Homemade Pasta for Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 pound (4 cups) Durum wheat flour or high-gluten flour
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 eggs
2-3 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
Cornmeal or semolina flour for sprinkling

Preparation:
  • Mix the eggs together with water and oil. 
  • Pour the flour and salt together onto the working table or large bowl. 
  • Make a dip in the flour and pour in the eggs and water mixture. 
  • Make a soft pliable dough (add more water if you need), and knead steadily for 15 minutes. 
  • When the dough is smooth and elastic, divide the dough into 5 pieces, brush outside with oil, cover and leave to rest for 25 to 35 minutes while you make the sauces.

Note:
You can make the lasagna using layers of prepared dry pasta from store. If you using that kind of pasta follow the instructions on the box.


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Did You Know?
Durum wheat or macaroni wheat is the only tetraploid species of wheat of commercial importance that is widely cultivated today. It was developed by artificial selection of the domesticated emmer wheat strains formerly grown in Central Europe and Near East around 7000 B.C., which developed a naked, free-threshing form. Durum in Latin means "hard", and the species is the hardest of all wheats. Its high protein and gluten content, as well as its strength, make durum good for special uses.

Under Italian law, dry pasta (pasta secca) can only be made from durum wheat flour or durum wheat semolina. Durum flour and durum semolina have a yellow tinge in color.

Lasagna is both a form of pasta in sheets and also a dish, sometimes named lasagne al forno (meaning "oven-cooked lasagne") made with alternate layers of pasta, cheese, and often ragù (a meat sauce) or tomato sauce. The word lasagna, which originally applied to a cooking pot,now simply describes the food itself.