How to Make Fresh Pasta

Over a pastry board, make a flour mound. Use your finger to gently move the flour and create a well, or 'fontana' in Italian, in the middle of the mound. Crack the eggs into the well. Whisk the eggs with a fork, gradually incorporating the flour little by little. Be careful to keep the 'walls' of the flour mound intact to prevent the eggs from spilling. If the eggs spill, quickly use the fork or your hands to pull the mixture back into the well.

Knead the dough vigorously with your hands for at least 10 minutes. If the dough is too dry, wet your hands with a few drops of water and continue kneading until the dough forms a loose ball. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, cut a piece of dough. Wrap the remaining dough to prevent it from drying out.

Use a rolling pin to flatten the first piece of dough into an oval disk. Sprinkle the disk with flour. Set your pasta machine to the widest setting (0 - 1) and run the oval disk through the pasta machine's rollers.

Fold the two edges of the dough towards the center. Sprinkle the folded dough with a little more flour. Run the dough through the pasta rollers again, keeping the widest setting.

Keep running the dough through the machine's rollers, adjusting the gear settings each time. Usually, 0 or 1 are the widest settings, while 8 - 9 are the tightest. Roll the disc of dough once for each gear setting until you reach the desired thickness. Place the pasta sheet on the side and sprinkle it with some flour. Repeat this rolling process for each piece of dough until you've used all the dough.

If you want to make tagliatelle or fettuccine, attach the cutter to the pasta machine. Sprinkle the pasta sheet with flour to prevent it from sticking to the cutter. Roll the pasta sheet through the cutter attachment. It's recommended to let the tagliatelle dry without folding them. If you don't have a drying rack, lay the tagliatelle on a kitchen towel sprinkled with flour.

Cook the tagliatelle in boiling water for 2 minutes.