Fresh pasta dough is made from flour and eggs in roughly a 1-to-1 ratio by weight — about 100 grams of flour per egg — kneaded, rested for 30 minutes, then rolled thin and cut or filled before boiling for just a few minutes. The flour choice (00, all-purpose, or a semolina blend) and salted boiling water both affect the final texture.
Fresh pasta is traditionally made from just three ingredients: flour, eggs, and a pinch of salt. The classic Italian proportion is one egg per 100 grams of flour, according to the Italian cooking site Recipes from Italy, which uses 4 medium eggs (65–70 grams each) with 400 grams of total flour as a working example of that ratio.
Choosing the flour
Italians traditionally make egg pasta with "00" flour, a finely milled white flour with a texture compared to talcum powder and a protein content similar to all-purpose flour, according to America's Test Kitchen. The outlet notes this flour is highly workable and produces uniform results, and says unbleached all-purpose flour — such as Gold Medal Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, which it describes as having a moderate protein content, or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour — can be used as a substitute.
For extra bite, many home cooks blend in semolina, a coarser, higher-protein flour milled from durum wheat. Recipes from Italy's version uses equal parts 00 and semolina (200 grams each), saying the combination balances elasticity with chew. America's Test Kitchen warns against using bleached all-purpose flour, saying the bleaching process weakens the proteins and can cause the starches to burst during boiling, leaving pasta with a pitted surface; it also advises using finely ground semolina rather than coarse semolina for pasta dough.
Mixing and kneading the dough
Mound the flour on a clean work surface and push a well into the center.
Crack the eggs into the well with a pinch of salt and whisk them with a fork, gradually pulling in flour from the inner edges of the well.
Once roughly half the flour is incorporated, switch to kneading by hand, working in the remaining flour.
Knead for about 10 minutes by hand until the dough is smooth and springs back when pressed, per Recipes from Italy; using a stand mixer with a dough hook cuts this to 5–6 minutes on low speed, followed by about one minute of hand kneading.
If the dough feels too dry and stiff, add a few drops of water; if it is too soft and sticky, work in a little more flour.
Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling.
Rolling and cutting shapes
After resting, the dough is rolled out — by hand with a rolling pin or, more commonly, by passing it through a pasta machine starting at the widest setting and folding the dough between passes to build gluten strength, Recipes from Italy explains. The sheet is progressively rolled thinner, typically down to around 1 millimeter for most cut shapes.
Common fresh pasta shapes and typical cut widths
Shape
Typical width
Tagliolini
1–2 mm
Fettuccine
3–5 mm
Tagliatelle
6–10 mm
Pappardelle
1–3 cm
Those width ranges come from Recipes from Italy's guide to classic Italian cuts. Sheets are dusted with semolina as needed to keep them from sticking while rolling and cutting.
Making filled pasta (ravioli)
For ravioli, King Arthur Baking describes rolling the dough thinner than for cut noodles — to about 0.6 millimeters, roughly setting 8 on a home pasta machine — and cutting it into strips about 4¾ inches wide. The filling is dolloped in tablespoon portions spaced about 1 inch apart, starting half an inch from the edges of the sheet.
A thin brush of plain water along the dough around each mound of filling acts as glue once the sheet is folded over, King Arthur notes. Before sealing, air pockets between the filling mounds should be pressed out, working from the center of the sheet outward, to prevent the ravioli from bursting during cooking.
Cooking fresh pasta
Fresh pasta cooks far faster than dried: Recipes from Italy puts cooking time for cut shapes such as tagliatelle or fettuccine at 3 to 6 minutes once dropped into boiling, salted water, compared with the longer times required for dried pasta. Frozen fresh pasta can go directly into the pot without thawing and needs 5–6 minutes, the site adds.
On salting the water, America's Test Kitchen recommends 1 tablespoon of table salt per 4 quarts of water for each pound of pasta, explaining that the purpose is to season the pasta itself as it cooks. The outlet's own testing found that very little of that salt actually ends up in the finished pasta — about one-quarter teaspoon of sodium per pound — meaning the seasoning effect works even though the pasta absorbs only a small fraction of the salt in the pot.
Filled pasta needs slightly longer: King Arthur Baking says fresh ravioli should boil for 6 to 8 minutes, with individual pieces flipped every couple of minutes, while ravioli cooked straight from frozen may need a couple of minutes more.
The bleach will weaken the proteins in the dough.
— America's Test Kitchen, on why bleached all-purpose flour is not recommended for pasta dough
Questions
What is the basic ratio for fresh pasta dough?
The classic Italian ratio is one egg per 100 grams of flour, according to Recipes from Italy, which illustrates this with 4 medium eggs and 400 grams of flour.
Should I use 00 flour or all-purpose flour for pasta?
00 flour is the traditional Italian choice because it is finely milled, with a protein content similar to all-purpose flour, giving a workable, uniform dough, per America's Test Kitchen. The outlet says unbleached all-purpose flour is a suitable substitute, but warns against bleached flour, which weakens the dough's proteins.
How long should fresh pasta dough rest before rolling?
Recipes from Italy recommends wrapping the dough and letting it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling it out.
How long does fresh pasta take to cook?
Cut fresh pasta shapes typically cook in 3 to 6 minutes in boiling salted water, according to Recipes from Italy, while King Arthur Baking says fresh ravioli needs 6 to 8 minutes, flipped periodically.
How much salt should go in pasta cooking water?
America's Test Kitchen recommends 1 tablespoon of table salt per 4 quarts of water for every pound of pasta.
How the world is telling it
ItalianRecipes from Italy frames fresh pasta making as a regional craft tradition, emphasizing the well-mixing method by hand and precise egg-to-flour ratios as markers of authenticity.
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