Sourdough Pasta

As the week of all things sourdough winds to an end, I managed to squeeze in a quick attempt at sourdough pasta.  I have made pasta before but never with sourdough so I started by substituting the starter for a couple of eggs and then adding the flour slowly to see how much it would take.

Pasta ready for cooking and a
dressing of fresh pesto.

The pasta turned out amazing and although it smelled quite sour while I was rolling it out, the sour flavour was almost negligible after cooking. My noodles were light and delicious topped with a thick sauce of tomato, garlic and sausage. Despite my hurry, everyone loved the pasta.  One batch served the four of us so double the recipe should you eat large portions or have extra people.  

Once dried a bit, I store extra pasta in my freezer and drop in salted boiling water straight from frozen.  Alternatively, thoroughly dry and store in an airtight container.  An old friend from my Calgary days had grandparents who made all their own pasta and dried it laid out on towels and on clothes racks in their spare room.

I have a proper pasta drying rack but am thinking I will try my food dehydrator and store it super dry.  Homemade pasta is really so much better than store bought so I hope you give this one a try!

Dried pasta ready for an
airtight container.

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• 1/4 cup of active sourdough starter
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsps. olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups of white flour suitable for pasta

In a medium sized bowl, mix the sourdough starter, eggs, and oil.  Slowly add in the flour and with one hand, knead for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  The dough should form a firm but flexible ball.  Cut the dough into 4 pieces and place on a plate and cover with plastic wrap to rest for at least thirty minutes but I left my dough to rest/ ferment on the counter for an hour - as long as it is reasonably cool.

With a pasta machine, gently knead the dough slowly on the widest settings a few times and gradually roll to the desired thickness adjusting your machine as you go.  I cut my pasta as fettuccine and hung to dry until stiff to the touch.  

Drop the pasta in boiling water for a couple of minutes.  I simply cook the pasta to taste.  Fresh pasta cooks much faster than store-bought.  

Feel free to add herbs or cracked pepper and lemon zest to your dough at the mixing stage for something a little different. 

Serves 4.