There’s just something about making homemade pasta that makes you feel so freakin’ cool! Throw a Pavarotti station on your Pandora and you’ll swear you’ve just taken a gondola ride driven by a young, in-shape, shirtless Italian man that’s making you question that extra scoop of gelato you had after lunch. And the best part is that is super easy and there are only 3 ingredients. Now there’s lots of different ways to make fresh pasta, but the basics are flour, eggs, and salt. Depending on what you’re looking for out of the pasta, those three ingredients can vary quite a bit. So, even though you’ll find about a million different recipes for fresh pasta you need to know a little bit about the pasta you’re trying to make.

We start with flour

The type of flour you use will make a big difference in the texture of your finished pasta. If you want something that will really hold a sauce and give you a hearty bite you can grab some semolina flour. If you would rather something silky smooth with a lighter feel you can pull out the super fine “00” flour. However, the fancy stuff can be a little harder to find- it’s not always in the local super market, but you know what is? Good ol’ tried and true AP (all purpose) flour and there’s nothing wrong with using it.

Then eggs

There are some recipes that call for water… just don’t! Using only eggs will provide you with plenty of moisture and it and it holds together better. Using water will make the noodles pale, dull, and just not as good. Depending on what you want out of your noodles, you can change the breakdown of how many whole eggs and egg yolks you might use. The eggier you want your noodles, the more yolks.

Some salt

Salt makes stuff taste better!

Now make a well

You could use a stand mixer or a food processor or even throw everything into a bowl and mix with a fork, but like pie dough this is all about getting just the right amount of moisture incorporated into the flour- and the well gives you more control. Plus, it just looks cool! If you’re in a more humid climate or based on what time of the year, it can vary what the perfect ratio is. But the beauty of making a well in the flour on your work surface and incorporating the eggs in slowly is that you can keep adding more flour until it feels just right and then stop. Also like pie dough, when it is just right, it might feel a little dry and crackly.

Time for a little elbow grease

To make it look more like a cohesive dough, all you need to do is to knead! It will probably take a solid 10 minutes of pushing the heal of your hand into the middle of the ball in a rocking motion to fully hydrate all the flour and bring it together. Once you work it into a solid ball, cover so it doesn’t dry out and let it rest. The resting will allow it to stretch easier. If you try to roll it out without resting it will shrink right back up, and trust, nobody wants shrinkage…

Let’s roll

A pasta maker/roller makes this much easier. I’ve done it a few times before with a rolling pin but I could never get it thin enough, and after ten or more minutes of kneading my arms were not feeling it. Eventually, my wife, probably tired of both hearing me complain about my arms getting worn-out and noodles that were too thick, got me a hand crank roller. You can find pasta rollers that are super expensive but really they do the same as the less expensive ones. I would definitely recommend at least investing in a less expensive one. They also aid in the cutting of the noodles to give you an even, uniform cut. However, you can still cut the noodles by hand if you don’t have one. The first time I tried this, I used a pizza roller and ended up with the most misshaped noodles you could imagine. Then I found the roll and cut technique-if you take the dough and roll it up by the short end, you can make even cuts and you have control over how wide a noodle you want.

Boil It

Another great thing about making fresh pasta is that it only takes from a minute to 3 to cook depending on how thick the noodles are, so be careful because they are easy to overcook.

I tried to measure out what I used and come up with a recipe. However, if you use this as a guide, feel free to alter the flour or egg to yolk ratio to get it how you like it.

• 2 cups flour + more for dusting surface
• 2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
• A fat pinch of salt

Using a fine sieve, make a mound of flour on your work surface, and make a wide well in the center with tall enough walls to keep from overflowing. Put eggs, yolk, and salt in the center and whisk with a fork, pulling in the flour to incorporate.

Once it roughly comes together, start kneading for about 10 minutes until it completely comes together. Cover in plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes.

Once rested, cut into quarters and work each quarter into a flat oval. Start on the widest setting and run through three times, folding into thirds each time. Then, move the setting thinner and thinner until desire thickness obtained.

Fasten the cutting attachment to your pasta maker. Then, cut the big piece of dough you have formed into 12 inch pieces. Then, run each piece through cutting attachment. Make sure they are floured well so they don’t stick together. To cook, place in boiling water for 2 minutes.