Egg Pasta For Tagliatelle, Pappardelle, Tagliolini, Maltagliati

Preparation:

Preparation: Arrange the flour on the pastry board, sprinkle it with a little salt and break the eggs in the middle. Begin to mix the flour with the eggs, gradually throwing small quantities of it from the edges of the 'fountain' into the inside of the 'crater' and kneading with your fingertips. When the flour has completely absorbed the eggs, start working the dough obtained (which at the beginning will tend to crumble a bit) with both hands, spreading it forward, spreading it and folding it into a loaf: work it with a certain energy to at least 10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. Remember, from time to time, to flour the pastry board. Form a loaf, cover it with a slightly damp cloth and let it rest for a time ranging from 30 to 60 minutes. At the end of this phase, you can proceed with the preparation of tagliatelle, tagliolini, pappardelle, farfalline, etc. The procedures are different. If you are skilled enough, you can roll out the dough into a single large sheet, working it with a rolling pin on all sides, in order to thin it and give it a uniform thickness. If, on the other hand, you have little experience, we advise you to divide the loaf into two or three parts and roll out some small sheets (but always leave the dough waiting well covered, because otherwise it could dry out). As the sheets are rolled out, place them on a clean floured cloth. When they are all ready, roll them up and cut them into the desired shape. The tagliatelle can have a variable width from half a centimeter to a centimeter or a little more; the tagliolini, on the other hand, must be much thinner (about a couple of millimeters). These two types of pasta must be cut with a knife, like the lasagne which must have the shape of a rectangle of 12 x 7 cm. The pappardelle must be cut with the notched wheel into strips 2 to 3 centimeters wide. To obtain small butterflies, reduce the dough into strips, as if you were making pappardelle, then divide each strip into 4-5 cm rectangles and pinch each rectangle in the middle. Maltagliati are strips of pasta cut into irregular diamond shapes. If you want to use the pasta machine to make the dough, divide the dough into several parts; then pass the individual portions between the smooth rollers (initially rather open and then closer and closer together), until you obtain almost rectangular sheets of the desired thickness; then replace the smooth rollers with 'ribbed' ones to cut the pasta into the desired shape. However, there are also pasta machines where it is not necessary to change the rollers, but just move the plates to switch from one roller to another. When you have prepared tagliatelle or other, scatter them on the pastry board, leaving them to dry for a while before throwing them into boiling salted water. Cooking times are generally very low and vary according to the thickness of the pasta: tagliolini and farfalline require less time than tagliatelle, pappardelle, maltagliati and lasagne.