I have to admit that I did wonder about the point of adding a leavening agent to something that is usually unleavened, but the result was quite an eye-opener! I basically replaced one of the eggs in my usual recipe with an equivalent amount of starter, but the change in texture and flavour is quite wonderful. The pasta was ever so slightly tangy and so silky, with a perfect bite! It’s a great use for starter discard.
I served it with a wild garlic Alfredo sauce… only to discover that 3G doesn’t like wild garlic… now that was disappointing!
Serves 4
Ingredients
300g Type 00 or all-purpose (plain) flour
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
60g mature 100% hydration starter
Directions
Put the flour in a mound on the bench-top or in a wide, shallow mixing bowl and form a well in the centre.
Pour the beaten egg and the starter into the well and slowly incorporate into the flour with a fork. At this stage, you may need to add a touch more flour or a teaspoon of water to form your dough – it depends on the size of your eggs, humidity etc. The dough should be quite stiff.
Knead the dough on the bench until it is smooth and springs back when lightly pressed, about 10 minutes. Wrap well in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Cut the dough into 4 pieces, leaving the others wrapped in plastic while you work with one. Flatten the dough out a bit with your hands, lightly dust it with flour, then either use a pasta roller or rolling pin to form sheets.
On the widest setting, pass the dough through the roller five or six times, folding it into thirds and very lightly dusting with flour each time, until it’s satiny and smooth. Now turn the dial one place and (without folding the dough again) pass it through again. Repeat this process (dialling down/up, depending on the numbering system on your roller, and rolling) until you get to the second-last setting on the dial. The pasta sheet should be about 1mm thick by now. If the sheet gets too long to handle, just cut it in half with a knife.
Using either a cutting attachment on your pasta roller or a knife/pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips the desired width, drape over a broom handle/back of a chair/whatever your preferred system is and let the pasta dry for a couple of hours.
Cook pasta in plenty of well-salted boiling water until al dente. The cooking time will depend on how dry the pasta is, but I usually find about 4 – 6 minutes to be sufficient.
pizzarossa 
Wild garlic alfredo…oh, that sounds good. Nice job!
Thanks, Jessica 🙂
You’re so brave! Or maybe I’m just too lazy to even consider making my own pasta… 😛
LOL! It’s hard work, but rewarding 🙂
I would never have considered using sourdough in pasta, how interesting! I’ll definitely be trying this. Thanks for the inspiration!
Glad to have inspired you! 🙂
Isn’t sourdough amazing? 😉 Your pasta looks gorgeous. I’ve never been able to get my hands on type “00” flour – does it make a big difference?
Thanks, Korena. I think the type 00 makes smoother, silkier pasta. Unfortunately, my supply has nearly run out – I brought back 10kg from Italy last summer! I need to plan another vacation 😉
I wish I had some 00 flour as I bet that contributes to that beautiful texture. Your pasta looks perfect!
Thanks, Rebecca. 🙂 I really think it does make a difference. It’s worth looking out for.
Lovely! And tasty too! I’ve never tried wild garlic. Does it taste different from home-grown?
With wild garlic (a.k.a. bear’s garlic – I think it’s called ramsons or something in the US?) you use the leaves – they are quite different in taste to garlic bulbs – only problem is that I can only get it for a few weeks a year.
I love that you can put sourdough in typically unleavened things because it lends surprising results! I love the texture and ever so slight tang of this pasta, and with your 00 flour, I bet it was super amazing! And with wild garlic alfredo? YUM! Too bad #3 doesn’t like garlic!
I so agree, Jenni! It is a revelation every time – part of the reason I love my starter so much 🙂
Your pasta looks so yummy:) Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Thanks, Lynn! 🙂
That is some perfect pasta, right there. Wild garlic Alfredo sauce sounds heavenly!
Thanks, Suz! 🙂
Wild garlic sauce does sound great. I haven’t eaten supper yet, this is making me hungry. 🙂
Next time, I’ll make more “refined” looking noodles, yours look so smooth and elegant! Nice work! It’s early for wild garlic here in Wisconsin, but I’m looking forward to ramp season even more now…
Absolutely loving this idea, just used my starter today for the first time and a whole world is opening up. I have so missed out so far! Will definitely be giving this a go, thanks!
You should check out Sourdough Surprises for some great ideas! sourdough starter is the most amazing thing, as I’m sure you know 🙂