Egg Noodles

We have recently discovered the delight of fresh noodles. Much like bread is far is easier to make than one imagines, so too are fresh noodles. This is my go-to recipe, courtesy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I love that cookbook.

Traditional Egg Pasta Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1 tsp. salt

3 eggs

A few drops of water

Note: I take the easy way and use the food processor, but you can certainly do it by hand.

Combine flour and salt in the container and pulse once or twice. Add the eggs all at once, and turn the machine on. Process just until a ball begins to form, about 30 seconds. Add a few drops of water if the dough is dry and grainy; add a tablespoon of flour if dough sticks to the side of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a dry, lightly-floured work surface and knead until it is smooth, just a minute or two. Add water by the half-teaspoonful if the mixture is dry; add flour if it is sticky. This should be an easy dough to work. Cut the dough into 6 pieces; wrap 5 pieces in plastic.

Roll out with a manual-pasta rolling machine like this:

Cook in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Your fettucine alfredo will never taste the same again.

Notes from my mistakes:

I usually mix the ingredients in the processor and finish it by hand. If it doesn't ball up in the processor, it's OK. Turn it out on your work surface, and knead it by hand for a minute or two and it will smooth out and come together.

Wrapping the dough in plastic wrap is key. It can dry out very quickly, and becomes really difficult to work with.

Experiment with the settings on your machine. We usually end up with the final roll between a 6 and a 7.

After I've rolled it in the machine, I usually lay the strips onto a cooling rack while I roll out the rest. One of these days we'll make of these: