Flour
Eggs
These are general instructions for making pasta with descriptions of key variations.
The best pasta is made with semolina flour, so use it if you can find it. Regular flour is also fine is semolina is not available.
The quantity is pretty much dictated by the quantity of eggs (or other liquid) used to make the pasta. One large egg will make almost enough pasta for 2 ordinary people. Adjust the number of eggs based on who, how hungry, how worried you are about quantities. If making pasta for two, rather than using two eggs, you can add a little water.
The quantity of flour is dictated by the number of eggs. Start with a generous 1/2 cup per egg. But expect to need more.
Put the flour in a bowl.
Make a crater in the flour, break the eggs into the crater.
Using a fork, beat the eggs.
As you beat the eggs, they will naturally take up flour creating a paste that continues to thicken first into a kind of batter and then a loose dough.
When the pasta dough has become firm enough to handle, shift to working it with your hands. This is not unlike kneading bread dough, but I use a different pattern. I squeeze the dough and fold, squeeze and fold. When the outside is moist, I press the whole thing against flour on the counter or in the bowl.
Continue working with your hands until dough reaches a consistency about like modeling clay. It should be holding together, but not be too stiff or dry. When in doubt stop a little early, because you can come back to this step.
Set the pasta machine to number 1, the widest setting. You do this with the part of the machine that is just flat rollers, with a numbered adjustment. Flatten the dough somewhat and run it through the machine. If the dough falls apart, you have not worked enough by hand, go back to step 6 and work in some more flour.
Have some flour on the counter where you are pulling the dough. Run the underside of the dough through the flour. Fold the dough in half. Run it through the press again.
Repeat the process of folding and repressing 10 to 15 times, dusting the dough with more flour when it gets sticky (not just moist). You are forming and stretching the gluten in this process, it has much the same effect as kneading bread. You should process no fewer than 10 times, after that judge by the feel of the dough. The dough will feel more "together" and more like a ribbon than a pile of flour.
Change the rollers to number 2 making the opening smaller. Fold the dough in half and run it through the rollers. Because the pasta is becoming thinner, it is also becoming longer. Run the past 2 or 3 times at number 2.
Move on to higher numbers. Process 2-3 times at each level.
Your final thickness should be between 4 and 6. I use 5 for most ordinary pasta. I use 6 when I'm making lasagna and want very thing noodles.
Use the noodle cutting blade to slice the dough into strands. Because the dough will stick together it is important to get it into boiling water immediately after it's cut. Fresh pasta will only need to cook for 2-3 minutes, maybe less if you're also going to cook it with the sauce.
For spinach pasta, boild spinach for about a minute, drain, rinse in cold water, squeeze most of the water out, chop fine. use about 1/4 cup spinach for 2 eggs. Spinach pasta is actually easier to handle than plain pasta.
Pasta can be made with water instead of eggs. I have no experimented much.
Long noodles are difficult to effectively mix with sauce. I try to cut the noodles to a length of about 8 inches. The fastest way is to have someone cut them with a scissors as they exit the machine that is slicing them into noodles. Otherwise, cut the past sheet into 8 inch lengths and run them through the cutter one by one.
You can hang the noodles to dry if kitchen space or time is going to be an issue at the moment of cooking. Better to hang them on something larger like a dowel or brookstick than a string. Be careful that they don't separate of their own weight.
You can also cut the pasta into other shapes by hand. I haven't bothered much with that.