lots of flour to stop it sticking in my machine. It came out ok but i have used the 1 egg per 100g flour ratio and it is better.

Jeffrey Zajac

Works well with 80% whole wheat & 20% all purpose white, been doing that ratio for many years.

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Basic Fresh Pasta Dough Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the formula for fresh pasta dough? ›

1 large egg per cup of flour used, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons of water as needed. That's it, really. Egg, flour, and maybe water. The flour could be all-purpose, whole wheat, semolina, our pasta flour blend, or a combination of these.

How to make basic pasta good? ›

The Easy Secrets to Way Better Pasta
  1. Make sure your cooking water is salty like the sea, and almost as plentiful. ...
  2. Check the package's cooking time, but don't put too much faith in it. ...
  3. Reserve a little pasta water. ...
  4. Never, ever rinse. ...
  5. Finish your pasta in its sauce.
Apr 16, 2017

What is the best flour for fresh pasta? ›

Why is semolina flour good for pasta? Semolina flour is good for pasta because it's a hard variety of wheat and has a high protein content. Both of these properties give more structure to pasta which provides that elusive 'al dente' quality to fresh pastas.

What's the ratio of eggs to flour for pasta? ›

Use one large-size egg for each full serving you want to make, to that add 1 ½ the egg's weight in flour. (You can do this with a simple kitchen scale.) If you don't have a scale, use 2 eggs per 1 cup of flour to make 1 serving. You can make one pound of fresh pasta with 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs.

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