Making your own pasta is not difficult. In fact, it is very easy.
But you might be wondering why you would make your own pasta, when you can buy it prepackaged and ready to cook.
Well, one of the reasons is that by making your own, you eat fresh pasta. There is a difference in taste and texture between fresh pasta and prepackaged pasta.
But there’s another reason: if you make your own pasta, you may want to use nutritious ingredients, making sure your pasta not only tastes good, but is also low-fat and generally good for you.
For example, you may want to make your own low-fat pasta with unrefined flour, making sure your pasta is rich in fiber and B vitamins.
Finally, learning how to make your own basic pasta dough is the first skill to make other types of pasta dishes (more advanced?) Like lasagna, raviolli, tortellini, and that sort of thing.
It is not such a difficult thing to do and it can be a fun process.
You see, you normally make pasta with refined wheat flour, eggs, and salt.
But if you want low-fat pasta, you should use water instead of eggs, and you should leave out the salt.
This recipe makes about 750g of low-fat pasta (about 1.5 pounds) and takes about 50 minutes to prepare.
To make your own low-fat basic pasta you need:
* 1 pound (500 g) strong whole wheat flour
* 275 ml (a little more than a cup) of water.
This is what you do:
First, put the flour in a large mixing bowl and poke a well in the middle (like a volcano, something like that).
Then pour in the water and mix with a knife until the dough comes together.
After that, start mixing with your hands and knead until all the flour is evenly incorporated into the dough.
Move the dough to a kitchen bench and knead it for about 10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Next, put the dough in a plastic bag (zip lock) and leave it there for about 30 minutes.
Next, take a quarter of the dough and roll it out by hand on a lightly floured surface. Roll it up very thin. Let it sit and dry before using it.
Freeze what you don’t use. It will stay in good condition for up to 3 months.
You can use this basic low-fat pasta to make many of my delicious recipes.
Enjoy your meal!
