Fresh egg pasta dough
Homemade pasta is one of the clearest places to see what a fresh egg actually does. The dough is golden, not from food coloring, but from the yolk. A deep orange yolk from a pasture-raised hen produces pasta with color and flavor you won't get from a store egg.
This is a basic egg pasta dough. It works for tagliatelle, pappardelle, or lasagna sheets.
What you need
- 2 cups (250g) 00 flour or all-purpose flour
- 3 fresh eggs
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Pinch of salt
How to make it
- Mound the flour on a clean surface or in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
- Crack eggs into the well. Add olive oil and salt.
- Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually pulling in flour from the inside edge of the well.
- When it becomes too thick to use a fork, switch to your hands. Knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough should not be sticky.
- Wrap in plastic and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Divide into 4 pieces. Roll each piece through a pasta machine starting at the widest setting, working down to setting 5 or 6. Or roll thin by hand with a rolling pin.
- Dust with flour and cut into tagliatelle, roughly 1/4 inch wide strips.
- Cook fresh in salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
What the egg does
The yolk is what gives fresh pasta its color and its richness. A pale store-bought yolk produces pale, mild pasta. A deep orange yolk from a hen that spends time outdoors eating a varied diet produces pasta that is visibly golden and noticeably richer.
This is one recipe where the ingredient quality is the technique. There is nothing you can do with your hands that compensates for a dull egg.
Read more about why our eggs are different.
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