This golden, egg-rich fresh pasta is wonderfully tender thanks to the combination of sunny-colored durum flour and soft pastry flour. Combine it with your favorite sauce, or simply serve it with butter or olive oil and a scattering of fresh herbs; it’s that tasty all on its own! Our thanks to Master Baker Jeffrey Hamelman, former head of the King Arthur Bakery, for this recipe.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a clean work surface.
Make a well in the center of the mixture, and crack the eggs into the well. Start whisking the eggs, gradually drawing the flour mixture in from the sides. As the eggs and flour gradually form a sticky dough, use a bench knife or bowl scraper to free any stuck-on bits from the work surface.
Keep mixing everything together until you’ve made a firm dough. If the dough doesn’t come together in a cohesive mass add the cold water, working it in 1 tablespoon at a time.
Knead the dough for a couple of minutes to smooth it out. Place it into a plastic bag or airtight container and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces, each about 170g to 175g. You’ll be working with one piece of dough at a time, so set the other three pieces aside and cover them with plastic wrap or a reusable cover.
Roll the dough through a pasta machine on the largest setting once. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter (this helps it become a rectangular shape initially) before rolling it a second time on the largest setting. If the dough is too sticky to roll cleanly, dust it with flour; but use as little flour as possible (none is best). Note: For rolling dough without a machine see “tips,” below.
Adjust the pasta machine to the next increment and pass the dough through, then fold it in thirds and roll it a second time.
Continue adjusting the setting and rolling the dough through the machine until you’ve used setting #7 on a standard pasta roller (0.8 mm thick).
If the pasta seems dry and easy to work with, you can cut it right away. If it seems at all sticky, hang the sheets on a rack for 10 to 20 minutes; you want it to develop a slight surface skin, but not dry out completely. If the dough still feels sticky, flour the front and back lightly before cutting into the shapes of your choice.
Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
After cutting, let the strands hang on a rack or flour them and coil them up into nests.
To cook the pasta, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it still has a slight bite (al dente); start checking it after 4 minutes of boiling. Drain the pasta and serve immediately with your sauce of choice.
Store any extra uncooked pasta in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month. Frozen pasta can go directly into boiling water, adding several minutes to the cook time.
To use Pasta Flour Blend: Replace the Durum Flour and Pastry Flour Blend with 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (453g) Pasta Flour Blend. Mix, roll, and cook the pasta as directed.
No pasta machine? You can still make great pasta, though it will be a more labor-intensive process. Follow the steps above using a rolling pin instead of a pasta machine, gradually working the pasta from thick to thin and incorporating letter folds regularly. Make sure the dough is of an even thickness each time you make a fold. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes if it starts to snap back.
To flavor pasta, omit one egg for each 50g of puréed add-in (e.g., cooked spinach or butternut squash, roasted red peppers). To flavor with dried mushrooms, pulverize mushrooms in a spice mill and whisk together with the flours, salt, and pepper before adding the eggs.
Join master baker Jeffrey Hamelman as he demonstrates how to make Golden Durum Pasta from start to finish. Watch Episode 6 of the Isolation Baking Show now.
