Whole Wheat Pasta
Erica Lea on Nov 17th 2008
A couple Saturdays back, Mom decided to serve Hungarian Meatball Stew for our Sunday dinner. Then we discovered we didn’t have near enough pasta.
Oh well.
Amanda & I whipped up a batch of fresh pasta and spent Saturday afternoon rolling and cutting fettucini. We used every drying rack we could find. When those ran out we used oven racks. After we had used every available space, I coiled the pasta. I wouldn’t recommend this. The noodles stuck together. However, when you make 3 pounds of pasta to serve 17 people, things can get a little desperate. 
Here’s the recipe I use every time to make pasta. You can cut it into any shape you wish.
:: Whole Wheat Pasta ::
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Pasta
Ingredients:
- 2 1/3 cups traditional (12 5/8 oz) or white (11 5/8 oz) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
DIrections:
Hand Method
- In a large bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine eggs, water and olive oil. Add the flour mixture and mix well.
- Sprinkle the kneading surface with remaining 1/3 cup flour. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide dough into fourths. On a lightly floured surface roll each third of dough into a 1/16 inch thick square about 12×12 inches. Cut as desired. Or follow the manufacturer’s instructions for using a pasta machine to roll and cut the dough.
Mixer method
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center.
- In a small bowl, combine the eggs, water and olive oil. Add to the flour mixture. With the dough hook, mix until well combined.
- With the mixer running, add the remaining flour. With the mixer on low, knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide dough into fourths. On a lightly floured surface roll each third of dough into a 1/16 inch thick square about 12×12 inches. Cut as desired. Or follow the manufacturer’s instructions for using a pasta machine to roll and cut the dough.
Your can use this pasta immediately, or dry on racks for later use. It should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer, as there are raw eggs in the dough.
Makes about 1 pound of fresh pasta.
I have never made my own pasta, but this sounds simple enough. Maybe I will give it a try tonight. Thanks for the tip!
I would love to make my own pasta, I just need a pasta machine roller thing…. I am going to save this recipe for when I get one
This looks amazingly simple! Thanks for sharing.
wow! i’ve never had the desire to make my own pasta because it always seemed so hard and time consuming. but you make it look not so bad after all! thanks!
kristen
http://puregredients.wordpress.com
I’ll have to try this with whole wheat…it looks great!
And I figured out a good way to dry the pasta:
Wash some plastic hangers. Hang them on the knob of an upper cabinet, and then hang your pasta over the bar of the hanger. You can keep adding hangers and pasta if you need the room.
Gwen: Good idea! I’ll try to remember to give it a try next time we make pasta.
When using your recipe and pasta is completed….. How long does it take to cook the “fresh” not dried pasta to al dente’ ??
Also: Once pasta is dried…how long does the dried pasta cook til al dente’ ??
The reason I ask:
I’ve made homemade pasta before, was pleased with it until I cooked it, came out mushy after only 3 mins. I tried drying the remaining pasta & cooked it later, it was also mushy.
Also noticed that with different recipes the cooking times vary a lot e.g. 3-10 mins.
mamalv: Good question! According to Better Homes and Gardens Pasta (the book I based my recipe on) there are different cooking times for different types of pasta:
Fettuccine - 1 1/2-2 minutes
Lasagna - 2-3 minutes
Noodles - 1 1/2-2 minutes
The book does not give cooking times for dried pasta, but I would assume it would not be much longer than for fresh pasta. My advice would be to experiment and cook it according to your personal taste. Hope this helps.
Hi,
Just a short note that you have been nominated to Inspiring Food Photography Poll:
http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=4314
Have a nice day, Margot
Looks so great,thanks for sharing this recipe …
hugs and smiles
I too make my own pasta. I bought the drying racks that spiral out. I love them! There is no pasta as good as homemade with wheat! I also found that I don’t need near as much of the wheat pasta, as it is more filling.
[...] I whipped out the recipe I got from Erica Lea’s blog, Cooking for Seven, and proceeded to dig out the whole wheat flour, [...]
Thanks for sharing your recipe Erica! I made this last week, and it was as easy as making the regular pasta. It was harder than the all-purpose flour when you have to roll it out by hand!
Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Erica,
This is my first time on your blog… This looks really good. Can you please tell me which pasta maker you use and if you like it or not? If you were to buy another pasta maker would it be this machine?
I am planning on buying one but have no idea which ones might be good…
Thanks, Shefalika