Pasta Fresca all'Uovo

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Pasta fresca all'uovo (fresh egg pasta) is the foundational dough of northern and central Italian cooking—a simple mixture of soft wheat flour (tipo 00) and whole eggs (traditionally one egg per 100g flour, yielding about 60-65% hydration) kneaded into a smooth, elastic, golden dough that is the basis for tagliatelle, lasagne, tortellini, ravioli, pappardelle, and dozens of other shapes across Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Tuscany, and Lombardy. This is the pasta of the sfoglina—the dedicated pasta-maker whose skill lies not in ingredients (there are only two) but in the kneading, resting, and rolling that transform flour and eggs into sheets of silk. The flour must be tipo 00 (finely milled, low-extraction soft wheat) for its fine texture and moderate gluten content—it produces a tender, silky pasta rather than the chewy, firm texture of semolina-based southern pastas. The eggs should be fresh, free-range, with deep-orange yolks that provide colour and richness. Kneading is vigorous—10-15 minutes by hand until the dough is completely smooth, uniform, and springs back when pressed. Resting (minimum 30 minutes, wrapped) allows the gluten to relax and the dough to hydrate evenly. Rolling is traditionally done with a long, tapered mattarello (rolling pin)—a skilled sfoglina can roll a 1-metre diameter sheet of uniform thinness. Machine rolling (hand-crank or motorised) is the practical alternative, progressively thinning through decreasing settings. The sheet's final thickness depends on its intended shape: paper-thin for tortellini wrappers and filled pastas, slightly thicker for tagliatelle and pappardelle. The ratio can be adjusted: extra yolks (especially extra egg yolks without whites) produce a richer, more golden dough; a small amount of semolina added to the 00 flour gives more structure for shapes that need to hold sauce.

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