Thomas Keller’s Homemade Pasta

Directions

• 1)

  In the center of a large cutting board or pasta board, place the flour in a mound. Use a bench scraper in one hand, set aside about 1/6 of the flour. This flour is reserved for if your dough is too wet, as it is easier to add flour to a wet dough than to add liquid to a dry dough.

• 2)

  Make a large well in the center of the mound. Pour in the yolks, the whole egg, milk, olive oil, and salt.

• 3)

  With two fingers, begin swirling the ingredients together, incorporating in flour a little bit at a time, until it becomes a thick paste. Use the bench scraper to fold flour over the paste and cut in the flour.

• 4)

  Once the flour has been incorporated, knead the dough until it resembles a smooth ball. If the dough is very sticky, add a small amount of the reserve flour as needed. It takes practice to know when the dough has reached the right tightness.

• 5)

  Put dough into a sealable plastic storage bag and refrigerate at least 4–5 hours so that the gluten has time to relax before rolling out the pasta.

• 6)

  The dough can also be made a day ahead.