Basic Egg Pasta

To make the pasta dough

Make a well in the flour on a clean, flat surface. Break the eggs into the well and add the milk if you are using it. Working with your fingers, begin incorporating flour into the eggs at the center. You may need to shore up the flour walls as you work, pushing more flour toward the middle, and keeping the eggs from running out.

Before long you'll have a workable dough, which should be kneaded for several minutes. Because of variations in humidity and flour, you may need more or less flour. This will not be the finished smoothness of your final dough, but will have a nice elastic, firm feel.

Once the dough has been made, cut it into 4 parts, flatten each section, and let them rest, covered for 10-15 minutes.

To finish the kneading process and shape the dough

Start with the first section of dough and run it through the widest setting of your pasta machine. Fold each piece in thirds, lengthwise, after each pass through the machine at this setting, and roll them several times, until they are very smooth.

Then set the rollers one notch closer together and roll each strip of dough through them once. Continue to move the rollers closer together and roll the pasta through until you reach the thickness you desire. After each rolling, lay the dough on clean towels, and don't let the edges overlap, or they may stick together.

For pasta cut into noodles

Once you've finished rolling the strips, let them rest on the towels for 10 minutes or so to dry, turning them once or twice. Now you're ready to use the cutting blades of your pasta machine. Run each strip of pasta through the chosen cutting size and hang the noodles over racks to air dry for another 15 minutes or so.

For pasta to be filled

You may begin filling and shaping as soon as your pasta has been rolled to the desired thickness.