Homemade Pasta

Method

1. mix8 min
   the well, fork first, hands after
   flour mounded with a crater, eggs cracked in and beaten with a fork, pulling flour from the walls a little at a time until a shaggy paste forms — the well is not superstition: it meters how fast flour meets egg, which is the difference between a dough and a mess
2. knead10 min
   by heel of hand, until it pushes back
   a genuine ten minutes, folding and driving with the heel until the dough turns from lumpy to satin and springs back from a thumb-press — this is the opposite of gnocchi: fresh pasta IS gluten, and the sheet's ability to roll paper-thin without tearing is built entirely here
3. rest30 min
   wrapped, room temperature
   non-negotiable — the gluten just built is wound tight and will fight the pin; thirty minutes relaxes it into rollability. Skipping this rest is why first-timers conclude they need a machine
4. prep20 min
   quarters, rolled thin, cut to width
   dough in quarters (the rest stays wrapped), each rolled from the center out to near-translucence — newsprint should read through it — then dusted with semolina, rolled into a loose flat cigar and cut to fettuccine or pappardelle width; the semolina is what keeps the nest from welding itself
5. boil3 min
   well-salted, 60-90 seconds
   fresh pasta cooks in the time it takes to find the colander — 90 seconds for al dente; it also drinks sauce faster than dried, so have the sauce ready BEFORE the pasta meets water, a sequencing rule that is optional with the box and law with fresh