All Purpose Egg Pasta Dough

Makes about 1 pound, enough to serve 4

This is a great all-purpose pasta dough recipe. It's based on my mother's recipe and I use it to make noodles, ravioli, lasagne and more. It calls for 3 extra-large eggs, which, when mixed with the listed quantities of flour and semolina, yields just about 1 pound of pasta.

Ingredients

250 to 280g (2 to 2 1/4 cups) Italian "00" flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (see Note)
10g (1 tablespoon) semolina flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature; or 3 large eggs plus 1 to 3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

To mix the dough by hand
Combine the flour, semolina flour, salt and nutmeg on a clean work surface. Form a mound and create a wide well in the center. Carefully break the eggs into the well. Use a fork to pierce the yolks and begin mixing the eggs. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and work it in as you beat the eggs. Slowly begin to incorporate the inner wall of flour as you mix. When the mixture has thickened to a pasty consistency, begin using your fingers to incorporate more flour. Continue to mix until a rough dough has formed. You may not need all the flour; use a dough scraper to scrape any excess flour off to the side. Press the dough together to form a rough ball.

To mix the dough in the food processor
Put 250g (2 cups) of the the flour, plus the semolina flour, salt and nutmeg into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse briefly to combine. Break the eggs into the work bowl and drizzle in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Process the mixture until it forms crumbs that look like small curds. Pinch together a bit of the mixture and roll it around; it should form a soft ball. If it seems dry, add water by the tablespoon; if it seems too wet and sticky, add more "00" or all-purpose flour by the tablespoon and pulse briefly. This is important: It’s OK if the dough is a little sticky, as you will be working more flour into it when you knead it. The important thing is that the dough isn’t too dry; it’s much harder to add liquid to dry dough than it is to add flour to sticky dough. Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface sprinkled lightly with flour and press it together to form a rough ball.

To knead the dough
Using the palm of your hand, push the dough firmly away from you, and then fold it over toward you. Give the dough a quarter turn, and repeat the pushing and folding motion. Continue to knead for several more minutes until the dough is smooth and silky. Form it into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or in a clean towel. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes before stretching, cutting and shaping.

Note 
Italian "00" flour is a soft wheat flour that is very finely milled to achieve a silky texture. It's fairly easy to find in the U.S. nowadays, but if you can't find it you can substitute unbleached all-purpose flour, which works nicely. Semolina flour is coarsely milled hard wheat flour. It adds a bit of body, and also flavor, to pasta dough.