Homemade Egg Noodles

This recipe explains how to make - by hand or with the aid of a pasta machine - the basic dough for egg noodles. Using this recipe, you can cut the dough into a variety of sizes and shapes to prepare cannelloni, tortellini, ravioli, tagliarini, fettuccine, tagliatelle and lasagne.

Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl or in a heap on a pastry board, make a well in the center of the flour and in it put the egg, egg white, oil, and salt.

Mix together with a fork or your fingers until the dough can be gathered into a rough ball. Moisten any remaining dry bits of flour with drops of water and press them into the ball.

TO MAKE PASTA BY HAND: Knead the dough on a floured board, working in a little extra flour if the dough seems sticky. After about 10 minutes, the dough should be smooth, shiny and elastic. Wrap it in wax paper and let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes before rolling it.

Divide the dough into 2 balls. Place 1 ball on a floured board or pastry cloth and flatten it with the palm of your hand into an oblong about 1 inch thick. Dust the top lightly with flour. Then, using a heavy rolling pin, start at one end of the oblong and roll it out lengthwise away from yourself to within an inch or so of the farthest edge.

Turn the dough crosswise and roll across its width. Repeat, turning and rolling dough, until it is paper thin. If at any time the dough begins to stick, lift it carefully and sprinkle more flour under it.

To make tortellini and ravioli, follow the cutting directions in those recipes. To make tagliarini, fettuccine, tagliatelle and lasagne, dust the rolled dough lightly with flour and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Then gently roll the dough into a jelly-roll shape. With a long sharp knife, slice the roll crosswise into even strips- 1/8 inch wide for tagliarini, 1/4 inch wide for fettuccine or tagliatelle, and 1-1/2 to 2 inches wide for lasagne. Unroll the strips and set them aside on wax paper. In the same fashion, roll, shape, and slice the second half of the dough.

A PASTA MACHINE will do both the kneading and rolling. Pull off about a third of the dough at a time, set the smooth rolls on the pasta machine as far apart as possible and feed the piece of dough through them. Reroll this strip 4 or 5 more times, folding under the ragged edges and dusting the dough lightly with flour if it feels sticky. When the dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, it has been kneaded enough.

Now start to roll it out, setting the machine to the second notch and feeding the dough through with the rolls closer together. Then set the machine at the third notch and roll the dough thinner. Repeat, changing the notch after each rolling, until the dough is about 1/16 inch thick.

To make tagliarini, feed the dough through the narrow cutting blades of the pasta machine; to make fettuccine or tagliatelle, feed it through the wide blades. For lasagne, roll the dough into a jelly-roll shape and cut it by hand into 1-1/2 to 2 inch wide strips.

Homemade egg noodles may be cooked at once or covered tightly with plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator for as long as 24 hours. Cook them in 6 to 8 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water for 5 to 10 minutes, or until just tender (al dente). To test, lift out a strand and taste it.