Semolina pasta

Directions

1. Clean your counter and your schedule to make space for the work ahead.
2. Place the flour on the counter and make a well for your water. Pour the oil, water, and salt in.
3. With your fork, bring the flour in a little bit at a time, mixing it in with the liquid. You don’t want to knock down all your walls yet, you and the pasta will end up a big mess on the floor. Do this a little bit at a time until it is very thick. When the fork isn’t cutting it, switch to a bench scraper. When you are ready, switch to your hands.
4. You will knead the dough for 10 minutes. It’s a dry dough, it will be tough to knead. If its not coming together, or the dough is tearing, you can tap your fingers in a bowl of water, then pat the dough. If you add too much water the dough will be sticky and will stick to your pasta roller.
5. Leave the pasta to rest for at least for 30 minutes, up to 2 hours at room temperature. This can go in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Get ready to roll

1. When you’re ready to roll out the dough, set up your pasta machine. Divide the dough into 4–8 pieces, depending on how familiar you are with rolling out pasta. It’s easier to work with smaller pieces when you’re new to it.
2. Run the dough through on the thickest setting. Continue through each setting on your pasta machine until you can start to see yourself through it. For me that’s setting 7 of 9 on a Marcato Atlas.
3. I place my lasagna pan on the counter and trim the noodles with my bench scraper (scissors also work) to the length of the pan. Dust each sheet with semolina flour, which acts as a non-stick separator for them. Don’t try to use regular flour for this, they’ll all glue together. Continue rolling and trimming until done.