Pasta making is something of an art, and despite the simplicity of the ingredients it does take experience. This is a collection of information from various sources.
I own a pasta machine, the Mercato Atlas machine that rolls and slices pasta; the one I have has an electric motor attachment because I find it very difficult to turn a crank while guiding the pasta in and out of the rollers. Even just learning the best way to use the machine has taken experience.
MAN do recipes and instructions for pasta vary. They're all over the board, it's worse then meatloaf. Anyway, at the moment I'm using this Serious Eats recipe (below). Following this are other recipes, instructions, suggestions, what have you.
Serious Eats Fesh Pasta
Currently this is the recipe and method I'm using. Cutting the recipe in half makes a decent amount for a single person meal. I roll the dough to a thickness of "6" on my pasta machine, and use the wider-noodles setting (fettucine) when cutting them into noodles.
This recipe is similar to the NY Times Fresh Egg Noodles recipe (below) except it has a higher ratio of liquid (eggs) to flour; it also uses more egg yolks than whole eggs. I like it better because I found the NY Times recipe is a little too stiff. This recipe also uses more salt, which is one of the things that vary widely in different recipes. I've made this with "00" type flour instead of all-purpose; the type of flour to use is ANOTHER one of those things for which recommendations vary widely.
Ingredients
10 ounces (about 2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 whole large eggs (about 4 ounces)
4 yolks from 4 large eggs (about 2.5 ounces)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for salting water
Directions
1. To Make the Dough: On a large, clean work surface, pour flour in a mound. Make a well in the center about 4 inches wide. Pour whole eggs, egg yolks, and salt into well and, using a fork, beat thoroughly. When combined, gradually incorporate flour into the eggs until a wet, sticky dough has formed.
2. Using a bench knife, scrape excess dough from fork and fingers. Begin to fold additional flour into the dough with the bench knife, turning the dough roughly 45 degrees each time, until dough feels firm and dry, and can form a craggy-looking ball, 2 to 5 minutes.
3. Press the heel of your hand into the ball of dough, pushing forward and down. Rotate the ball 45 degrees and repeat. Continue until dough develops a smooth, elastic texture similar to a firm ball of Play-Doh. If dough feels too wet, add flour in 1 teaspoon increments. If dough feels too dry, add water slowly using a spray bottle.
4. Wrap ball of dough tightly in plastic wrap and rest on countertop for 30 minutes.
5. To Roll the Pasta: Meanwhile, place a sheet of parchment paper on a tray or cutting board and dust lightly with flour. Unwrap rested dough and cut into quarters. Set one quarter on work surface and re-wrap remaining dough. With a rolling pin, flatten the quarter of dough into an oblong shape about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Set pasta maker to widest setting and pass dough 3 times through the machine at this setting.
7. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface. Fold both ends in so that they meet at the center of the dough, and then fold the dough in half where the end points meet, trying not to incorporate too much air into the folds. Using rolling pin, flatten dough to 1/2-inch thick. Pass through the rollers 3 additional times.
8. Narrow the setting by 1 notch and repeat Step 7. Repeat once more (the dough should now have passed through the third widest setting). Continue passing the dough through the rollers, reducing the thickness by 1 setting each time until it reaches the desired thickness. It should now be very delicate and elastic to the touch, and slightly translucent.
9. Place rolled dough onto a work surface or baking sheet lightly dusted with flour or lined with parchment paper, folding the dough over as necessary so that it fits; sprinkle with flour or line with parchment between folds to prevent sticking.
10. Cover dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel to prevent drying, then repeat Steps 5 through 9 with remaining dough quarters. If making noodles, cut dough into 12- to 14-inch segments.
11. To Cut Noodles: Adjust pasta machine to noodle setting of your choice. Working one dough segment at a time, feed dough through the pasta-cutter. Alternatively, cut folded dough by hand with a chef's knife to desired noodle width.
12. Divide the cut noodles into individual portions, dust lightly with flour, and curl into a nest. Place on parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and gently cover with kitchen towel until ready to cook. Pasta can be frozen directly on the baking sheet, transferred to a zipper-lock freezer bag, and stored in the freezer for up to three weeks before cooking. Cook frozen pasta directly from the freezer.
13. To Cook: Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add pasta, stir gently with a wooden spoon, chopsticks, or a cooking fork, and cook, tasting at regular intervals until noodles are just set with a definite bite, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Drain, toss with sauce, and serve.
Here's the NY Times one, it was accompanied by a recipe for Fresh Pasta with Prosciutto and Peas. I've found this recipe to be rather hard to work with, the dough gets extremely stiff.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks, beaten
Semolina or rice flour, for dusting
Directions
1. Put flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and yolks, and mix with hands or wooden spoon for a minute or so, until dough comes together. (Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.) If dough seems dry or crumbly, add 1 or 2 tablespoons cold water, but only enough to keep the dough together.
2. Turn dough out onto a board and knead to form a ball. Flatten dough ball to a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and let rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour (several hours is fine).
3. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Knead each piece until smooth. Roll with a rolling pin or pasta machine as thinly as possible (but not quite paper-thin). Cut each sheet in half, making 8 smaller sheets. Dust dough sheets lightly with semolina to keep them from sticking. Stack 2 or 3 sheets, roll loosely, then cut into 1/2-inch-wide noodles or other desired shape. Continue until all dough is used. Gently fluff noodles and spread on a semolina-dusted baking sheet. Refrigerate, uncovered, until ready to cook.
GENERAL NOTES FROM MANY SOURCES
Okay, so here are some notes I've found from all over. Many of the posts were consistent with each other, and many sounded like they came from people with experience. The most common issue discusssed is the ratio of eggs to flour, with 1 egg to 100g flour being the most recommended; this is known as the 1:100 rule, with the flour being pure 00 or a mix of 00 and semolina. It is however hard to translate that rule to recipes that use a combination of whole eggs and egg yolks.
1. Ratio of flour weight to egg weight of 1.64. Since eggs can vary in weight even if they're the same "size" (I buy large), this seems a more accurate way. However, I weighed the eggs in the Serious Eats recipe above that I like and found that recipe uses less flour, around 1.41 ratio. In general the flour to egg numbers are all over the place.
2. Ratio of 2:1 00 flour to semolina. 1 whole egg and two yolks per 150g of flour.
3. 50g flour, 50g semolina, 1 egg.
4. This was attributed to Gennaro Contaido, who is said to have a YouTube video on it. Ratio of 3/4 00 flour to 1/4 semolina/durum., with 1 egg per 100 grams.
5. 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 eggs.
6. 300 grams flour, 3 eggs, 1 tbl olive oil, 1 tbl water. I saw very few recipes that incorporated oil.
7. 1 egg and 3 yolks per 200g flour, with a recommendation to incorporate semolina.
8. 100g flour and 1 egg plus touch salt, with a mix of 00 and semolina. Or, 150g flour and 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk.
SUMMARY - what can I say, it's just all over the place.