basic egg pasta dough

I thought I would share the recipe to make a delicious, basic, egg pasta dough from which you can make hundreds of shapes. It's important to follow the steps carefully otherwise your dough will end up being much less smooth. 

Serves 4 people 

Ingredients: 
300g plain "00" flour 
3 medium eggs 

Directions: 
1. Place the flour onto a wooden surface and make a well in the middle.
2. Crack the eggs into it one at the time (your well needs to be large enough so that they don't overflow). 
3. Using a fork, start whisking the eggs slowly (see picture 1) and then very gradually start adding flour from the walls of the well (see picture 2). As you add flour, keep on whisking, to stop any lumps from forming. 
4. Once you can no longer whisk with a fork, fold all the remaining flour into the middle of the egg mix and start kneading with your hands. Start by pushing the flour and egg together with your fingers and then with your whole hands, pushing forward with your upper body to give you strength. 
5. Knead the dough until it is smooth, compact and it springs back once you poke it (see picture 3). Cover the ball of dough with cling film and let it rest for 30 mins. 

You can shape or fill the pasta in pretty much any way you want, here is the recipe for caramelle (with a ricotta & lemon filling), the one for sclutzkrapfen (spinach and ricotta). If you don't feel like a filled pasta, you can use the various settings on the pasta machine (or a very sharp knife) to make tagliolini, tagliatelle or pappardelle.