Fresh Tagliatelle (without a Pasta Machine)

As featured in my Beef Ragu Instructable.

This is great with dishes such as Carbonara, Bolognese Sauce, etc.

Hand-rolling your pasta dough requires a little more stamina than using a pasta machine but it's not impossible...

I've posted both Fresh Egg Pasta Dough Recipe and Eggless Pasta Dough Recipe but any pasta dough recipe should do.

Sprinkle flour onto the work surface, rolling pin and pasta dough.

Run a closed hand along the rolling pin to "evenly distribute" the flour.

Shape the dough into a flattened square (or rectangle) using your hands. As you can see from the photo, mine was "totally square" - oopsy!

With light, even pressure begin rolling out the dough, starting from the centre.

To keep the dough as rectangular as possible, occasionally push it back into place.

The dough usually gets so long that it's needs to dangle off the edge of my work surface in order for me to focus on the other end. (see photo 5)

Continue to roll until you're left with an extremely long and thin sheet of pasta.

You should be able to see your fingers through the dough when it's held up by the back of your hands - to the point where the dough is almost transparent and feels as if it could fall through your fingers any second.

Note though that eggless pasta dough doesn't need to be rolled out quite as thin as egg pasta dough.  Like I mentioned in the video: either way, it'll probably take a few attempts of rolling out and cooking before you master this.

With egg pasta, it's practically impossible to roll out it out too much - or least I never have. Keep pushing the boundaries each time.

It might look thin when raw but will really thicken in all directions.  The thinner it is, the quicker it cooks.  I've gotten the cooking time down to 2 minutes.  If it takes longer than that then you'll know for next time.  Don't lose heart!

Divide the pasta into 2-4 manageable sheets.

Work with one sheet of pasta at a time and lightly dust each with flour (if necessary) to avoid sticking.

Create a middle point by folding the pasta sheet over.

Make a crease in the middle by running your finger along the fold.

Fold each half towards the centre.

Slice off any scraggly ends if you like.

Cut the pasta into even-sized strips - usually upto 1cm or 2/5" thick.

Line them up - this makes for easy unfolding.

Then slide a knife under the front half of the pasta before lifting it up using the blunt side of the blade.

Gently shake to help loosen any unwilling strands.

In the past, I thought the drying out process was only important aesthetically.

I've changed my mind this week - after having skipped this step for the first time in a long while.

After rolling, the pasta dough is still soft.  It tends to twist when transported to the pot and when boiling - meaning it remain so even after cooking.

Not a big deal, as such, unless you're cooking it for a dinner party.  But I've also found it to become gluey too quickly when not air-dried.

Note that this is just based on my experience.

Check out this Incredibly Easy Pasta Drying Rack - hanging the pasta helps it dry quicker.

Boil your pasta in salted water for a few minutes until al dente and then combine with a sauce of your choice.

Thanks for reading!


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Recipe by Leah Hawks
All photos by Tatiana Kovalskaya