Home-made Eggless Pasta (Pasta Senza Uova)

Ingredients:

420g durum wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
250ml warm water

Method:

Pour the flour onto a work surface (try and make a mound). Form a well in the centre (this should look like the crater of a volcano). Sprinkle over the salt then pour in the olive oil and water into the well. When done, begin to incorporate the flour, a little at a time, using your fingers. This is done by drawing in more flour from the inside wall of the well (but be careful you do not break the sides of the well).

Once all the flour and water have been combined, shape the dough into a ball then knead for between 8 and 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic (if you are rolling by hand, then knead the dough for a further 8 minutes, 18 minutes in total). Wrap this dough in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and refrigerate for 1 hour.

When chilled, unwrap the dough then dust with a little flour if it's sticky. Turn out onto a floured work surface then use your hands to press out. Dust with a little more flour then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 30cm in diameter.

Cut the resultant dough into thirds. Taking one piece at a time, roll out with a rolling pin. You can now either continue rolling with a rolling pin until a few millimetres thick, or roll out the dough until thin enough to fit into a pasta machine at its widest setting.

Pass the dough through the pasta machine at the widest setting then reduce the setting by one notch an pass the dough through once more. Gather the dough and fold in thirds then pass through the pasta machine again, until you have a nice rectangle.

Now continue rolling the pasta, reducing the aperture of the machine each time, until the pasta is the thickness you desire (dust the dough each time to ensure it does not stick). By the end, you will have a long, thin, sheet of very flexible dough. This can be used as lasagne sheets, or cut into ribbons of the desired width.

To dry, dust the pasta on both sides with flour then arrange on the baking tray. Leave to dry in an airy place on a bed of paper or kitchen towels for at least 90 minutes before using. If you wish to dry the pasta completely, set aside for 48 hours.