Homemade Spelt Pasta

Yesterday the children wanted pasta – this is not something I have traditionally enjoyed much myself, however I know they like it – so it gets made for them once in a while.

Of course, now, if we want pasta, it has to be made from scratch (just like everything else!) and that was going to be the fun part. I remember many years ago, making pasta dough and really liking the fact that I could make something very fresh.

I also remember buying freshly made pasta or at least not the dried stuff from the shops – and it was nicer to not have gone through any extra processes. But, for something with so few ingredients, it should be fairly easy to make.

And of course, it is. For the most part it is only flour, water and salt – you can get fancy with your recipe and add things like eggs, flavourings, colours and so much…I wanted to do my own thing and naturally to add my own things too.

For my recipe I just used about 4 cups spelt flour, ½ teaspoon sea salt and 1 ½ cups (or a little more) warm water to make a basic spelt pasta dough. But then to dress it up a tiny bit I added in some dried thyme and finely chopped seaweed.

Then I let the dough sit for about 20 minutes or so to settle and come to room temperature. I cut the dough into about 6 smaller pieces and flattened them out on a floured surface with my hand.

Once they were flat enough I started moving them through the pasta roller to thin even more, gradually getting them thinner until they were thin enough and easy to handle to make the pasta.

We decided to just make a linguine type of pasta – so each flattened piece of dough was now wound through the cutter and long pieces of linguine were pushed out the other end.

It really is a simple process (especially with a hand operated pasta roller and cutter) – the pasta can then be placed directly into boiling water and cooked until the desired consistency is reached.

I like spelt pasta because it is not as heavy as wheat pasta and I like it without eggs, but plan to try making some with an egg in it very soon to see how it turns out. If you haven’t tried making this yourself, you are really missing out on some fun (especially with children) and such a refreshing meal when made from your own hands.

It's too easy not to give it a go!

April 

Home made spelt pasta