light whole wheat pasta
Making fresh pasta at home might sound like a daunting task. It did to me, especially after trying unsuccessfully to do so a couple of times. It turns out that the right recipe and tools are an essential part of making pasta.
In order to make your own pasta – whether fettucini, spaghetti, ravioli and so on – you will need some sort of pasta rolling/cutting device. I have a KitchenAid mixer and received a set of pasta attachments this past Christmas. This is admittedly an expensive road to take. This mixer itself was upwards of three hundred dollars and the set of three attachments (roller, fettucini, cutter, spaghetti cutter) was two hundred. It is by no means necessary to go this route. Table mounted versions are available for a fraction of the price. The KitchenAid (and similar products) relieve you of some of the work in that you do not have to manually crank the roller/cutter. This is a luxury more than it is a necessity.
This recipe it for a 60% whole wheat pasta dough which can then be cut into whatever shape or style you need for the recipe of the day. Once prepared the noodles will freeze well after having been allowed to dry for about an hour. Drying slightly before freezing reduces noodles sticking together.
The list of ingredients is separated into two sections. The first are the ingredients you will definitely need and the second are ingredients you might need to add to achieve a workable consistency. Pasta dough is not like a pastry dough. You do not have to fuss over it or worry too much about the ratio of ingredients. Depending on the flour you use and how dry it is or how hearty your whole wheat is, you may find that after combining the first set of ingredients you’ve got a dough you can’t work with. You may then need to add more flour, another egg or more water. The goal is to achieve a dough you can roll into a log and cut into smaller sections to put through your pasta machine.
Suggestions:
Try these noodles with little light’s original recipe fettucini with salmon and petite peas.
Spend an afternoon making several types of pasta to freeze and have on hand for busy weeknights. One Saturday afternoon can set you up for several easy, healthy and delicious future dinners.
ingredients
2.5 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
flour
eggs
water
instructions
~ Sift both flours into a mixing bowl. Add eggs, water and salt. Mix with beater (or by hand) for only as long as it takes to combine.
~Assess dough and decide if it requires any additional ingredients to achieve desired consistency. Again, you want to be able to form the dough into a log which holds together but is not overly sticky.
~Once you are satisfied with your dough, knead for 2-3 minutes either by hand or with dough hook on mixer. If using a dough hook knead for an additional 1-2 minutes afterward.
~ Form dough into log shape and cut into 10 pieces before processing according to the instructions of your pasta roller/cutter.
Cook fettucini noodles in boiling water for 2-4 minutes. For al dente noodles 2 minutes is probably long enough but this will depend on how thick you made your noodles. We roll ours up to roller setting 7 which is slightly thinner than commercial fettucini and we prefer it cooked for 2 minutes.
pasta dough after rolling
fettucini noodles after cutting
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Delicious
yum! slightly different from the pasta I’ve ever made. I use just flour, eggs and salt – roll out flat like you would for cinnamon buns. flour the entire top of the sheet of pasta generously, then roll up again like cinnamon rolls, and slice as thin as possible with a sharp knife. then we shake the flour out, and either boil in water – or my preference, in broth for a quick chicken soup. The noodles might take slightly longer to cook, but not by much and are more rustic looking. but sooo delicious! I want a pasta attachment for my kitchen aid so bad!