Pasta Dough

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Anthony Ploof – Director of Cook Academy at the Essex

Ingredients
2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 large eggs (another egg can be added if dough is dry)
2-3 large yolks
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation
In a large bowl, add 2 cups of the flour and sea salt, mix to distribute salt evenly. Create a well in the center, pushing the flour out to the side to make a 1-inch-wide ring. Make sure that the well is wide enough to hold all the eggs without spilling.

Crack 3 whole eggs and 2 yolks in separate bowl. Use a fork to break up the eggs.

Pour the beaten eggs and oil into the well. Using your fingers begin turning the eggs in a circular motion, keeping them within the well and not allowing them to spill over the sides. Keep moving the eggs while slowly incorporating the flour. The mixture will thicken and eventually get too tight to keep turning with your fingers. 

If the dough is extremely dry and crumbly the additional egg yolk can be added now.

When the mixture begins thickening and starts forming a dough, bring the dough together with the palms of your hands and form it into a ball.

Take the dough out of the bowl and, using a clean work surface, knead the dough for 10-15 minutes by pressing it, bit by bit, in a forward motion with the heels of your hands rather than folding it over on itself as you would with a bread dough.  The dough is ready when you can pull your finger through it and the dough wants to snap back into place; you cannot over knead this dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to ensure that it does not dry out.  Let rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour before rolling it through a pasta machine.