Easy Homemade Sourdough Pasta Recipe
This easy homemade sourdough pasta recipe is a great way to use up leftover sourdough starter and is one of the simplest recipes you’ll ever make. It never ceases to amaze me how many things we can make with simple ingredients like flour and water. And when you ferment the flour and water and turn it into gut healthy sourdough? What’s not to lose!
Ingredients
- 4 to 4 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ cups sourdough starter
- 6 eggs
Instructions
How To Make Sourdough Pasta:
- 1. In a bowl or a stand mixer add all of your ingredients.
- 2. Mix for 10 minutes or until dough ball is smooth and glossy.
- 3. Add more flour or a little more starter as needed to achieve a playdough like consistency
Quick version:
- 4. Allow to the dough to rest for 30 minutes
Long fermented version:
- 4. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap for 12-24 hours to fully ferment.
Next Step:
- 5. Roll out on counter with a heavy rolling pin, and cut into noodles using pizza cutter or pasta machine
- 6. Hang to dry for at least 30 minutes if possible. If you’re in a hurry you can skip this drying period, but your pasta will cook up more nicely if you dry it a bit first
How To Cook Sourdough Pasta:
- 1. Fill a large pot with water, add 1-2 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil.
- 2. Boil for 4-5 minutes or until al dente. Fresh sourdough pasta doesn’t need to cook as long as dried pasta. Be careful not to overcook. You can take a noodle out of the boiling water and taste it to make sure it’s cooked all the way through and has a tender texture.
- 3. When done, strain pasta and rinse with cool water. You can also stir in a little butter or olive oil with your noodles to keep them from sticking together as they cool.
- 4. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce. We like to eat this with our home canned spaghetti or goulash sauce. It's also really good with homemade chicken and alfredo sauce, cheese sauce, stroganoff, or as a nice addition to any soup.
Storage:
- As previously mentioned, you can hang extra uncooked pasta noodles to dry for 12-24 hours or until they are completely dry in the middle. Then store them in your pantry for up to a year.
- You can also freeze your noodles for up to six months, or dry them in a dehydrator for 2-4 hours.
Notes
- When mixing up and kneading your sourdough pasta dough, don’t be afraid to add a little more flour if it feels sticky. Eggs vary in size, so sometimes your pasta will end up feeling a little more wet or dry depending on the hydration of your sourdough starter and the size of your eggs. Making pasta is a bit like making bread, you have to learn how the dough should feel. It should feel very similar to playdough, and be smooth and glossy. Just keep working it until you get it to that consistency, you really can’t overwork the dough. That’s part of what makes it so fun to make, it’s like playing with playdough.
- For best results, allow your pasta to dry either in sheets before you cut it, or hang the noodles themselves up to dry on a pasta drying rack or over a hangar for 30 minutes or until time to cook. The great thing about making it a few hours ahead of time, is that you can come in and quickly get supper on the table because the pasta is already made
- If your dough starts to get sticky as you’re rolling it out or running it through your pasta cutter machine, just dust it with more flour. Lots of flour is the key for getting the noodles to cut cleanly and not stick together. Whole wheat flour, or semolina flour work well for dusting the noodles, but you can use all-purpose flour as well.
- If using a pasta machine, make sure the setting on your pasta roller is set at its widest as you first start to roll the past through. After it's gone through the machine once, you can adjust the setting so it makes the pasta sheets thinner. Follow the instructions on your pasta machine to find out how thin to make each sheet depending on what shape of noodle you'll be cutting out.
- For making this without a pasta machine, just roll it out as thin as you can on your countertop, and then slice it into whatever-sized noodles you want using a pizza cutter or sharp knife. Keep in mind that the noodles get bigger as they cook. I like a large sized noodle for things like beef and noodles and chicken noodle soup, and thin small noodles for spaghetti
- If you are making lasagna, the process gets even simpler. Just roll out the pasta and cut into pasta sheets the size of your lasagna pan. No need to cut it smaller, it’ll cook up just fine. Also, there is no need to pre-cook the pasta for lasagna. It’ll cook right along with the sauce, meat and cheese into yummy gooey lasagna goodness.
- For long term storage, allow pasta to fully dry until it snaps when you break it into smaller pieces. Make sure the center of the noodles is completely dry. Then put it into a jar or airtight container and keep in your pantry for when you need a quick meal or easy addition to a soup
