Ingredients
STEP 1 - Preparing the dough by hand
Pour the flour into a bowl; add the eggs, the water and the bag of squid ink.
Mix with a fork to thoroughly blend the ingredients with the flour. Do not add salt!
Knead the dough with your hands until it is completely smooth and consistent. If the dough is too dry, add some water; if it is too sticky, add some flour. Perfect dough should never stick to your fingers.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a table, lightly dusted with flour.
If necessary, continue kneading the dough by hand and break it up into little pieces.
STEP 2 - Preparing pasta sheets
Set the adjustment knob of the machine to number 0, so that the two smooth rollers are fully open. Feed a piece of dough through the rollers while turning the crank clockwise or after turning on the motor.
Lightly dust both sides of the pasta sheet with flour and fold it in half. Feed the pasta sheet through the smooth rollers several times, until it is long and regular in shape.
Cut the pasta sheet in two and dust each piece lightly with flour on both sides.
Set the adjustment knob to 1 and pass the pasta sheet through just once; then, set the adjustment knob to 2 and pass the pasta sheet through once more; then, set the adjustment knob to 3, and so on until you reach the desired thickness (the recommended thickness setting is no. 6 for fettuccine and no. 7 for tagliolini).
Cut the pasta sheet crosswise, into pieces about 25cm long and dust them with flour.
STEP 3 - Cutting the pasta
Insert the crank or the motor in the cutting accessory and feed the pasta sheet through the rollers to cut it. Pick up the dough with the stick and transfer it to the Tacapasta.
The pasta dries in about 1-2 hours, depending on the temperature and humidity and can then be stored in suitable kitchen containers.
Tips
- do not use cold eggs straight out of the refrigerator;
- Do not add salt to the dough;
- clean the rollers of the machine by feeding a little dough between them;
- preserve home-made dried pasta for no more than 1 month;
- you can freeze freshly cut pasta, but always consume it within 1 month;
- cook the pasta in a large amount of hot water (4 litres for every ½ kg of pasta).