No Eggs For You! Eggless Pasta

So, I am getting ready for our Annual Italian Pasta Night dinner, in this last week of Summer, and thought I would try some eggless pasta for my son who is vegan.  I have made pasta before, just not eggless pasta.  I played around with a few ingredients and came up with this recipe.  It is a lot of work, but is so worth the time to make it.  I stood for two hours in the kitchen, kneading, rolling and cranking the dough out, then drying it and making little individual bird nests out of them for portion control.  But really, who portion sizes pasta!, only him.  It was pretty easy, except for the standing part, ooohhh, my aching back!

Recipe below.

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So I started with a few ingredients and olive oil.  

Here is a neat little trick - I use shelf liner under my cutting board so it stays in place when kneading.  I cut a piece the same size as the board.

 The shelf liner keeps the board steady.

 My hand cranked pasta machine and my wood pasta drying rack.

 I used Bob's Red Mill Semolina flour and Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour.

 The semolina looks like fine ground cornmeal, but it's not.  Dump both flours in a bowl....

 and I whisk them together to combine them.

 When they are combined pour onto the cutting board in a mound.

 Make a well in the center, and start adding little bits of water and fold it in, follow the directions in the recipe carefully.

 It will start to get stringy, just keep adding the water.....

 Until you get this nice smooth ball.  

 Now, I made fettuccine with my dough.  I started out at No. 1 on the pasta machine, and I only went to No. 6 and stopped, 7 is the last number on my knob.  I didn't want my fettuccine paper thin.

  Dust with flour as you roll, so the dough doesn't stick together  You will have a long thin piece of dough when you roll it through on No 6.  I cut mine in half, to make it easier to work with, when rolling it through to cut into shape.

 Cranking it through the machine, and nice perfect strands of fettuccine.

 Drying on the rack.

I made bird nests for portion sizes.  All in all, homemade is always the best!

Homemade Eggless Pasta Dough

Ingredients

2 cups Semolina flour

2 cups Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water (may or may not use all of the water)

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the semolina flour and white whole wheat flour together with a whisk. Mound the flour in the center of a large cutting board (or flat surface).  Make a well in the center, start adding water, about a tablespoon at a time, stirring the flour in with your index finger as you go.  The dough will start to become stringy and messy, but try to maintain the shape of the mound and keep mixing in water and pulling the flour up into it.  You may or may not use all the water. Once it starts to form a ball, add the olive oil in and start kneading with the palms of your hands. Take the dough off the board and clean off any scraps of dough. Put the dough back on the board and knead (about 2-3 minutes) until it is smooth and flexible, but not sticky, add small amounts of flour if you need to. Gather into a ball and flatten into a disk.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.

Cut the dough into 6 pieces.  Keep the extra dough you are not working with, covered in plastic wrap. Flatten the piece of dough you will be working with into a rectangle shape, so it fits in the machine. Dust dough with flour, as well as the pasta machine rollers.  Start out at the widest setting (usually #1 on the machine knob) roll the dough through with one hand and catch it with the other.  Fold the dough in thirds and send it through two more times, folding in thirds each time. Continue to roll the pasta through the machine without folding, adjusting the rollers to the next setting, each time you pass it through to reach your desired thickness.  If the sheets become too big, you can cut them in half, before passing them through the pasta cutting side of the machine, to form your favorite pasta shape.  Drape the pasta strands over the drying rack to dry out a little bit, before you fold it to store it (see NOTE).  If you do not have a rack, dust a baking sheet with flour and lay it out on the baking sheet. This pasta can also be hand cut for lasagna sheets or made into ravioli.  Cook as desired, and top with your favorite sauce or sauces.  This makes 8-10 servings of fresh pasta.

NOTE:  I fold single servings of the pasta around my hand to make bird nests. Line a reseable plastic bag with parchment paper and lay the nests out in a single row, put another piece of parchment on top of the row and make another single row of pasta on top of the paper. Lightly squeeze out any air as you seal the bag.  Put in the refrigerator if you are going to use right away or freeze.  This pasta does freeze well.

A Lotta Pasta

Next up on our Italian Feast Dinner was the pasta making, and a lot of it, nine big trays to be exact.  A lot of hard work in hand cranking a pasta machine, but it builds muscle and character as my mother would say.  My girls did a fabulous job, it tasted delicious!  Homemade is always better, the ingredients are fresh, so you know what you are getting, and there is no comparison to boxed pasta in flavor or texture.  To sum it up -  homemade pasta ROCKS!  If you do not have a pasta machine DO NOT let this keep you from making homemade pasta, checkout my note at the end of the Homemade Pasta recipe below.

Mixing the pasta dough

 Forming the ball

 The hand cranked pasta machine, and the fun begins rolling it out.

 The fettuccine and the spaghetti

 A lotta pasta and it was so worth the pain!

Homemade Fresh Pasta 

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of all purpose unbleached white flour, plus more for dusting (we used King Arthur)
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, may need more depending on your dough.

Directions
On a flat surface, combine flour and salt.  Make a well in the center of the mound and add the eggs and oil. use your fingers or a fork to blend the eggs into the flour  mixture, stirring the flour from the sides and working towards the outside of the well.  When the dough is mixed, dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic but not sticky (add flour as you need to) about 5 to 10 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes or up to 1 hour at room temperature.  The dough can also be refrigerated until ready to use.  Take it out about 30 minutes before you are ready to roll it.

Secure your pasta machine to a flat surface.  Set out a pasta drying rack or baking sheets lined with waxed paper and dusted with flour.  Using a scraper or a sharp knife, cut dough into thirds.  Keep the extra dough covered, so it does not dry out.  Flatten the first piece of dough into a rectangle, so it will fit into the machine. Set the rollers at the widest or the lowest number setting, usually 0 on the machine.  Roll the dough through, fold the dough in half, turn it to the opposite end and run it through again on the same setting.  Continue rolling the dough through machine, not folding it, to get through all the settings on the machine, adjusting the rollers until the desired thickness is reached.  If the dough becomes to hard to handle because of the length, cut it in half and continue to roll through the settings.

When your sheet of pasta is rolled to your desired thickness, cut your pasta sheet into the desired shapes and sizes by running it through the shape rollers on your machine.  Toss with flour and hang to dry on rack, or toss with the flour and place on the baking sheets.  The pasta can be cooked immediately or refrigerated for up to an hour before use.

Heat a large pot of salted water on high heat until boiling.  Add the pasta and stir immediately to keep pasta from sticking together.  Cook for 3 - 5 minutes.  Drain in a colander and serve with your favorite sauces.
Makes 4 servings

NOTE:  If you do not have a pasta machine, this dough can be hand rolled with a rolling pin and cut into shape with a sharp knife.