Homemade Fettuccine: Master Fresh Egg Pasta from Scratch

Mound the 00 flour on a large, clean work surface or in a wide bowl. Make a well in the center wide enough to hold the eggs without spilling.

Crack 4 eggs into the well. Add 1 tsp olive oil and a pinch of fine sea salt. Beat the eggs with a fork, gradually pulling flour from the inner walls of the well.

When the mixture becomes too thick to beat, switch to your hands. Bring the remaining flour in and press the dough together — it will look shaggy at first. Keep going.

Knead firmly for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not sticky. If it tears when you stretch a small piece, knead for another 2 minutes.

Form into a ball, wrap tightly in cling film, and rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours). This is not optional — the gluten must relax or the dough will fight you.

Divide the rested dough into 4 equal pieces. Keep unused pieces wrapped. Flatten one piece into a rough oval with your palm.

Pasta machine method: start at the widest setting (1), feed through, fold in thirds, repeat 2–3 times, then progressively roll to setting 5 or 6. Rolling pin method: on a lightly semolina-dusted surface, roll to roughly 2mm, rotating the sheet frequently.

Dust the pasta sheet lightly with semolina. Loosely roll or fold the sheet into a log and cut across into 6–7mm ribbons. Shake them out and dust with a little more semolina to prevent sticking. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Salt generously — it should taste of the sea. Cook fettuccine for 2–3 minutes; it goes from raw to overdone fast. Pull it 30 seconds before it looks done and finish it directly in your sauce.