Name: Tasty Sourdough Pasta Recipe
Yield: 3 Servings
Ingredients: All Purpose Flour: 2 cups; Egg: 2; Olive Oil: 1-2tbsp; Sourdough starter: 1/4 cup; Salt: 1/4 tsp

Ingredients

2 cups All Purpose Flour

Approximately 260g

2 Egg

1-2tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup Sourdough starter

1/4 tsp Salt

Directions

sourdough pasta fresh pasta — Sourdough fettuccine with shakshuka

Sourdough pasta is basically pasta made with some sourdough within. Sourdough is a mixture of flour and water that has been naturally fermented over time with wild yeast from the air and lactobacilli and a list of microorganisms great for a healthy gut, resulting in a dough and makes it more digestible. Phytic acid binds itself with minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, etc making it unavailable to us. So by this slow fermentation process, neutralizes the phytic acid and pre-digests the flour, releasing micro-nutrients. Another benefit of sourdough is that it is digested slowly in our gut, resulting in an even sugar spread compared to a sugar spike after consuming regular wheat products. So yes, this is a low GI pasta that is great for diabetics! Even if you are not diabetic, it is great because you will not have the sudden drowsiness after the meal too.

I have used this sourdough pasta recipe a few times and it has proven to be great. I am seldom the one rolling it out and I made a mistake rolling it these days and I made a mistake rolling it, resulting in a pasta that breaks easily and though smooth, does not have the elasticity for a good mouth feel. At first I thought that I had overcooked it. That may have a little part to play, but mostly, I think I had not “kneaded” it enough as Ed recently disclosed to me that he will usually knead the dough a little before rolling and he will roll it out on the thickest setting 3 times before he starts progressing to the next setting. Yeah, I am always the lazy one looking for shortcuts… =P

So I had shared a recipe for regular fresh pasta and both taste pretty similar except that since I have sourdough starter at my disposal that I need to feed regularly, I might as well make use of the starter for other foods.

So far, we have tried sourdough crepes, sourdough waffles and sourdough pancakes. I will be trying more recipes but I suspect that sourdough pasta will be my most frequent way of using my excess sleeping starter.

mei cai kou rou wraps — Sourdough crepes eaten with mei cai kou rou (braised pork with fermented mustard greens)

I have yet to share much sourdough bread recipe yet, because we are still playing around with the recipe and we want to share our lessons and experiences when we do share the recipe.

Many people worry that sourdough pasta may taste “sour” or tangy. Well, one of the first recipes we tried did taste rather tangy, which I honestly was not a fan of as it can be overpowering or make a wine sauce or cream pasta taste weird. So we tried other recipes and finally came across this one that is easy to work with and produces very silky results of a pasta that has just a slight hint of sour to it. So far, it has gone well with a wide variety of sauces we tried it with.

Since sharing our fresh pasta recipe, we have also upgraded to a new pasta machine – The Marcato Atlas 150 and must say it is a very fine piece of machine. Compared to our old machine, I am happy to say it is worth it to pay for this quality. We got our machine from Amazon and it is a pretty good price even with shipping.

atlas and dough sourdough pasta

Machine was smooth and cuts really well. We are still giving it some time before we do a proper review as our old machine worked well for the first few months too. But I must say that even the initial feel of this machine is fantastic and had really made the pasta forming a real breeze.

fresh pasta - fettucine

Back to the sourdough pasta. The beauty of this recipe is that it uses sleeping starter, which means you can just throw in excess starter that you were intending to throw away. No need to let it rise or start bubbling.

It helps to use a stand mixer to knead the dough, but not necessary as I have tried with hands and I think it is manageable because the dough is rather crumbly. Initially, it may seem as though the dough is not coming together and it will look really crumbly. This is when I will use my hands to press it together and it will amazingly form a very neat dough. I will then knead a little with my hands of the mixer before packing it into a round ball and wrapping it with a shrink wrap then chuck it into the fridge overnight or at least for a few hours.

This allows the dough to relax and for some gluten to form. I have tried using the dough with little rest time to resting it for a week and I think it works best after resting overnight. With too little rest, the dough breaks easily. With too much rest (1 week), it get a little too soft (not sticky, just moist and soft).

This dough after resting may be soft but it is not sticky and very malleable, making it a breeze to work with. Little flouring is needed during the rolling process. All other steps are actually similar to that of making fresh pasta and so I will not dwell again here.

Storage wise, it is exactly the same as regular fresh pasta too. I usually make a portion and freeze any leftovers after portioning out. Usually we will portion 100g to 130g per portion depending on how much we have left.

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Steps

1 Done	Mix all ingredients Using a spatula or a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients. If you are using a stand mixer, pulse it by turning it on and off constantly so that it will mix in gradually to prevent the flour from flying all over. Once combined, you will have a shaggy dough that is pretty rough or crumbly.
2 Done	Knead the dough Using dry, clean hands, press the dough together (within the bowl) and knead it a few times to form a more cohesive ball of dough. Knead further either with a mixer or with hands. If using hands, overturn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by pushing the dough away with the base of your palm and then pushing it back and folding it in towards you with your fingers. If using a mixer, use a dough hook on speed 4-5. Knead till dough is totally cohesive and malleable.
3 Done	Wrap and chill Press the dough into a ball and wrap with shrink wrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.
4 Done	Roll out the dough Remove the dough from the fridge and let it adjust to room temperature before removing the plastic. At least 30 minutes. Cut the dough into 2 and flatten the dough into a rectangle. Set the dough to the lowest setting and press the dough into the machine lightly and roll. Fold the dough in 2 and roll out again. Repeat this 2 times. Then adjust to the next setting and roll the dough through 2-3 times before moving to the next setting. (no folding required.) Cut the dough to a shorter length in necessary and continue to roll till desired thickness. We usually do 5 or 6. Flour the sheets lightly when necessary before rolling.
5 Done 5-10m	Dry the sheets Hang the sheets up to dry for 5-10 minutes.
6 Done	Cut the sheets Cut using the machine or rolling up the sheet lightly and cut with a knife or dough cutter, depending on your needs.
7 Done	Dry the pasta Dry the pasta again by hanging it to dry for 10-15 minutes. Take note not to over dry the pasta or they may become too brittle to be rolled up for storage.
8 Done	Storing or Cooking the pasta To store: Store in a container and separate layers using plastic or paper. Freeze if not using within the next week. To cook: Cook as per regular pasta, but cooking time only requires 2-3 minutes.