How to Make Fresh Pasta

Pour flour onto your work surface and make a well 6 inches wide in the center. Crack eggs into the well. Add salt. Use a fork to beat eggs while slowly incorporating flour from the inner walls of the well. Keep mixing until you have a shaggy mess that looks like scrambled eggs with flour chunks.

Gather the dough with your bench scraper into a rough ball. Knead for 8-10 minutes. Push with your palm heel, fold, rotate 90 degrees, repeat. The dough starts sticky and rough. After 5 minutes it feels smoother. Done when it bounces back slowly after you poke it and looks smooth as a baby's cheek.

Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. Rest 30 minutes at room temperature. The gluten needs time to relax. Skip this and your dough tears when rolling. After resting, the dough feels softer and stretches without springing back.

Cut dough into 4 pieces. Keep 3 wrapped while you work. Flatten one piece into a 1/2-inch thick disk. Dust both sides with flour.

Roll from center outward, rotating dough 90 degrees every few passes. Add flour when it sticks. Roll to 1/16-inch thickness for ravioli or 1/8-inch for fettuccine. Hold the sheet up to light. You should see your hand shadow through it. The dough feels smooth and slightly cool, like leather.

Let sheets dry 5 minutes before cutting. Surface should feel dry but not brittle. For fettuccine, fold sheet in half twice, then cut 1/4-inch strips. Unfold immediately and toss with flour. For ravioli, work quickly before edges dry out.

Cook fresh pasta in 6 quarts boiling salted water. Fettuccine takes 2-3 minutes. Filled ravioli needs 4-5 minutes. Test a piece. It should be tender with a slight firmness in the center. Fresh pasta floats when done and looks slightly translucent.