This Is The Biggest Mistake You're Making With Pasta From Scratch

Making your own pasta from scratch seems to be a very popular at-home venture in the kitchen these days. Unlike sourdough, you don't have to make a starter or feed it every so often. Fresh pasta calls for very few ingredients, and it is surprisingly easy to make once you have practiced a bit (via According to Elle). However doable a weekend pasta project is, there are some missteps and mistakes you want to avoid. 

Some of the mistakes are easier to avoid once you are aware of them. For example, dried pasta takes more time to cook than homemade pasta (via Food 24). That means that the fresh pasta you just made will only need a couple of minutes in boiling water to cook through. No one wants their hard-earned homemade pasta to turn to mush because it was overcooked. Another misconception is that you need to keep the pasta you have prepared moist before it goes into the pot of water. According to Elle explains that the pasta can dry out to a degree because it will be rehydrated in the boiling water.

The bigger mistakes to avoid concern the homemade pasta dough itself. Many fresh pasta recipes call for nothing more than flour, eggs, and salt, though the ratios may vary. No matter how much flour or eggs you use, the fresh dough should be on the dry side and it should look and feel homogenous once it has come together. 

After the dough has been kneaded, it should sit for a while so that the gluten you've built up has time to soften. This will make the homemade pasta tender instead of tough or chewy. When the time finally comes to roll out the pasta, According to Elle suggests using what you might consider too much flour also.

Use these tips the next time you attempt pasta at home. You might be surprised by how much easier and better the fresh pasta will turn out to be.