Fresh Pasta for Malefante & Taccozze

Preparation

1. Step 1

   To make the pasta dough: Put the flour in the bowl of the food processor, and process for a few seconds to aerate. With the food processor running, pour in the water through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds, until a dough forms and gathers on the blade. If the dough does not gather on the blade or process easily, it is too wet or dry. Feel the dough, then work in more flour or ice water, in small amounts, using the processor or kneading by hand.

   Step 2

   Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, and knead by hand for a minute, until it’s smooth, soft, and stretchy. Press it into a disk, wrap well in plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour. (You can refrigerate the dough for up to a day, or freeze for a month or more. Defrost in the refrigerator and return to room temperature before rolling.)

   Step 3

   To roll out the dough with a pasta machine: Cut the dough in six equal pieces. Keeping them lightly floured, roll the pieces at progressively thinner settings, gradually stretching them into strips about 2 feet long and as wide as your machine allows, usually about 5 inches. For easier handling, cut each strip in half crosswise, so you have twelve strips about a foot long. Lay them flat on a lightly floured surface, and keep covered with towels.

   Step 4

   To make malefante: One at a time, slice the strips lengthwise into long ribbons, about 1 inch wide or a bit more, using a rotary pasta cutter or a sharp knife and a ruler to guide the blade. You should get four such ribbons from each of the machine-rolled strips. Next cut the ribbons crosswise into 2 1/2-inch-long segments, the malefante. Sprinkle and toss the cut pieces liberally with flour, and lay them out flat, not touching, in one layer on floured baking sheets. Leave the malefante uncovered, to air-dry at room temperature, until you cook them.

   Step 5

   To make taccozze: One at a time, slice the strips lengthwise into long ribbons, about 1 1/2 inches wide, using a rotary pasta cutter or a sharp knife and a ruler to guide the blade. Next, cut across the ribbons with parallel diagonal slices, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart, forming diamond-shaped taccozze. Sprinkle and toss the cut pieces liberally with flour, and lay them out flat, not touching, in one layer on floured baking sheets. Leave the taccozze uncovered, to air-dry at room temperature, until you cook them.