Sal's Pasta Dough

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 whole eggs (+ 1 whole egg, lightly beaten for egg wash)
  • pinch each of salt & pepper
  • 3 tsp olive oil (+ 1 tbsp added when cooking)
  • a few tbsp water (if needed)

Optional Ingredients

  • additions to dough depending on filling: nutmeg, truffle oil, saffron or spinach puree

Special Equipment

  • plastic wrap
  • pasta maker or rolling pin
  • ravioli cutter

How-to

Prepare Dough

  1. Mound flour on flat, clean work surface
  2. Create a well in the middle of the mound. Add eggs, drizzle oil, season with salt & pepper
  3. With a fork, start to whisk wet ingredients together & slowly incorporate flour into wet well
  4. When the mixture starts to look clumpy, gather into ball and start to work with your hands, kneading remaining flour into a dough ball. If dough is too dry to incorporate all of the flour, add 1-2 tbsp water to moisten
  5. Optional: If flavoring dough to accentuate filling ingredients, add now (nutmeg, saffron, truffle oil, etc)
  6. Knead 10-15 minutes, or until dough is smooth
  7. Cover with plastic and rest 1 hour in the refrigerator before use

To Make Ravioli

  1. To create ravioli, divide dough into 4 pieces to work with a little at a time
  2. Put dough through pasta maker, and roll to a 1/16" thick rectangle. (You may also use a rolling pin if you do not have a pasta maker and be sure to dust work surface with flour)

Add Filling

  1. Mound 2 tbsp filling along 2 pieces of rolled dough, spaced 2" apart. Brush egg wash around mounds of filling
  2. Lay second piece of dough atop, use sides of palms to press along edges to form seal
  3. Use pasta roller or knife to cut into ravioli squares. If pasta roller is used, the edges will be crimped. If using a knife, take a fork to crimp the edges

To Cook the Ravioli

  1. Drop into boiling, salted water (with 1 tbsp olive oil added to prevent sticking), and boil 2-3 minutes
  2. Transfer into serving sauce of choice and cook another 2-3 minutes