# Fresh Lasagna Noodles



## amber (Jan 14, 2005)

My sister has a great recipe for lasagna but she says the key is the fresh lasagna noodles.  I can't seem to find them here in my town.  Does anyone have a recipe for noodles?  I have a manual pasta maker that I havent used in years.  I've made lasagna noodles once but cant recall how to do it.


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## kitchenelf (Jan 14, 2005)

Hi amber - I moved this to the Pasta Forum - I will go look for a recipe now - I've got one somewhere.


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## amber (Jan 14, 2005)

Sorry Kitchenelf for putting my post in the wrong place, and thanks for moving it here for me.


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## kitchenelf (Jan 14, 2005)

40 lashes with a lasagna noodle if I can ever find the recipe    (absolutely no problem)


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## kitchenelf (Jan 14, 2005)

amber, see if this one is too confusing:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon olive oil or cooking oil
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Method:

In a large mixing bowl stir together the 2 cups flour and the salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

In a small  mixing bowl stir together the eggs, water, and olive oil or cooking oil. Add to the flour mixture and mix well.

Sprinkle kneading surface with the 1/3 cup flour. (Spinach, whole-wheat, and tomato variations may not require the addition of any or all of this flour.) Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead till dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes total). Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into fourths. On a lightly floured surface, roll each fourth into a 12-inch square about 1/16 inch thick. Let stand about 20 minutes, or till slightly dry. Or, if using a pasta machine, pass each fourth of dough through machine, according to manufacturer's directions, till 1/16 inch thick. Shape or stuff as desired, or as directed in recipe.

To dry ribbons, hang pasta from a pasta drying rack or clothes hanger, or toss with flour, shape into loose bundles, and place on a floured baking sheet. Let dry overnight or till completely dry. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days. Or, dry the pasta at least 1 hour. Seal it in a freezer bag or container. Freeze for up to 8 months.

VARIATIONS:  

For Herb Pasta, prepare pasta as directed, except add 1 teaspoon dried basil, marjoram, or sage, crushed, to flour mixture.  For Spinach Pasta, prepare pasta as directed, except decrease the water to 3 tablespoons and add 2 1/2-oz (75 g) very finely chopped cooked spinach, well drained, to the egg mixture. 
For Whole-Wheat Pasta, prepare pasta as directed, except substitute whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.  For Tomato Pasta, prepare pasta as directed, except substitute tomato paste for the water.

Makes 4 Portions Pasta 

The dough can also be made in a food processor, a mixer with a dough hook or even a bread machine. This much dough makes four modest servings. You can make proportionately larger batches, but don’t want to wear yourself out on your first effort. 

Once the dough has been made, cut it into six parts, flatten each section, and begin running them through the widest setting of your pasta machine. Fold each piece in thirds 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 your reach the thickness you desire. We find the next-to-last setting on our machine to be thin enough — the thinnest setting produces sheets of pasta that are hard to cut. After each rolling, lay the dough on clean towels, and don’t let the edges overlap, or they may stick together. 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. 

The only problem you may run into in the entire pasta-making process is trying to cut the dough before it’s sufficiently dry or after it has dried too much. In the first case, the strands stick together, and need a bit more drying. In the second case, it is hard to feed the pasta into the cutting rollers and the edges may crack. If it’s on the dry side, we cut the end with a knife so that it is straight and feeds into the machine more easily. A hint of water may also be necessary to get it started in the cutter, but the best solution is not to let it get too dry. Once the pasta is cut, lay the noodles on the towels until you’re ready to cook them. 

The only consideration in cooking is to remember that fresh pasta cooks much, much faster than dried. As soon as it floats to the top of your boiling water, it’s done.


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## amber (Jan 14, 2005)

Thanks elf,

It's not confusing at all, but man this is truly a labor of love!  I was going to make the lasagna next week sometime after my sister sends me her recipe, but maybe I will practice making the noodles on the weekend and see how it goes.  Thanks again!


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## Audeo (Jan 15, 2005)

For any type of cut pasta that I make, I use a very simple combination of ingredients (thanks to Darkstream) of a ratio of 4 ounces of flour (roughly half a cup) to one large egg and double or triple the amounts to meet the volume of dough I need.  Sometimes you will need to add a small amount of water (I add by 1/2 teaspoon at a time), depending upon the relative humidity when you are making it.  I do all the mixing (which is quick!) in my food processor.

When rolling, flour is your best friend and will prevent sticking.  I use a pastry brush to distribute the flour along the pasta sheets and find that helpful.  I have never waited for the rolled sheets to dry before cutting and don't understand exactly why that would be necessary.  In fact, I would think it would make the cutting more difficult due to a drier sheet.  Anyway,  after kneading using the rolling machine, I take the dough down to a 3 or 4 setting (my machine has 7 settings, 7 being the widest or largest opening and 1 the smallest), then I run the sheets through the lasagne cutters.  Once cut to width, I then lay them on the counter and cut to length with a knife.

One of the best gifts I have received was a flat drying rack made by my son that elevates the rack about 2 inches above the countertop.  I lay my cut pasta on this rack to dry before cooking.  Otherwise, I would lay the noodles on a floured towel and be sure to flip them over so the bottom side would dry also.  And lasagna noodles go straight into the lasagna pan without boiling first.  Works great every time!


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## Darkstream (Jan 15, 2005)

Start HERE.

http://www.discusscooking.com/viewtopic.php?t=3745&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10

You should get it right first time. But you should not need more than three attempts.


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## amber (Jan 15, 2005)

thanks audeo and darkstream.  That link was very helful for me because my instructions for my pasta machine were ruined, so the fact that you discussed the setting numbers and how exactly to pass in through and fold it, was very helpful.  Guess I should have used the search bar first because then I would have found your recipe. 

Darkstream, you said to allow the noodles to dry slightly after cutting, and then to boil them.  Should I bother to boil them if I am making baked lasagna?  I know homemade noodles cook faster than the dried store bought version, so hopefully these wont turn to mush when I bake it.


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## Darkstream (Jan 15, 2005)

Well, you do not have to let them dry after or before cutting, if the consistency of the dough is perfect. Drying them a little sometimes stops tearing when using the cutting rollers for tagliatelle or tonarelle.

But since you are only making lasagna probably no need to dry.

Yes, you should cook them first but they will only take 2 or 3 minutes. Basically, fresh pasta is done when it comes to the top and floats. If in doubt USE YOUR MOUTH to test that it is al dente. 

If you have made it correctly, the finished dish will be light and wholesome in a way you have never experienced with store bought pasta.


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## amber (Jan 16, 2005)

Ok, I tried the lasagna noodle recipe courtesy of darkstream.  First problem I had was finding white durham flour.  What is durham flour?  All I could find was white all purpose, wheat, rye, and bread flour.  I know you suggested using bread flour if I couldnt find durham white.  I used what I always use, all purpose flour.  The dough came out good. The next problem was passing the entire dough ball through the pasta machine.  I noticed in Elfs' recipe it said to quarter the dough ball, and roll out to 12" size then pass through the pasta maker.  I'll give it a try again tomorrow.  Right now I have only 10 lasagna noodles from the two cup flour batch that I made. The other problem was when I got to setting four on the pasta maker, my pasta started to get tiny wholes, even though I added flour here and there to keep it dry, because it seems very wet after around setting two.  I also had to hand mix this dough because I dont have a processor, but as I said the dough came out good.  

I guess I have to play around with the recipes a bit and tweak it.  

It was fun though!  So funny when I had a noodle about 3 feet long! lol


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## amber (Jan 17, 2005)

Success with the lasagna noodles!  Wow what a difference between store bought and homemade.  My sister had given me a tomatoe sauce recipe which sounded good, but it wasnt.  My 13 year old created her own version of lasagna and it was so good.  It was the basic tomatoe sauce that my sister gave me, minus the meat, so instead she added chicken to the sauce, and spinach later when layering it up, plus the ricotta, mozzarella, and herbs, garlic, onion, basil.  Thanks so much for the noodle recipe you guys!  We quartered the dough, then added it to the pasta machine, first on 1 (2 times) and so on up until 4.  We layed them out on paper towels to dry for a few hours, boiled them for about 3 minutes, drained, and layered it up. We only boiled four noodles at a time.  We made a double batch of dough, and had extra noodles, using a 13x9 glass baking dish.


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## Darkstream (Jan 18, 2005)

Practice makes perfect.

If your pasta has liittle holes in it (little tears) then youhave not kneaded it enough. Just pass it slowly through the rollers without forcing until it becomes smooth. Then proceed.

Congratulations! You have now joined an elite group of home pasta makers as a novice. As you get more experienced with the dough, you will be sucessful with much more demanding confections.

And you are not tweaking the recipe. Flours vary, so first of all you have to learn what a proper dough feels like, then you have to get your PARTICULAR flour to behave that way.


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## amber (Jan 19, 2005)

Darkstream said:
			
		

> Practice makes perfect.
> 
> If your pasta has liittle holes in it (little tears) then youhave not kneaded it enough. Just pass it slowly through the rollers without forcing until it becomes smooth. Then proceed.
> 
> ...



Yep, my pasta did have little holes in it the first time I tried it.  Thanks for that tip on kneading it more.  I think your right about not tweaking the recipe, it's more to do with the flour and getting the correct consistency.  The second and third batch of noodles came out great!  My hubby was laughing at me and saying " are we gonna have lasagna every night now".  LOL

Oh and my daughter loves making the noodles with the machine! She loves mac and cheese and was wondering how to make elbow macaroni.  I dont have that type of attachment for my pasta maker.  Mine can make lasagna, spaghetti, ravioli, and fettucine.


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## Darkstream (Jan 22, 2005)

By Elbow Macaroni I presume you are referring to various forms of hollow or tube pasta.

Forget it. You need a pasta extrusion machine for this, and they cost in excess of $10,000 and will occupy one of the rooms in your house.

Various domestic extruders are marketed. I have yet to discover one that actually works. They are to my mind basically a con. See this topic:

http://www.discusscooking.com/viewtopic.php?t=7324

You can in FACT make them by hand, by rolling small diamonds of pasta arround a pencil or narow wooden dowel. I have never bothered with this for obvious reasons, but you are welcome to try.


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