Rolling fresh pasta is simple using a pasta machine. For guidance on how to purchase and care for a pasta machine, see the guide here. Pasta is best made using a wooden surface. If this is not possible, place a piece of linen over the work surface and clip it to the table.

1. Set up your pasta machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions and set it to the widest setting.  Cut the prepared pasta into four equal pieces.  Keep the other three pieces wrapped in cling film and set aside.

2. Flatten the dough into an even rectangle. The width should be 2 cm less than that of the pasta machine.

3. Take the flattened piece of pasta and roll it through the widest setting.

4. Fold the pasta into thirds. 

5. Turn the pasta 90 degrees. 

6. Roll the pasta again through the widest setting.

7. Fold the pasta into thirds again and rotate 90 degrees. Roll the pasta again.

8. Turn the pasta machine setting down one more to the next setting and repeat steps 3 through 6: folding, rotating and rolling three more times. Cut the pasta in half and roll it through the next setting twice without folding it over.

9. Keep the pasta you are not working with on a lightly floured work surface so it doesn’t stick with another damp towel over it so it doesn’t dry out. Repeat with the other half. Keep repeating until you have rolled both sheets through the required width in the recipe. Ensure that you keep the pasta sheets you are not currently working with under a damp towel and on a lightly floured surface.

 

Any extra dough can be rolled, cut and placed on floured trays to dry for up to 4 days (when humidity is low). There will be some discolouration but this is fine. Otherwise, the pasta can be frozen. Extra pieces of pasta can be saved and grated on a coarse grater into soups or cooked and served with grated pecorino cheese and freshly grated black pepper or with carbonara sauce. Misshapen cuts of pasta can be saved and served as is (called maltagliati).

If making filled pasta, any extras can be frozen on a tray in the freezer for an hour before being added to a freezer bag. Otherwise they can be parboiled for 1 minute, drained and then frozen on trays for an hour before being added to a freezer bag.